It's a bit worrisome that there isn't even an alternative site for the interim. I wonder what the effect of the hiatus will be. Will the demand for garden plots dissipate or be filled elsewhere? Will the Cornell powers that be forget to make Freese Rd available for gardening again? Will the weeds be gone during the interim, crowded out by the cover crop or plowed under with it? Will the pool of weed seeds be spent during the interim? Will the birds who know this place forget to look here, and be replaced by a new and ignorant generation? Will gardeners return and put up fences and posts that they have had to store for years? If the gardens return, I wonder whether they will be as productive for fall sparrows et al? Will the gardens be plowed under again before the weeds can build up again?
--Dave Nutter On Oct 10, 2015, at 11:53 AM, Paul Anderson <[email protected]> wrote: > All: > > The Freese Road gardens situation isn't as dire as it sounds. I have a plot > there so I have received emails about it from the organizers. Here's a > snippet from one: > >> Dear Gardening Friends, >> >> I’m very sorry to tell you that there will be a major change at Cornell >> Garden Plots next year (2016). >> >> The Cornell Agriculture department, who allows us to use the land on which >> we garden, told us that we need to move out of the gardens in 2016 so the >> land can be cover cropped. Apparently we have been using the same soil for >> so long that disease spores have built up and are blowing around, which >> negatively effects nearby research plots. By not growing vegetables and by >> cover cropping instead, we can greatly reduce the diseases in our soil. >> They have agreed to allow us to stay at the Freese Road location and garden >> this year while they look for a new location to move us to in 2016. >> >> Once they move us in 2016 we will stay in the new location for a couple of >> years while they cover crop our Freese Road gardens. Then we would move >> back to Freese Road, but we would continue to rotate between the two >> locations every couple of years so that diseases don’t build up again. >> >> I’m letting you know about this now since you may be considering installing >> structures or buying perennial plants for your “permanent plot”. >> Unfortunately it will no longer be permanent. >> >> The people in charge of these decisions want us to continue to garden, they >> also need to protect the research projects going on nearby. They have been >> nothing but encouraging and positive in our interactions. Overall this will >> make the gardens better, it will unfortunately mean the end of the permanent >> plots. > Unfortunately there has been no success at finding an alternative spot for us > gardeners. A location on Dodge Road was identified, but it needs work for > drainage and a road and there is no money to pay for it, so until we can > return to Freese Road, the club will be on hiatus. > > As a birder and a gardener, I am doubly saddened by the loss of this spot, > but I am hopeful that we might get it back in a couple of years. And who > knows? Maybe it will continue to be a good spot for fall sparrows regardless. > > Paul > -- > Paul Anderson, VP of Engineering, GrammaTech, Inc. > 531 Esty St., Ithaca, NY 14850 > Tel: +1 607 273-7340 x118; http://www.grammatech.com > -- > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics > > Rules and Information > > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > > Archives: > The Mail Archive > > Surfbirds > > BirdingOnThe.Net > > Please submit your observations to eBird! > -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
