Community gardens « Transition Brockville

Transition Brockville archive

Tag : Community gardens (102)

Drought busting #3

The Edible Garden / Edythe Falconer / August 2017

As in all aspects of gardening, we augment the resilience of our plants – come what may – by building and maintaining the best possible soil – well-structured and well fed with regular dosages of organic matter.

It has been said, for example, that up to 75% of plant moisture needs can be met if soil has good structure with the capacity to retain both moisture and nutrients.

What is well known but worth repeating is that the application of organic mulches has a huge impact on plant ability to withstand temperature extremes. Mulching keeps down weeds, killing the competition – and eventually mulch breaks down to become the building material for more of the soil aggregates needed by resilient soils. Also worth mentioning is that mulch helps prevent evaporation and assists in water absorption when you do water or it rains. Organic amendments are also essential for healthy populations of soil microorganisms. These tiny creatures break down organic matter to make nutrients more available to plants.

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Veggies n’ Fruit Community Boost Initiative awardees

Healthy Kids Community Challenge Leeds and Grenville / 7 July 2017

Healthy Kids Community Challenge Leeds and Grenville is pleased to announce awardees of the Veggies n’ Fruit Community Boost Initiative. The Veggies n’ Fruit Community Boost Initiative supports the third Healthy Kids Community Challenge theme, Choose to Boost Veggies and Fruit, and aims to create supportive environments for healthy eating.

Thirteen recipients across Leeds and Grenville have introduced programs that will make it easier for kids and families to choose vegetables and fruit with every meal and snack.

Find out what is happening in your community!

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Cut and come again edibles

The Edible Garden / Edythe Falconer / July 2017

If we want to get the best out of our plants harvesting them a bit at a time is a good idea and doesn’t leave gaps in rows of healthy homegrown goodies. There are several plants that lend themselves readily to this procedure.

Even those of us who don’t grow rhubarb will know that this plant will keep on regenerating throughout the growing season. You in turn as the prospective cook will always have fresh stems near at hand. Top dressing around the plant once or twice per year will ensure good production over time.

There are other plants that are similarly obliging and at least two of them belong to the cabbage family. These are broccoli and broccolini. In the case of broccoli once the main stem has been harvested the plant will keep on producing smaller heads that are just as tasty as the larger first one.

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Confessions of a community garden coordinator

Permaculture Research Institute / Rebecca McCarty / 18 April 2017

Since it is now April, and because spring is (finally!) officially upon us up here in Minnesota in the United States, we’re about to start the next growing season in the community garden that I help to plan and coordinate for. For me, the garden absolutely comes with some excitement of yet another opportunity to grow our own food, to build community, and to get outside and spend some time in nature after being cooped up indoors all winter long.

However, it also comes with many of the responsibilities of management in the human realm. This is a level of management that I hadn’t really fully contemplated when I first got involved with the garden. I don’t really regret my involvement with the garden by any means, but there are many things that I’ve learned so far through my experience as a founding member of a community garden planning and coordinating team since it was established five years ago.

I would like to share just a few of the things that I have learned along the way in community garden planning and coordinating. I hope that by sharing my experiences about the community garden that I am involved with, it will help you if you are considering starting a community garden yourself.

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Supercharge your soil for spring!

Mother Earth News / Benedict Vanheems / 28 March 2017

Now’s the ideal time to enrich your soil for the coming growing season. The best way to do that is to add organic matter to improve soil structure, increase fertility, and feed the essential microbial life that lives in the soil.

A thick layer of organic matter — for instance, compost, animal manure or leafmold — can be spread on the soil surface then forked or tilled in to the top 6-12 inches of soil.

Alternatively, spread organic matter as a 2- 3-inch thick mulch. Earthworms and other beneficial soil organisms will work the mulch into the soil for you. This is the best way to improve soil around perennial plants such as fruit trees and bushes, or around overwintering vegetable crops. Mulching with organic matter also helps to lock in soil moisture by reducing evaporation, which means less watering is needed.

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Unconventional gardening methods: Pros and cons

Mother Earth News / Shelley Stonebrook / February/March 2017

Novel gardening methods go through phases of prominence on the gardening scene. Perhaps made popular by a new book or a reinvigoration of an old method, there’s always some “hot” technique, product, or way to garden. But what’s just hype, and what really works? Which gardening methods have noted advantages? And which methods make sense for small-scale backyard gardeners versus serious homesteaders or market gardeners? Let’s dig into the benefits and potential hang-ups of six gardening styles you’ve likely heard about lately.

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