SPEC Rooftop in June

Here are some photos of what's happening on our rooftop garden at SPEC.

Strawberries!

Nasturtiums - both the flower and leaves are edible

this broccoli has a great start

these tomatoes are loving the heat on our rooftop

garlic in the vertical planter - the scapes will soon be snipped and sauteed

lettuce starts to replace those that will soon come out.

It's not all problem free - aphids looove fava beans

a chemical free way of dealing with the problem is to spray them off with a strong stream of water

this gives our beans a fighting chance, so that hopefully we can harvest them in the next weeks



happy food growing!

- marnie

Car Free Day - Commercial Drive

Last Sunday June 20th SPEC hosted a booth on Commercial Drive to tell more people about our organization's work. We chatted with many many folks about organic urban agriculture, renewable energy and waste reduction. SPEC shared our booth with Earth Heart - a new endeavor by Gareth Ward who builds cedar container boxes among other food garden services.

It was a very busy and very inspiring day. Thank you to all who stopped by to say hello!

- marnie

Upcoming Volunteer Times

Hi there!

Yey for summer!

Here are our upcoming volunteer times:

Wednesday June 23rd 530pm-615pm - Cambie Square Communal Garden (West side of Cambie between 10th and 12th, up the stairs)

Friday June 25th 93oam-11am - SPEC Rooftop Container Garden (2150 Maple Street)

Sunday June 28th 11am-12 - Cambie Square Communal Garden

Wednesday June 30th 530-615pm - Cambie Square Communal Garden

We hope to see you!

- marnie

Backyard chickens with Vicky our amazing volunteer

June 1st Gardens Update

Spring is in full force and all the hard work and planning from the previous months is truly paying off.

School Gardens


Students from a nearby school recently brought seedlings they started in their classroom to plant on our rooftop container garden.

Rooftop Garden


Fava beans are flowering on the roof!

Lettuce is harvestable!

Tomato seedlings are in! (Started in Carole's backyard greenhouse)

Cambie Square Communal Garden

New lovely signage care of Jodi Mayne!

We've got bees! Mason bees have moved in to our mason condo (thanks EYA!) you can see they've filled the holes with mud.


- marnie

Happy Mother's Day

Hello Foodie Friends. There has been so much going on that I don't know were to start.

SPEC's summer workshop series is going great (www.spec.roundtablelive.org/events).

Marnie and I did our 'Introduction to Food Production' workshop at SPEC in March.

And, again at the Evergreen Earth Day Festival in April.

The SPEC table at Jericho Park.

Our schools project continues to flourish, as do the spuds in tubs.

Seed session.

Catriona and the teachers.

We were really excited to see the new raised beds.

As for the SPEC rooftop garden, things are really coming up.

Roof workers.

Lettuce succession planting in protected culture.

Betsy is patiently waiting for the strawberries.

Happy Mother's Day to the mom's out there!
Cheers,
Tara

SPEC School Gardens Project in VSB news

Read all about our School Gardens Project this year (truly exciting!) in the Vancouver School Board's district news.

Click here to read "Creating a Buzz about School Gardens"

- marnie

Upcoming Gardening Workshops at SPEC

Want to learn more about gardening in small spaces? Please join us this month at one of our workshops. SPEC is co-hosting or facilitating a workshop every Saturday in April!

Saturday April 10th from 2-4pm learn Concepts in Year Round Gardening from Robin Wheeler



Saturday April 17th from 2-4pm learn about Bees, Birds and Biodiversity from Alicia Embree and Mandy Desautels

Saturday April 24th from 9-12pm explore Soil and Plant Health Management from Grant Watson

Suggested donations vary. Attendance is limited so please view more details and register on our events page here

All workshops to be held at SPEC - 2150 Maple Street, Vancouver

- Marnie

SPEC in April

It's a beautiful yet chilly Friday in April. With the sun shinning brightly it's a great day to take a few photos of our Rooftop Container Garden to share.

We will be starting regular bi-monthly Rooftop work days starting this Friday from 9 to 11am. Come start seedlings with us!


Peas are growing! (Will be transplanted to a larger container)


Anise Hyssop and a Calendula flower


Colourful flowers attract pollinators


Carole brought us these lovely broccoli starts!

- Marnie

March 28th Cambie Planting Day

Jodi and Tina bringing trellises and signs



Mandy and Vicky assessing



The brussel Sprouts and doing just fine



Garlic!



New signs! Thanks Jodi!



Planting potatoes - yukon golds (an early variety)



New raspberry plants


- marnie

March Update

Hello! Here's what's new:

School Gardens Project

Spring is in full swing! Our new school gardens are ready for planting and Catriona and I are busy helping these schools embark on their new adventure while continuing to support our school gardens from last year.

