Projects that are on our list

1) Clean the woods around the water tower at Varney Park
2) Clean and remove fire pits and 100’s of beer bottles below dam at Freeman lake
3) Clean the woods behind Roberts Field
4) Clean and fix up Skating shack at Roberts Field.
5) Grounds work at Varney Park (filling holes ect)


Interested? Call me 978-273-1474 (Phil)

Sunday, September 13, 2009
9:00 a.m.
Volunteers are needed to help clean, repair and stain the playground equipment at friendship Park/Robert’s Field on Old Westford Road. Bring old paint brushes for stain and brooms to help clean. If you have ever enjoyed the playground, or have kids who use it now, please come. Refreshments provided. Contact Phil Stanway, Chelmsford Open Space Stewardship, at 978-273-1474.

Just to let everyone know there will be a lot of horses in Thanksgiving forest Sunday the 13th so if you have a dog please be sure it is on a leash. If you are biking keep this in mind.

You allays hear about the pumps but you never see them... so here they are in full color!

Click here for Photos of pumps in action

Chelmsford - The Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts are pleased to announce their annual membership drive that will take place on Sept. 13th from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at Red Wing Farm on Maple Road. Local girls and their families will have the opportunity to sign-up for Girl Scouts, participate in a fun activity, and meet new friends! Girl Scout troops are formed on the availability of adult volunteer leadership. Become a leader today!

The Open Space Stewards welcomes Santiago as our newest Steward of our newest site. Varney Park! Look for events at the site and if you are in the program stop ver and welcome him.

We will be repairing any lose wood and sanding and staining the play ground at Roberts Field Sunday Sept 13 starting at 9am. Please spread the word as all are welcome. This does count as community service. If anyone has of the items on the list below please let me know as we could use extra ladders ect.

Check out the pictures! thanks to everyone for making this a huge event!

Click here for Photos

Well we are in the final stretch for the official opening of the garden at 9am Sat. We hope to see everyone there as we will be giving tours of the garden and the site. Maybe even a behind the scenes tour of the water system. If anyone is free Friday (Aug 14) we will on site all day cleaning up and making it look the best we can so come on down and lend a hand.

The bench in installed so come click below to see the photos

Click here for Photos

What Can I say but a busy week Here is a run down of What The Stewards were up to.

Used a $9,000 beach cleaner on Heart pond beach… amazing job… and the contractor will do it every few weeks for no cost to the town!
Click here for Photos Story

New Table for Heart Pond Beach build by and funded by town residents.
Click here for Photos Story

Work continues on recovering the upper orchard at Sunny Meadow Farm
Click here for Photos Story

The Chelmsford Garden Club Butterfly Garden located at Red Wing looks amazing!
Click here for Photos Story

Friday Night Bike Rides at Russell Mill are well attended and people rave about the quality of the trails.
Click here for Photos Story

Bad side kids are lighting fires over at Crooked Springs
Click here for Photos Story

The Party Side at Byam school is unchanged and not cleaned up (we can’t do that as it School Dept Land).
Click here for Photos Story

You can see Steve Roberts cut a tree and then weed Whack a bees next and run away
Click here for Full Story

Garden retailers and landscapers should be aware of Late Blight caused by Phytophthora infestans – a very destructive and very infectious disease that kills tomato and potato plants in gardens and on commercial farms in the eastern U.S.

Late blight is the same disease that caused the Irish Potato Famine in the 1840s. It has been in the US for over a century, but it has never occurred this early and this widespread. It not only threatens home gardens, but also the thousands of acres of commercial potatoes and tomatoes that are grown in Massachusetts and across New England. The disease has been diagnosed on tomato transplants throughout the Northeast. Infected plants were distributed throughout the region by several plant retailers this spring. This disease is not seed borne however, it is exceptionally contagious, and can spread to tomato plants on retail shelves not involved in the original and initial source of the inoculum.

Late blight, affects both potato and tomato crops. It produces spores very rapidly and these move very easily from one garden or field to others, because the spores are easily carried in wind currents to infect susceptible plants in even the most remote area in our region. All tomato and potato plants grown in home gardens and in commercial fields are susceptible to late blight!

What to Look For
The most common early symptoms on tomato transplants are brown lesions on stems, with white fungal growth developing under moist conditions.

Symptoms appear as large (at least nickel-sized) olive-green to brown spots on leaves with slightly fuzzy white fungal growth on the underside when conditions have been humid or wet. Sometimes the lesion border is yellow or has a water-soaked appearance. Leaf lesions begin as tiny, irregularly shaped brown spots. Brown to blackish lesions also develop on upper stems. Firm, brown spots develop on tomato fruit. Late blight can be confused with early blight and Septoria leaf spot, two common diseases found in home gardens. If the lesion has a yellow border and is occurring on the bottom of the plant, it is likely due to infection of either early blight or Septoria leaf spot.


Photo gallery of what to look for:
http://www.hort.cornell.edu/department/Facilities/lihrec/vegpath/photos/lateblight_tomato.htm
http://blogs.cornell.edu/hort/2009/06/26/late-blight-a-serious-disease-killing-tomatoes-and-potatoes-this-year/

To confirm a diagnosis contact the University of Massachusetts Plant Diagnostic Laboratory, (413) 545-3208 or see http://www.umass.edu/agland/diagnostics/index.html. There is a $50 fee for lab diagnostics.

Management
If symptoms are already appearing on plants, remove plants, place in a plastic bag, seal and discard in the trash or completely bury plants deep enough underground so plants decompose and will not re-sprout. Do not put the plants in a compost pile as spores will still spread from this debris.
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To manage late blight with fungicides, treat before symptoms appear. Use a product that contains chlorothalonil listed as the active ingredient on the label. There are ready- to- use formulations available. Fungicides are only effective if used before the disease appears and should be reapplied every 5-7 days if wet weather persists. Chlorothalonil is a protectant fungicide, with no systemic movement in the plant, so thorough coverage is necessary. For organic farmers and gardeners, the options are very limited, since only copper fungicides can be used, and copper is not very effective on late blight.

Even with fungicide applied every week, there is no guarantee of success, especially if the rainy weather continues.

For more information, see
http://www.umassvegetable.org/index.html

We will be cleaining up the dead apple trees and working to cut and save the rest of the apple trees at red wing (old ones) Sat starting at 9am. We can use help!

We will be at Red Wing all Day Friday July 17th. Evceryone welcome to come on over and help out. If you can;t find us buzz my cell at 978-273-1474

Help put together the 'Your Open Space' float for the July 4th Parade.

Prepare Float:

We will be down at Jone's Farm Greenhouses (in front of Sunny Meadow on Rt. 27) at 12:00 noon this Friday July 3rd. to decorate the trailer for the parade.

Ride the Float in the Parade:

Come ride the float on the 4th! We line up at 7:30am at McCarthy, parade starts at 10:00am Not everyone has to be there at 7:30am, but try to board the float before we depart at 10:00am.

More information about this year's parade can be found at: http://www.chelmsfordparade.com/

Busy weekend ! see what we got up to.

Click here for pictures of Beach Cleanup
Click here for Apple Orchard Restoration
Click here for Scouts camp at Red Wing Farm
Click here for Chelmsford Women of Today donate Table to Beach
Click here for donation from NEMBA