Garden Construction

The new proposed garden design. If you have any comments or concerns please let us know!

New additions:

• 4 communal plots for education and the food bank
• 1 more community bed for garden members
• Naturalization and beautification of the rock area
• Addition of a sitting area
• Place the donated concrete containers in the seating area

Gardening Question and Answer with Rita

Q&A – Douglasdale Community Garden

1- What lessons did we learn from last year?

Plant your seeds as early as possible as we have a very short growing season. Some vegetables are tolerant of cooler weather and can be planted now e.g. spinach, lettuce, radishes, peas, onions, dill, and broad beans. Veggies such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers are not tolerant of the cold and should not be planted till after the last frost-free date (which is generally after the full moon in late May or early June).

Think creatively when planting. Circular planting allows you to get greater volumes from small garden space. If you use the traditional row method you can decrease the space between rows for smaller plants (radishes, spinach).

Choose plants with care, avoiding those that will become too large for the space.

Only plant annuals. Perennials are not allowed, as you need to completely clean your plot at the end of the season.

You may want to fence in your plot to protect it from two and four legged critters.

Don’t forget to thin out your radishes, carrots and other crops to allow for better growth.

Until we have a composter, bring bags to put your weeds and other garbage in.

If you’re going to be away, see if one of your gardening neighbours can help look after your plot in your absence.

2- What do you need to know to prepare your plot and start planting?

Prepare the soil for planting by raking it and breaking up any large clumps. You may wish to add more soil and amend it with organic fertilizer.

Plan your plantings – You may want to graph your planting schedule on paper before you start. Think about the space requirement for each plant and the volume of produce you desire (one zucchini plant will provide enough zucchini for your and all your friends).

Plant larger plants on the north side of the plot so they won’t shade out sun loving shorter plants. You can start planting cold tolerant plants now and the more sensitive, after the last frost free date.

Check your seed packets for dates to maturity and choose seeds with the lowest maturity date keeping in mind our season can be as short as 80 days.

Best planting time is in cool weather, late afternoon or cloudy day. Plant according to instruction and water lightly and frequently until established. Thin seedlings as needed.

3- Crop rotation

It’s good gardening practice to change or rotate plant family location every year. This discourages disease organisms and insects ability to infect plants. Another reason for rotation is to avoid depletion of soil nutrients. Some crops such as brassicas (cabbage family) are heavy feeders depleting the soil of nutrients. Others are light feeders (root crops) draining very few nutrients from the soil in a growing season, and some are nitrogen fixing (peas, beans). Divide your plot into 3 or 4 sections and in each section plant veggies belonging to the same family. Rotate plant groupings each year planting light feeders where heavy feeders were the year before.

4- What fertilizer should I use?

The best fertilizer is compost or worm castings, but failing that, I would recommend an organic fertilizer. Donna Balzer recommends kelp or fish fertilizer. Some of my gardening friends swear by alphalfa pellets. I use and like Sea Soil. You want to stay away from animal manure fertilizers at this time of year as they could burn your plants. Once your into the growing season, pay attention to your plant growth. Leafy plants such as salad greens require nitrogen to promote leaf growth and plants such as tomatoes require phosphorus.

5- Plant inoculants.

Plants such as peas and beans benefit from plant inoculants (powder you can purchase from gardening store). Inoculants are used to promote growth and overall health of the plant. For faster germination, soak seeds in water the day before planting, then shake seeds in inoculants, coating them and finally plant them according to instructions on packet. You will find the inoculants will contribute to a sturdier, larger, healthier plant and will promote greater fruit.

Meeting Minutes–May 12 2011

DOUGLASDALEGLEN/QUARRY PARK COMMUNITY GARDEN GENERAL MEETING MINUTES

Date: Thursday, May 12, 2011

Time: 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Location: ABC Country Restaurant

Meeting Chairperson: Brian Farewell

Opening Comments – Brian Farewell

• This is year two and currently we have 30 beds all spoken for and 2 people on the waiting list
• Need to discuss Construction/Planning – building the next phase
• We have more plans than time and money
• Three year project
• This year we hope to share more information with one another
• Rita Bendig is heading up the education piece
  • What we learned
  • What we want to learn
• Needed to spend more time together both socially and learning about gardening
• We had a late start last year
• Will do a round table of introductions
• A couple of weeks ago, numbers were placed on the Garden beds
• List sent around the table to verify bed number assignment along with e-mail contact information

Highlights from Year One – Kayley Fesko

• Great to see interest expressed in starting the Community Garden
• All beds were taken
• Building the beds – spent 3 days getting it all set up – lots to learn
• New ideas, new faces
• Purchasing benches – sanding and staining them
• Large rock donated
• Bringing in the irrigation
• Janet from the Calgary Horticultural Society coming to the garden to give us a crash course on gardening
• Park ‘n Play ‘n Stay for the kids

