Helping Our Garden Grow

A garden always needs lovin' and there are many  ways that you can get involved this season! If you are ready to take on a more committed role in the garden, or feel inspired to take on a building project...we've got something for you!

Garden Volunteer Positions:

Irrigation Master:
Duties - Maintain hoses, nozzles, cisterns in good working condition.  Notify Garden Coordinator of any missing or broken pieces.  Keep hoses tidy, clean, rolled.  Help gardeners keep cisterns filled, and offer assistance/guidance to gardeners regarding proper use of hoses and cisterns.  Ensure everything is properly stored for winter.

Maintenance Specialist:
Duties -Maintain garden tools in good working condition.  Keep garden structures such as fence, gate, tool shed, tool box, cistern stands, etc. in safe, working condition.  When large-scale maintenance is required, work with Garden Coordinator to organize work party of gardeners.  Ensure proper steps are taken to store/shut down everything at season's end

Fence Garden Gurus (2-3):
Duties -  Plan, plant, irrigate, and otherwise maintain gardens along the exterior of the fence.  Keep an eye on perennials, tending to as needed, and plant appropriate annual flowers etc. around entrance, along front and east sides.

Garden Log Keeper:
Duties -  While all gardeners may make notes in the Garden Log, the 'Keeper' is responsible for making regular entries, including: map of communal garden, planting dates, weather observations, notes on which plants thrive/fail, notes about what work may need doing, what is ready to harvest etc.

Bloggers:
Duties - to add occasional or regular Blog and Facebook posts. 1) posting about what has been going on in the garden 2) posting relevant gardening resources 3) a personal log of a community gardener's experiences

Garden Projects:

Constructing a Tomato House:
Project Details: Using recovered windows, and as many recovered/recycled materials possible, design and construct passive solar-style hot house for tomatoes and other heat-loving crops on north side of garden.  Work with Garden Coordinator to compile materials list and budget, and to organize building party.

Garden Signage:
Project Details: Design and paint Welcome Sign for garden entrance, Notice Board for gardener use just inside gate, visitor signs including Water Works. Work with Garden Coordinator for budget/supplies

Constructing Cistern Stand:
Project Details: Construct cistern stand at north end of garden in the same fashion as the previous stands.  Work with Garden Coordinator to compile materials list, budget.

If you would like to volunteer please contact us at:
canmorecommunitygardening@gmail.com


 

Seed Harvest, Garlic Planting & Garden Closing

Time to gather our seeds, plant our garlic and put our garden to rest for the season!

 

Sat. Oct .15th 12-3ish.

* We'll collect our seeds for drying
* Plant Russian Garlic for next year
* Harvest the rest of the herbs
* Clear and Mulch our beds



See you in the garden this weekend!

--

Testing the Waterworks in our Garden

After our Water Solutions Brainstorming Session last week, we've decided to test the waterworks in our garden to make sure they are working as designed before we go ahead and replicated them in the second half of our garden.

There was some concern over the amount of water used in our Wicking Beds this season, which is more than should be necessary, there are several reasons that this might be:
a) The reservoirs are leaking: Perhaps the black plastic used to line the reservoirs wasn't durable enough, has been punctured by the rocks and is allowing water to seep into the ground.
or
b) The beds aren't 'wicking' properly: the gravel used to fill the reservoirs is too porous and the "wicking action" of the beds is not actually working as it should,
or
c) Gardeners are over-watering:  the purpose of the beds is to limit and even sometimes eliminate the need for top watering.  Perhaps gardeners are unsure of how much water their gardens really need, or are skeptical about how effective the wicking beds really are, or watering habits just need to change.

So, Julia and Ryan tested  the beds for leaks.  They filled all of the beds on Thursday Sept. 20th, and recorded how much time was needed to fill the reservoir.  They came back to check the following day, topped up each bed, and again noted how long the reservoir took to fill, the idea being that if any took remarkably longer than the rest this indicated there might be a leak.
See their results here.
They concluded that there are just a few beds that are taking significantly longer than the others to fill, and should be checked for leaks.

