Friday, March 28, 2008

snow in spring?!?

Our plans to plant with the children from the daycare didn't work out because of the SNOW! Such is life in a garden.... We will try again to plant with the kids in a couple weeks. stay tuned...

Monday, March 24, 2008

pics from first planting

Lettuce by the composter,
south end of garden
Romaine lettuce and mesclun behind the bench

View of north end of garden,
with trellises and peas

Anna and Zlatko planting lettuce

Vicky with Anna, Zlatko, and Zorka
Teomi planting lettuce
Teomi helping build the trellis

Kiana digging a hole

Sunday, March 23, 2008

March 23

Fun in the garden today! We planted peas, romaine, and mesclun from the Feb 21 planting at UBC. they were huge! We managed to erect two 3'x6' trellises for the peas and planted the greens behind one of the benches and by the compost. A couple little helpers from the condos came to lend a hand planting lettuce - such enthusiasm! To see the garden plan, visit http://www.plangarden.com/share/share.php?userFile=cambiestreet



Next week we plan on planting seeds and seedlings with the children from the City Hall Daycare - more peas and greens, carrots, radishes, and anything else we happen to have. Soon we will be setting up the square foot gardens, an exciting experiment!

Regular meeting time on Sunday mornings, 10ish. All are welcome!

Monday, March 17, 2008

Still Sowing

Things have been busy with our Food Safety and Security Committee. We met last week and went over what needs to be done. Our biggest priorities are preparing for City Square Garden and the SPEC rooftop garden. We are also in the midst of developing workshops related to companion planting and vertical gardening.

Meeting at City Square Garden (6 March 2008)


Food Safety and Security Meeting (10 March 2008)

We started some more seeds on 12 March including:
Spinach (cv. Olympia - 45 days)
Italian Parsley
Basil
Marigold (cv. Bolero)
Marigold (cv. Crackerjack)
Eggplant (Asian trio - 60 - 70 days)(reneesgarden.com)
Tomatillo (cooksgarden.com)
Tomatoes (a whole bunch of varieties including brandy wine, sweetie, purple tomato, orange blossom, Italian pompeii, lollipop, early season, pears, double rich, morgage lifters, garden candy and salt spring nigeria)


Don't forget to turn your compost or else mildew can build up (see container on left)

Saturday, March 8, 2008

March Madness

We have been busy starting seeds and thinking about what to grow for this upcoming season. Most of our seeds that we have sown so far have come from West Coast Seeds (www.westcoastseeds.com). We are meeting every week to do some successional planting so that we have a continuous harvest.

So far this is what we have planted:
Feb 21 2008
Spinach (cv. Olympia - 45 days)
Peas (cv. Snow Green - 100 days)
Looseleaf lettuce (cv. Aminsh Deer Tongue *Heirloom variety - 31 days)

March 5 2008
Lettuce (cv. Baby Green - 70 days)
Lettuce blend (Super Gourmet Salad - 60 - 80 days)
Kale (seeds from Salt Spring Island)
Kale (cv. Red Russian - 50 days)
Kale (rainbow Tuscan - 65 days)
Arugula (30 - 40 days)
Swiss Chard (cv. Fordhook Giant - 60 days)
Swiss Chard (cv. Rhubarb Chard - 60 days)
Swiss Chard (cv. Silverado - 50 days),
Oriental Greens Blend
Shelling peas (Oregon Trail 115 days)
Snap peas (Snow Green - 100 days)
Echinacea
Fennel

Vicky, Carole, Tara and Betsy brainstorming on what to sow.


Vicky gazing at the seeds we sowed on February 21. Misting beds are amazing.