For information purposes for the newcomers to the Garden, here is a brief overview regarding the build last year:

v Original build date was slated for May 29 & 30, 2010, however weather was not cooperative

v Moved build to the next weekend - evening of Friday, June 4^th, 2010, staked out where the beds would go

v Saturday and Sunday June 5^th & 6^th, 2010, cut the sod to make way for the cedar beds, started building the beds, all done with the exception of two (completed shortly thereafter)

v Saturday and Sunday June 12^th & 13^th, 2010, laid down pea gravel, placed cedar beds on top, lined the beds with fabric and shoveled in the dirt, plots assigned and planting begun

Round Table Introductions

Financials – Janet Schaerer

• We currently have $10,768.00 to work with

Next Steps - Discussion

• The weekend of May 28^th and 29^th have been slotted as construction weekend
• We can build 10 additional plots (as per the City of Calgary, who owns the park, and the Community Association who is the lease holder of the area)
• Warren MacPhee did some checking on prices and costs are up approximately 10% for the materials (cedar to build the beds)
• Current beds need to be stained – top board may start curling without protection
• Several of the top boards need to be screwed down
• Dirt needs to be topped up
• Communal Beds
  • Used for education
  • Create food for the Food Bank
  • Offset vandalism so it would be for people walking through the park
  • Plants that offer food for everyone in the Community Garden
  • Need to be high enough that people in wheelchairs could access
  • Need to be low enough for little kids to access

• Need a Shed
  • For tools
  • Keep the key to turn on water
  • Push lawn mower (in case we need to mow grass around beds)
  • Options for type of shed are lean-to type against the rink shack, or lower type shed as we don’t want to spoil the visual in the area

· Signage – inform everyone this is a Community Garden and everyone is welcome

· Vandalism was very minimal last year – a few kids had run through the garden beds, and one bed was spray painted

• Beautification around perimeter
• Composter – minimize people leaving vegetation beside their beds
• Do we want donated exposed aggregate pots – brought up by Linda Fesko – there are 3 different sizes and heights, can be delivered – vote from the members is yes, would be great for our garden – create some interest
• Need a team to decide where benches will go and where additional beds will go – Kayley, Linda, Hilary, Sharon, and Silvana have volunteered (aka the Design Team)
• Kayley will investigate getting more dirt for topping up the beds
• Some concern regarding abandoned beds – ground rules – if by a specific date, nothing growing and has the appearance of being abandoned, then owner should be contacted and bed may be assigned to someone else
• Community Garden members agreed to build 3 additional beds this year, plus 2 or 3 communal beds (size of communal beds will be the same as the current beds, but the design will be different)
• The University of Calgary Design Team had visualized gravel paths
• Possibility of having gravel / shale / mulch / paving stones for pathways, and under and around benches – will be investigated by the Design Team
• We have approximately $1500.00 budgeted for nicer looking gravel, fabric, edging for around beds, benches
• Estimate cost for building the beds, purchasing the fabric and pea gravel is approximately $2500.00
• Staining the current beds – Brian Farewell will look into this, needs to be environmentally friendly – 3 gallons to start with (approximate cost $200.00) – Roy, Rita, Kim, and Melanie volunteered to work with Brian on this team
• Pam MacPhee looking into signage, possibility of a metal plaque or sand blasting the stone (need involvement of the Community Association), Warren will investigate costs for sand blasting on rock
• Other possibilities for signage are a covered roof type with shingles (approximate cost $1000.00) with tile mosaic on it, back side could be used as a message board to post things (or just use e-mail for messaging), need to recognize donors
• Janet and Brian will talk to Shifra (President of the Community Association) as to what the associations’ idea is for the rock (should mention donors on the rock)
• Shed / Composter Team – Roy and Warren - some preliminary investigation completed by Hilary (composter needs to be quite big and covered, some are not that eye-pleasing), Kayley will check with Guy at the City of Calgary Parks Department to see what the height restrictions are
• Additional idea brought forward is that Shed and Composter could be side by side

Gardening and Planting – Education Piece by Rita Bendig

• Cool crop seeds can be planted now (radishes, spinach, lettuce, peas, onions, dill)
• People and critters interfere – little fences were erected at some beds (chicken wire, mesh) – these fences need to be removed at the end of the season – liability issues)
• To deter critters, place strong smelling herbs on the perimeter of your garden bed - blood meal can also be used
• If members want to plant now, they can do so, but make a note so that their bed won’t be topped up with dirt
• Remember, nights are still cool, and still best to plant after the full moon in May or early June
• Don’t plant anything yet that is susceptible to frost (tomatoes, squash, peppers)
• Think creative when planting
• Rows are not the best way to plant
• Circular or square gardening is the best use of space
• Nitrogen fixers – legumes, take nitrogen from the air and put into soil
• Rotate planting from year to year – never plant same plant in same area (this will ward off insects and pests that may have been in that area with that type of plant)
• Thin out radishes and carrots – when 2 to 3 inches tall, start to thin out, come back a week later and thin out again (incrementally), plants need space to grow a good size vegetable
• Fertilizers – need to be organic, good to amend soil, kelp or fish fertilizer, sea soil (moist and rich, retains moisture), alfalfa pellets (high in nitrogen, slow degradable fertilizer)
• Compost is the best thing to use
• Worm Castings are like black gold
• Plant inoculants – good for legumes (peas and beans), soak seeds, place in inoculants powder, then plant as soon as possible, provides micro-organisms – plants grow fast
• Be wary that seeds have an expiry date, when in doubt, throw out and use new
• Book titled ‘From Seed to Bloom’ by Eileen Powell is a good resource
• Feel free to e-mail Rita with your ideas as to what you’d like to learn about to assist with gardening – her e-mail address is rbendig@shaw.ca
• Comments from Roy through his experience in gardening is that seed tapes work very well, no thinning required as they are automatically spaced – tall plants should be planted on the north side so as not to shade other plants