This weekend, Robin, Avni, Adam and Chrystel tested different reservoir materials to see if any worked better than others.  We looked at the gravel currently in our beds, sand, a mixture of the two and wood mulch.

We also decided to do a test dig in Robin's bed to see if it is working as it should.  At 11/2" below the surface the soil was an optimal moisture, and remained that way right to the bottom.  We also saw evidence of really healthy and deep root growth from the plants that had been growing there as they also reached right to the bottom of the bed. 

We folded back the landscape fabric to reveal wet rocks, and found the water level 6" below the surface of the reservoir. 

We then timed how long it took to fill. 
 After 8 mins the reservoir was full and the over-flow drain worked perfectly. 

We've left the hole open (though covered) to monitor over the next few days how quickly the water level diminishes. 
We're pleased that the results indicate that the wicking beds are functioning just as they are designed to!

How Does our Garden Grow?

Gardeners celebrated the first season's bounty of greens, herbs, edible flowers and new friends under the August full moon recently.  

Thanks to the rich injection of nutrients from our enormous pile of horse manure, carefully selected seed varieties, and the tremendous amount of love and care that this garden has seen this year, our beds are flourishing with tasty additions for our summer salad menus!
The squash, cabbage and beans are thriving in our hoop garden, the arugula, mizuna, tat soi, and curly cress are adding zing to our salad bowls, our swiss chard crop is prolific, the potatoes substantive,  the sweet pea blooming, the calendula robust, the bok choi adds flare, the sage offers wisdom, the stevia a sweet finish...

But most importantly...we've had lots of fun! We've made new friends, shared seeds and the secrets of the trade, made peace with the rabbits, frolicked with the aphids, experimented with living walls, and gotten creative with up-cycled materials (check out our tin can roof! and old CD scarecrows). There's always room for experimentation and innovation in the garden... where our veggies grow, smiles bloom!

We saw our first frost on August 27th, and have had a couple more since September rolled in.  Our nasturtiums, squash and amaranth are suffering frost bite, and it looks like we'll sample some fried green tomatoes this year as our season quickly nears it's end.  Lots of frost-hardy varieties still going strong though...greens and herbs abound, so keep the harvest coming!

As we approach season's end, we are beginning to develop a design for the remainder of garden and we invite your input!
What is the highlight of the garden this year?
What would you like to see more of?
What didn't work so well for you?
How would you like to be involved? Plot renter? Communal gardener?

Please let us know! canmorecommunitygardening@gmail.com

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!

Community Garden Water Strategy:

Water is the first consideration in any garden, landscape or ecosystem.  In our garden, our water access is limited and in an effort to be as resource-efficient as possible, we must be wise and mindful of our water use.

Water is stored in our garden in the cistern next to the garden entrance, and also in the reservoirs in the bottom of the wicking beds.  Each reservoir holds approximately 1/3 of the volume of the cistern, and should not need filling more often than once a week.

For now, the hose will run from the hospital to fill our cistern and wicking beds on
Tuesday, Friday and Sunday evenings. 

We will re-assess this schedule around mid-July to determine if it is meeting our needs. Feedback is welcome!

Please do not draw from the cistern to fill the wicking beds, wicking beds should be filled only when the hose is running at the above times.

The cistern water should be used for the communal beds and for top watering the wicking beds when necessary.


Please take the following into consideration when watering your garden bed:

1) Mulch! water evaporates from exposed soil, and a layer of straw, or other mulch will do wonders to retain the moisture in your garden!

2) Cover Crop! again, keeping the soil covered goes a long way to keeping moisture in your bed.  Planting a nitrogen-fixing species, greens or other cover crop in between all your larger plants will help limit evaporation.

3) Soil should not be wet, just a little moist is good.  Often if the soil appears dry on the top, it remains moist just below the surface.  You can check by poking your finger in a little ways.

4) top watering encourages the roots of our plants to remain near the surface of the soil, whereas allowing water to wick up from the bottom encourages deep root growth thus strengthening our plants

5)please help us monitor the efficacy of the wicking beds by recording your observations in the water section of the Garden Log (Glog)... last section, little green book in the green tool box.

Happy Gardening!

GLog and Greenhouse Assembly!

