HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019.02.16 - Colleyville Community Garden Advisory Committee McPherson Park TourColleyville Community Garden Advisory Committee McPherson Park Tour
NOTES
Sat Feb 16, 2019
11:30am
Attendees
Linda Newton, Amy Putnam, Pam Buie, Natalie Genco, Rich Hendler, Amanda
Novak, Uma Lal
Tour of Planned Community Garden
Natalie gave everyone a tour of the site at McPherson Park for the planned
community garden.
Storage shed
Natalie mentioned that it would nice to build a small shed right near the water
tower by the parking lot. This way people could bring things to and from their cars
and leave a few tools or wheel borough in that shed.
We decided that we may want to get permission to access the empty area in the
back of the dairy barn and start storing cardboard there to sheet mulch our garden
area. We would like to put a combination lock on it so we all can begin accessing
the storage space.
Sheet Mulch
We decided that we may need to sheet mulch with cardboard over the entire area
of our community garden and then mark off with spray paint where the beds and
walkways will be just prior to our big dig day. This is to ensure we get rid of
Bermuda grass. We could get cardboard from Bates Container. Amanda
recommends 2 layers of cardboard.
ATV with a cart
It would be nice to have access to some type of ATV with a cart on the big dig day
to help us haul mulch, dirt and stones.
Orchard
Natalie mentioned that a native fruit bearing mulberry tree would be good for our
orchard area as the fruit is delicious. Rich suggested adding some of berry bushes
to attract birds.
Amy had to leave as the tour was finishing and we went into the Rock House.
Tasks
1. Determine Dig Day - We need to research a day towards the end of Oct or
early Nov with less chance of rain to determine our desired date for the big dig.
We also need to work on our timeline to ensure we keep on track.
2. We need a wish list of tools and items needed. Rich suggested we contact
Colleyville merchants first. Ace Hardware would be a good business to contact.
Whole Foods has said they would support us. Rich suggested we ask the city for a
list of preferred Colleyville merchants.
3. We should put together an advertising packet with information about our
garden for those who may want to donate or sponsor.
4. We should also determine sponsorship levels. Linda advised that we collect
sponsorship money before engraving someone’s name on our sponsorship stones.
She also suggested we consider pillars at the entrance to the garden with bronze
plaques with sponsor names engraved.
5. Visiting other gardens - We decided that we don’t want to wait for spring to
begin visiting other community gardens. Amanda volunteered to arrange visits to
other gardens and report to us a suggested date, time and address. Those who
can make it will. Amanda mentioned visiting Carrolton, Richardson, Coppell, Natalie
suggested visiting 6 stones in
Bedford https://www.6stones.org/category/garden/.
We would also like to visit N Richland Hills Community
Garden https://communitygarden.org/find-a-garden/gardens/common-ground-
nrh-community-garden/
6. Water for our Garden We need Lisa to ask the city to begin working on a plan
to bring water to our community garden and also checking into getting a bladder
for the cistern. We would llike to have our water in place by Sept 1st. Rich
mentioned that the city may be able to do this in house without have to contract
it.
We may want to consider putting gutters on the dairy barn and adding a few rain
collection barrels so our rainwater source is closer to our garden. This may be
easier and less expensive than getting a bladder for the cistern. We need to also
know if there is already a rain collection system able to carry rain to the cistern.
There appears to be a cistern behind the rock house and another older one near
the dairy barn.
7. Grading the garden spot. Natalie will check with Steve Chaney, Howard
Garrett and Harold Annis to see if they advise grading our garden spot.
History of Gardening in Colleyville
Linda mentioned that Colleyville used to be a hub for garden centers and perhaps
we can work this history into our community garden project. She mentioned that
there is also a history of agriculture in Colleyville and that McPherson Park was
once a farm. We should try to use this.
Linda reached out to members of the McPherson family via Facebook and heard
back from one descendent who said they would be interested in being involved
with the community garden.
Arbors
It was mentioned that our planned arbors would be a good Eagle Scout project and
we should reach out to them. Natalie mentioned that a business may also want to
sponsor an arbor to get their name on it.
Ribbon Cutting in Spring
It was mentioned that we can have our “Big Dig” garden installation in fall but may
additionally want a ribbon cutting in spring. Everyone liked this idea.
Looking at guidelines from other gardens
We decided that we want to do some research into policies and procedures from
other community gardens before we finalize ours.
Phases
We would also like to better define the phases of our community garden. We want
to determine what we want in phase 1, phase 2, etc.
Sub Committees
We decided on potentially having these sub committees:
1. Policies and procedures. This committee might be responsible for
storage and tools, irrigation, organization, finalizing layout of the garden and
adopt a plot policies and procedures.
2. Volunteers
3. Fundraising
4. Marketing and Communication
5. Material sourcing. This would include tools, cardboard, stones, dirt,
mulch, crushed granite, etc.
6. Education and event committee (We may want to add this later) This
committee will help schedule speakers, classes and events.
We decided that we need to think of other people who may want to be on these
committees and help.
Bylaws
We received feedback from the city that we could not add the language “per year”
to our bylaws but we would still like the words “per term” added to the section with
the attendance rule to define this rule. We will further discuss this at our next
meeting.
Adjourned
The meeting was adjourned at 12:54pm