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