Action Items

Design Team of Kayley, Linda, Hilary, Sharon, and Silvana will determine where the benches and additional beds and communal beds will be situated

Design Team will also determine costs for nice looking gravel, fabric, edging for around beds, benches, arrange for delivery

Kayley will investigate costs for getting more dirt to top up beds and for additional beds

Staining the current beds – Brain Farewell looking into purchasing the product which needs to be environmentally friendly – 3 gallons to start with

Janet and Brian to talk to Shifra (President of the Community Association) as to what the associations’ idea is for the rock (donors should be mentioned on the rock)

Warren MacPhee investigating costs for sand blasting on large donated rock

Pam MacPhee investigating options/costs for signage

Shed / Composter Team – Roy and Warren – will investigate options for design/build

Kayley will check with Guy at the City of Calgary Parks Department to see what the height restrictions are for the composter

Linda Fesko to arrange delivery of donated exposed aggregate pots

Next Community Garden Meeting: Date to be determined

Lessons Learnt

Well, the summer has come to an end and the garden is getting gobbled up. Overall, I thought that the community garden had a very successful first year!

Top three lessons that I’ve learnt throughout the summer:

1. Communication, communication, communication! This is a community garden and found that it was a struggle to manage all the request in a proper manner.

2. Division of Roles. With such a large project it is important to delegate to other people. I found that I was so excited to be a part of all the projects that I didn’t give other people a chance to step up too. Next year, leadership will be selected and people with have specific tasks throughout the summer.

3. Everyone has valuable experience. Not everyone is an expert gardener but throughout the summer I found that every single member had something to offer to the community garden.

If I could go back and change anything would I? Of course, who wouldn’t? I found that the community members really rallied together and made the best of a short time line and even shorter growing season. The construction dates ideally should have been moved earlier into the spring but with weather and other problems popping up we had to make due.

More education! After all the building and working and planting we ran out of time during the summer for more of an education component. I suppose these are growing pains and hopefully someone can take on this role next summer so we can have learning bees instead of just working bees.

Park n’ Play n’ Stay

The Community garden has teamed up with The City of Calgary to provide a space for those growing minds to learn about gardening!

A team of community members got together and created booklets identifying different fruits and vegetables, insects, and weeds found in the community garden.

Alberta Environment donated trees for every child to take home and plant in their home backyard! The kids were very excited to get home to plant their new trees. Hopefully we’ll see them popping up within the next couple of years.

GreenGate donated some vegetables for the children to take care of throughout the week that they are at the garden. This was a big hit! All the kids were willing to get in there and plant their veggies, water them, and make sure there aren’t any weeds cropping up close by!

Overall, the children learnt a lot at the community garden and we hope to continue with our community involvement at a larger scale next summer.

Benefits of the Community Garden

I may be a bit biased when it comes to the benefits of a community garden but I would like to share some of the ones I’ve learnt along the way as well:

Although we had a very short growing season most of the gardeners ended up with lots of goodies to take home to eat. In my little garden plot I ended up with over 150 potatoes to eat throughout the year! Growing veggies closer to home decreases the ‘food miles’ that they will travel in order to get to the grocery store. For example some fruits can come as far as New Zealand (almost 14000 kms). That’s a lot of food miles! Not only are we reducing food miles we are helping to reduce the carbon footprint of our food production.

Since the community garden is organic only there was a reduction in the amount of pesticides on the food there and therefore will be a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

Many ‘fresh’ fruits and vegetables are grown in monocrops which deplete the earth from their natural resources (vitamins and minerals from the soil). Most people grew at least 5 different types of vegetables within their 4 by 8 plot. This helps keep the soil balanced in the soil.

The community garden also provide a natural environment that was also socially sustainable. It became a place where garden members could connect with their environment, other members, and ensure a safe place for children to learn about growing crops from seeds.

Growing Together!

Over the past few weekends and a rain delay, volunteers have constructed the planting beds for the new Community garden. Thank you to everyone who helped! We were very fortunate to get the support of Deck Co who kindly lent us their deck building equipment to speed the process up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Planting has now begun and a walk through the garden shows that everyone has been very busy indeed. Over the next couple of months, gravel pathways will be added along with signage and a feature rock that is being donated by the Community Association (thank you!).

Check back for more information in the coming weeks.