May 25 Rain is Good

Managed to get lots done in the garden this morning before the rains came ......

arrived to find two of our precious peppers gone - this was rather heartbreaking as they were started from seed and nurtured for three months!!

but on to happier times - harvested some wee potatoes and planted a nice selection of greens and flowers

garden beds are full and look wonderful - May is such an encouraging month ........

and the harvest:  potatoes, radishes, mint, Gai Lan and Yu Choi Sum

May 18 Busy Day in the Garden

The weather was perfect for a good day's work in the garden .....

preparing space for our new raised beds, beds come together, levelled and planted

transplanted a number of tomatoes -

our new Bed 3A holds Fish Lake Oxheart, Yasenichki Yabuchar, Margaret Curtain and Maglia Rosa;
Bed 6 is home to Maglia Rosa, Fish Lake Oxheart, Coastal Pride Orange and Whereokowhai;
with two more tucked in to Bed 4 - Brad's Rose Quartz and Rancho Solito

and a nice selection of cukes (Poona Kheera, Diva, Saber, Muncher) and Thai hot peppers (Orange Fogo and Red Demon)

harvested arugula (starting to bolt) and some yummy radishes

April 13 Weeding Sowing Watering

Check out germination in Bed 3 (radish, peas and arugula).  The mini-greenhouse has provided a few degrees of extra warmth to kick-start our first crops of the season

Used our 2nd mini-greenhouse on Bed 5.  Planted one row each of Red Ace and Early Wonder Tall Top Beets, and one mixed row of Silverado and Eldorado Swiss Chard and Lacinato Kale.

Our strawberry transplants seem to like their new home

The garden is now weed free, trimmed and planted thanks to the hard work of our dedicated volunteers - now we wait - hopefully the potatoes will be showing some green by next week

April 6 More to Sow

Another great turnout at our garden today

Good news - our covered Bed 3 - planted March 23 - is now showing germination on Alderman Peas, Arugula and Radishes .......
and to make for a complete salad we planted Berlicummer Carrots, Amish Deer Tongue Lettuce and Sweet Baby Romaine in Bed 1

our new signs are looking good

 

also planted Super Gourmet Blend Lettuce and Samish Spinach in Bed 11, with two rows of mixed Sweet Peas at the back - we went for the most fragrant - April in Paris, Blue Celeste and Late Spencer Blend

Lots of general garden maintenance and the 2nd mini greenhouse is now complete

 

and the garlic continues to grow

March 30 At The Garden

Good to see so many faces at the garden today .........

Finally felt right to get our chitted potatoes in - used the trench method (plants will be covered as they grow to prevent greening of new potatoes).

We love potatoes - three full garden beds worth!!

Bed 7:  German Butter (Late Season) and Red Chieftain (Mid-Season)
Bed 8:  Yukon Gold (Early Season)
Bed 10:  French Fingerling (Mid-Season) and Russian Blue (Late Season)

Adding soil to Bed 2 in prep for planting two rows of Little Marvel Peas and two rows of Asian Greens - Yu Choi Sum and Gai Lan

March 23 - Spring Has Arrived!!

A brief break from the garden on March 16 due to cold rainy weather ........... but the 23rd was a most productive day

Hedges were trimmed

Bed 3 was planted with Sparkler White Top and French Breakfast radishes, some Arugula and two rows of Alderman peas - trellis for peas will be added after germination

the first of our new signs added to the garden

the mini-greenhouse was covered with plastic and added to Bed 3 to warm the soil and keep excessive rain from rotting our peas

looking good

March 9 Back to the Garden

Good to see everyone at the garden on Sunday - and wonderful to be greeted by the sun .......  our main focus was to weed and clean ......... the garden was in fairly good shape after winter, but time to rake away leaves and catch those first weeds of the season before they go to seed

 We agreed it was time to relocate the flower bed in prep for a new veggie bed - perennials will move to Bed 14.

All Purple Sprouting Broccoli was totally eaten by rodents - but the garlic managed to survive

Our youngest garden volunteer gets ready to dig in

Some new cold frames - great for spinach in March and Peppers in the summer

The garden is now looking tidy and waiting for our first plantings - potatoes and peas - before the end of March

Interested in Volunteering? First Meet Up March 9th

Join other like-minded people and grow good food together!

Volunteers Wanted

There are a number of community gardens in Vancouver, but most have either closed or long wait lists.

Spring is in the air, and if you long to get your hands in the earth, we are seeking people interested in organic gardening (experienced or not) to help plan, plant, weed, maintain and harvest our communal garden. All plots are shared, as is the work load. Those that contribute to the garden share in the harvest.

We meet Sunday mornings, 10 until noon, rain or shine at the garden, so drop in when you can. Our first meet up of the year will be Sunday, March 9^th.

Cambie Square Communal Garden
The Cambie Square Communal Garden is a communally-run demonstration garden, located across from Vancouver City Hall, whose volunteers have a keen interest in food, gardening, biodiversity, and sustainable systems.  Volunteers gather to socialize, share skills, and support each other while growing together.

For More Information

cambiegarden@gmail.com

Transition - August 26

A few dedicated volunteers at the garden this morning ........ but we did manage to water, and plant a nice selection of fall veggies .....

here comes the sun

 
 It is always hard to decide when the summer veggies are done, especially when trying to find space for the fall/winter crops ..............

We managed to fit short rows of these all in to Bed 8

Bed 11 provided space for Bloomsdale Savoy and Samish Spinach and Mammoth Improved Onions

And the fruits of our labours - cucumbers, bush and pole beans, tomatoes, scallions, kale, basil, dill, sage and mint

Back to the Garden August 18

What a great turn out we had for our Sunday get together ...........

check out the flowers, zucchini, zinnia and sunflower

almost hidden by our pole beans and sunflowers, our herb bed is providing dill, mint, sage, basil, parsley and thyme

here's our Russian Blue potato harvest ........... skins seemed rather rough and it appears we may have a case of "elephant hide"

lots to harvest ........ tomatoes are starting to ripen (Black Krim, Black Cherry, Sunset Falls, Sunsugar and Cheerful), kale and beans continue to provide and the peppers (Mucho Nacho, Gypsy and Melrose) are a nice addition to our bounty

the fall planting begins ............. purple sprouting broccoli starts between beds of pole beans, bush beans and kale