Committees are groups of garden volunteers who work together in an ongoing capacity to help run and maintain our community garden space. Any member or associate may join a committee. If you would like to join a committee you can sign up on your registration form, at the spring general meeting, or by sending an email to rigardenclub@gmail.com.

Here is a Further Description of RIGC's 2022 Committees:

Standards
The Standards Committee is responsible for ensuring that community members maintain their gardens and pathways to our collective standards so that RIGC is a source of natural beauty on Roosevelt Island. The committee meets monthly to assess all the gardens in the club according to the Rules and Regulations. This committee also communicates with members and the Board about any needs that may arise regarding the proper maintenance of individual gardens. Join this committee if you are committed to beautifying our garden or want to learn more about small garden design.

Rose Garden
The Rose Garden Committee is responsible for planting and maintaining the Rose Garden. The Committee has a community education and pruning day in April and meets monthly together or in small groups to maintain the rose garden. Join this committee if you want to learn or share skills on growing roses and clematis.

Outreach & Publicity
The Outreach & Publicity Committee works with education and community-building activities and engages with the broader Roosevelt Island community. There are one-off and ongoing ways to participate. Signing up means you can  assist with events if interested or you can work on garden signage or the website. Past projects have included: hosting garden visits; offering free classes for youth; or participating in Roosevelt Island Day and Fall for Arts. Join this committee if you like writing, graphic design, or art activities.

Maintenance
The Maintenance Committee manages and oversees maintenance projects and is responsible for the upkeep of tools and equipment. Maintenance projects are planned and executed as they arise. Members work in supervised small groups on planned work days. Past projects have included: upgrading pathways, upgrading the wooden borders surrounding each plot, water line repair, hose maintenance, cleaning and repairing tools, and others. Join this committee if you want to learn or share skills related to carpentry, using tools, and building the physical infrastructure of the garden.

Landscape & Common Areas
The Landscape & Common Areas Committee is responsible for planting and maintaining the garden’s borders, exterior perimeters and common areas. The committee meets for about two planning meetings per year, and members plant and maintain the landscape areas in small groups on their own time or on agreed upon work days. Join this committee if you want to learn or share skills with the aesthetics of landscape design, pruning, soil and plant care.

Compost
The Compost Committee returns all types of organic matter to the Earth. We have varied tasks and a relaxed schedule. Outreach is a big part of what we do, so it’s not all bugs and banana peels.  No experience necessary. New associates and gardeners are especially welcome. Mother nature does most of the work. We just need to learn, then teach each other how to get out of the way.

Ad Hoc Pest Control – Mosquitoes
 This team’s goal is to reduce mosquitoes in the garden by deploying traps, dunks, mosquitofish, and reporting standing water.
 
Ad Hoc Pest Control – Rats
 This team’s goal is to reduce the rat population. Some members spray bleach onto paths to make them less welcome and other members add bait (ex: peanut butter) to the dozen traps that are scattered about the club for their extraction.
 
Ad Hoc Pest Control – Spotted Lanternflies
This new team will be on the hunt for the Spotted Lanternfly. Looking for members who might be skilled to help build traps and others who can patrol, capture, and destroy the insect as well as their eggs. Spotted Lanterflies have been seen in small numbers within the garden. The issue is small now but this team will meet to discuss future steps to help prevent this from becoming a problem.
 
Have other ideas for a short or long-term project? Let us know by emailing rigardenclub@gmail.com!
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The Standards Committee favorite job is to acknowledge the excellent work that gardeners do. Our review is conducted over time, in the course of the year, for plots in sun or shade, for flowers or vegetables.

Best May Garden:  A02 Ali Schwayri
Best June Garden: A03 Aiesha Eleusizov
Best July Garden:  A01 Beverly Shutes
Best August Garden: C28 Curtis Lowrey
Best Sept Garden: D05 Dorothy Skelin
Most Improved:     D01 Jorg Meyer

The gardeners on the Standards committee work hard every year and this year they had to reboot our regular seasonal inspections. Standards motivates us all to take the time to slow down and to come out and garden! As a community garden, we take our responsibility to the earth and to our neighbors on the waitlist seriously. We promote active gardening in this space that we share with the visiting public and the standards committee works hard to help us do that.  Join them! 

Some plot holders keep vegetable gardens, others choose herbs, flowers, and berries. Some garden in sun and others in shade. Some gardeners prefer a natural style with native plants for birds and pollinators, others plant perennials and annuals into a formal rock garden or traditional style. Whatever gardeners choose, it is important to be active and to come out to enjoy your plot. 

Thank you, RIGC Standards!