The GLog is now in the green box in the garden.  Green notebook titled Garden Log ...you'll notice different sections -
 "daily tasks" i'll try to keep a running list of what needs doing, but feel free to add to this if you notice something has been overlooked or needs tending to.
 "communal gardener sign in" to track the number of hours that have been spent in the garden
 "garden observations" a log of what you have seen and done in the garden
 "wildlife observations" any activity, damage, attractant, or whatever noteworthy behaviour you might notice.
there is one section currently untitled, and i'm thinking this should be our "water log" ...to track how often we fill the cistern (and wicking beds) in order to monitor our seasonal useage.

with regards to water, we are using a lot as we establish our garden, keeping our seeds and seedlings moist until their roots are established. One strategy for limiting our need for water is to mulch our garden beds which is what has been done this afternoon with the bean/squash bed - you'll notice the straw the next time you're in!

we have a group project that needs doing: assemble our greenhouses! wondering if anyone is keen to do this tomorrow (Friday June 24) in the early evening (5-7pm...although i hope it doesn't take that long!)??  please respond to canmorecommunitygardening@gmail.com if you are keen, and if we have 2 or more takers let's make it a date!

Communal Gardening!

For those of you who haven't seen the garden in the last day or two, it has been green-washed !  On saturday we transplanted the seedlings that had been started for us by Club Green at the high school which gives us a great start to a late season - we've got herbs galore, edible flowers, squash, cucumbers, cabbages and more!

We'll be seeding on Tuesday evening at the Solstice Garden Party ...5pm for the Official Garden Opening, and at about 5:30 we'll start doing our seeding! so come on out!

We also finally have the rest of the parts (and an instructional DVD) to assemble our little greenhouse, so i'm looking for volunteers to help out with this (i'm useless with these things).  I'm bringing the parts to the garden today (Monday) and there will be a group of people at the garden tonight between 6-8pm assembling the last of the wicking beds and doing some planting.  If we could get the greenhouse up tonight, we could transplant our tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and more into it tomorrow!

Most of you have been in touch with Heather who is putting together a calendar for garden tasks - see her to sign up for a time that works best for you. 

We also have a "Water Task Force" who are looking into innovative ways to capture rainwater for our garden.
May, Corey, Ryan and Chris are currently doing research and getting creative with water solutions, so if you have an interest in participating in this be in touch with that crew.

Anne, our resident potato expert has taken the lead of "Team Potato" who will be responsible for hilling, monitoring and otherwise tending to our prolific potato crop, so if this is something you'd like to be involved with, be in touch with Anne.

Thanks everyone for all your work...you are amazing!

Now Accepting Applications!

Canmore Community Gardening is delighted to invite you to participate in the first season of the Community Garden located north of the hospital at 1100 Hospital Place!

Applications due June 14th, 2011
(short notice, we know, but we want to get gardening as soon as we can!)

Canmore Community Gardening Membership is required for all applicants.
    Individual - $10 one-time fee. 
    Family - $20 one-time fee.  (Includes up to 2 adults + unlimited kids under 16)

Please consider the 2 types of community gardening offered this season:

Allotment Garden Plot
    $50/season for a 8’ x 4’ raised ‘wicking bed’.  There are 15 of these available for rent.  Gardeners maintain their beds autonomously within the organic community gardening guidelines. 
   
    Allotment gardeners agree to participate in a Wicking Bed Installation and Orientation Workshop from 10am-2pm on either June 18th or 19th.
   
Communal Gardening
 
$30/season for participation in the communal garden beds which mounded beds,  fenceline, and small greenhouse.  The communal gardens are intended to allow gardeners to share in both the responsibility and the bounty of the garden.  First-time gardeners have an opportunity to work alongside those with more experience, and this arrangement allows flexibility for those who vacation or have limited time in the summer.   Max 30 gardeners.
 
Communal gardeners agree to participate in a minimum of 2 weekend work parties throughout the season, commit a minimum of 1-2 hours/week to the garden, and agree to work cooperatively with other gardeners, and responsibly share the garden harvest.



Email canmorecommunitygardening@gmail.com for your application form!