Cport Garden Committee Notes, Nov 19

Attendance: Alex (parent), Andy (parent), Monica (parent), Derek (parent and vertical gardening expert), Alice (CitySprouts)

Agenda:

1. Vertical gardening – input from Derek
2. Decision to use Woolie Pockets instead of CityScapes aluminum frame
3. School restructuring and how this may impact the garden
4. Budget update
5. Projects for the spring

Action list:

1. Vertical gardening – input from Derek

Derek, a Cport parent with 3 kids, installed 9 vertical gardening systems in a public park in Singapore. He’s unfortunately leaving Cambridge around Christmas, but had this input for whatever system we choose:

- Make the purpose public and clear: lots of signage and information will keep people from judging the appearance, which may not always be perfect

- Maintenance: should be taken over by one person, who develops expertise as to amount water is needed, which plants thrive, how often to change out plants, etc. In our case, this would be a CitySprouts person.

- Think carefully about which plants would be appropriate for the system – how long will they last, how much water do they need, will you need to switch them out frequently?

- Keep systems low and accessible, unless you’re ready to deal with ladders frequently.

2. Vertical Garden Decision

After some discussion with Derek, the committee decided to pursue Woolie Pockets over the CityScapes aluminum frame, for the following reasons:

- Pockets are cheaper! $5,798 buys us two 8x4 CityScape frames; $1,000 buys us 50 Pockets, dirt, curriculum package

- Pockets are deeper, easier to plant, may retain water better

- Pockets are soft, appropriate for next to the play area, can be hung individually

- CityScapes frame is heavy, shallow pockets, requires multiple people to do the heavy lifting for planting and maintenance. Can’t really switch out individual plants without taking the whole frame down

- Irrigation for Pockets will most likely be by hose. Andy has a drip irrigation system that works well at home, we may be able to set something similar up.

3. School restructuring

There is some concern that the Cport building will, in a worst-case scenario, no longer be used as a school. Another restructuring possibility involves moving the 6/7/8 grades to a separate middle school. We will find out about the future of Cport in January. Obviously, our plans to invest in hardscaping will change, depending on whether or not we stay in the current location. CitySprouts will, most likely, stick with the student population, either at Cport, or another building.

4. Budget Update

CitySprouts budget for FY 2011 is $2,000, and can be drawn on starting in the spring, for whatever projects we’d like. That said, Monica is working diligently on a few grants to help fund the vertical gardening, potential vegetable garden, and fruit trees for outside the staff room.

5. Projects for the spring

Alice’s job at CitySprouts ends on November 30^th, and starts up again April 1^st. There are number of projects that would be great to start then (or before):

- Raised bed/bench: we would like to hire Alex to plan and build the bench/bed for the woodland garden. Monica will use his sketch to apply for grants for this, and once we hear about the school plans, this could start in early spring

- Vertical gardens: we’re going with Woolie Pockets. Once we hear back from the Harvest Coop grant, we could already start planning where these will go and getting teachers to start thinking about planting them in the spring.

- Dwarf fruit trees in pot for on the roof outside the staff room: Isabel Eccles and her class would be in charge of this project. Monica is working on a grant for fruit trees. This would start in the spring.

- Teacher parking spot space: this is stalled, still – we haven’t been able to secure a replacement spot yet. We’re still working on it.

That’s it for the Cport Garden Committee notes. Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm and work, and special thanks to Monica for her all of her research on vertical gardens and funding! I’m looking forward to seeing you all again in the spring! -- Alice