I had a lovely time this morning in a Kindergarten/grade 1 classroom at l'Ecole Bilingue facilitating a soils and compost lesson with Mandy, a dedicated volunteer. We looked at rocks, algae, sand, bark and other soil components and then set up an in-class worm composter. Pictures on their way soon!

Cambie Communal Garden

We're bringing more soil over this Friday and planting our cool weather crops this Sunday March 18th at 11am. Come join us for this planting work party and see all our new additions to the garden. Here's a picture of our new Mason Bee home!



Rooftop Demonstration Garden

We will be doing some work and planting of the roof containers this Friday at 10:30am. Join us at SPEC to lend a hand. Some planting was done on March 15th by students of the neighbouring Fraser Academy. Potatoes, oriental greens, broad beans and radishes amoung others should be sprouting out of our rooftop containers before long.

Workshops

We held an intro to organic container gardening workshop on March 20th at SPEC. Our next workshop is entitled Bees, Birds and Biodiversity and will be held April 17th from 2-4pm at SPEC. Cost is $10 per participant. Register here

Advocacy

Check out this link www.cban.ca/Take-Action/Support-Bill-C-474 and send an important email by March 29th to protect our seeds!

- marnie

School Gardens Update February

Hi there,

Ah, Spring! While my grammar teachers have taught me that the season shouldn't be capitalized I think it deserves the honour. While yes, of course I realize that it's only February, and Spring doesn't officially begin until March 21st, you've got to admit it feels like Spring has reached Vancouver (and I'm banking on "it's here to stay"). Regardless, we're forging ahead with our School Gardens to make sure they're ready for seeding before too long.

Most recently students from one of our participating schools made the trip to their neighbouring highschool's woodshop to construct their wooden planter beds. Made of untreated red cedar these beds will last without leaching harmful chemicals into the garden soil.

Here they are. A great beginning to the garden adventure.



- Marnie

Holiday Reading

This break is turning out to be a great time to catch up on some reading and gather up more inspiration for being a part of Vancouver's urban agriculture movement.

Here are a few good sites for those interested:

1) The Tyee's summer series on urban agriculture in BC - here

2) City Farmer's new News Blog for more international stories - here

Have a safe and happy end to 2009. We hope you have a lovely time welcoming in the New Year and that it is filled with great new resolutions, like growing local.

- Marnie

Happy Holidays

As you wind down for the upcoming holiday season the idea of building an organic food garden might be far from your thoughts. Not here at SPEC!

Our School Gardens Coordinator, Catriona Gordon and our School Gardens Facilitator, Marnie Newell, have been busy attending meetings, doing research and gathering resources to help 4 Vancouver Elementary Schools start their gardens in the spring.

It’s amazing what can go into the process when you’re trying to do things right!

We’ve been discussing garden plans/dreams with incredible teams of passionate people at all of our participating schools. But our goal is to start building the physical infrastructure for our garden as soon as the ground has thawed. This means deciding on the design and materials for garden boxes and raised beds, which are the best options for school gardens (the little guys don’t compact the soil by walking on the beds).

Our teams are learning more and more about what needs to go into a garden to make it successful. Perhaps the most important words here are “teamwork” and “staying power”. Many gardens have been built on school grounds only to be torn down soon after because they fell apart or their creators left them and no one kept them up. This is what we’re working to avoid right now. Schools interested in building a garden should establish a Garden Committee with teachers, parents, students, administrators and the community involved. The more individuals who are ready to commit to the garden’s continued success the better. When the project is a whole school and even a whole community initiative more people become invested in its success and ready to offer their expertise or even supplies to help it thrive and grow.

What has been absolutely inspiring in our experience so far is how many people believe in this work and are ready to donate their time and skills to make it the best it can be. The wealth of resources provided by the internet and other agriculture-related organizations is also astounding.

Keep an eye on this blog to learn more about this work. Updates, insights on school garden design and links to resources are on their way shortly.

posted by Marnie

Winter greetings from City Square!

Here are some images from our last meeting of the year, Dec. 7th.

Our beautiful new sign, created by SPEC volunteers Marcie and Carmen. Thanks so much for your contribution!

Broccoli and Brussel Sprouts still going strong, we look forward to harvesting these in the next couple months!

mmm, already looking delicious...

These were the oats we had planted in September, the most successful of the cover crops we planted. Once turned in, they will help to build the complexity of the soil.

Our gardener Beng, with a celery - harvested in December! Only in Vancouver....

Also parsnips! Although dirty, they are beautiful (and tasty!) A highly recommended crop for winter gardening.

This is one of the many marigolds we planted as a companion to tomatoes and other crops. Now that they have finished their life cycle we can harvest the seeds from the pods for next year.

Just open the dried pods, remove the seeds, and put in an envelope for future use. No need to spend $ on expensive bedding plants.

Our next meeting is Sunday, January 17th at 10am.

Seed catalogues are in, which means soon we will begin planning for next season. Let the fun begin!