Pallet Gardening

Getting Creative with Recycled Materials!

Community Gardeners experimented with some vertical growing space in the garden during our recent Pallet Garden Building Workshop!

Using strategies inspired by Life on the Balcony,  we have planted the walls of our wood pallet tool shed with all kinds of edibles...rosemary, radicchio, cucumbers, cabbage, brussel sprouts and even corn! 

We incorporated a variety of recycled and donated materials in this project - starting with the wood pallets that we collected for free, and including all the plants donated by Wendy from the garden center at Sobey's!

These pallet gardens are a great way to maximize growing area when your space is limited...the perfect herb garden for your balcony!  And cheap to boot! - pallets are easily collected for free, you'll need a couple of bags of potting soil, landscape fabric, staples and seedlings!

At this workshop, we also planted 4 extra pallets that we intend to use as walls for our  temporary greenhouse.  These living walls will also create an abundance of thermal mass to maintain temperatures in our greenhouse during our cold mountain nights.    We will be working with a combination of pallets and hoops in a creative passive solar design that is most appropriate for our northern climate, and uses as much recovered material as possible!

Summer Workshop Schedule

Looking to get involved!?

Pallet Garden Building: Monday July 18 6-8pm @ the garden 
(free for members - otherwise $20)
Learn to build a beautiful garden out of recycled materials... a perfect herb garden for your balcony! Hands-on learning, and find out where to get free material for your own!

Wild & Edible Herb Walk - With Blaine Andrusek : Sunday July 24, 9am-5pm 
($70 members/$80 non-members)
A day-long excursion with master herbologist Blaine Andrusek whose colourful stories will guide us through traditional and medicinal uses of the many edible plants in our valley lending indigenous insight and cultural flavour to our understanding of the wilderness around us.

Soil Building Session: Tuesday August 2, 6-8pm @ the garden 
(free for members - otherwise $20)
What makes good garden soil? Learn about the basic components of healthy soil and how we can build it!  We'll explore various methods of composting - with worms and otherwise, mulching, cover-cropping, green manuring, and compost tea!

Garden Party - Potluck-style: Saturday August 13 @ the garden 5pm - 9pm
Full Moon Celebration and Open Garden! Come celebrate and experience the garden in it's abundance, and to dance and have fun! Bring a dish to share with a list of ingredients, your drums, your hoops, and your smiles!

Canning & Preserving with Jenn Chic : Saturday September 10 - 10am-4pm 
( $100 members, $120 non-members including supplies)
 Learn the simple art of preserving summer bounty!  Whether making jam or pickles, drying herbs or freezing pesto, making your own tea blends or dehydrating food for the backcountry, Jenn will demonstrate simple and practical methods for your own kitchen, and then students will roll up their sleeves to make batches of jam and hot pack pickles to take home!

Contact canmorecommunitygardening@gmail.com 
to register for our summer programming!

Wild & Edible Plant Walk with Blaine Andrusek

Sunday, July 24th 9am-5pm
Cost: $70 / $80 CCG Members/Non-Members
Spaces available: 18

Canmore Community Gardening Presents:
Blaine Andrusek, Master Herbologist, who will guide us on a day-long excursion to identify edible and medicinal plants in the forests, marshes and meadows around Canmore! 

He will teach us about the wild plants in our backyards, their uses and the indigenous stories behind them. His personal and colourful lecturing style keeps education fun, yet extends his passion and reverence for the plant kingdom. Also a widely published photographer and writer, Blaine has illustrated numerous field guides and appeared in magazines as prestigious as Canadian Geographic. 

Blaine began working with plants in the mid 70’s. He studied extensively with Wild Rose College in Calgary, where he now teaches Herbology and other programs. Blaine’s affiliations include faculty membership with several colleges, institutions, and advisory boards throughout Western Canada, the U.S. and abroad.

In season, Blaine conducts Herb Walks throughout Western Canada, introducing his students to hundreds of wild plants and their limitless uses. His version of ‘walking the talk’ has included wilderness treks of over 3 months living entirely off the land. It’s comforting to know his many stories are backed by firsthand experience!

To Register, email: canmorecommunitygardening@gmail.com
Spaces are limited and will fill fast, so register early!