Community gardens « Transition Brockville

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Tag : Community gardens (87)

Brockville’s newest community garden plan

snapd 1000 Islands / 16 October 2018

The Food Matters Coalition together with St. John Bosco Catholic School, Gemmell’s Garden Centre – Brockville, Transition Brockville, Volunteer Centre of St. Lawrence-Rideau, City of Brockville and The Leeds, Grenville & Lanark District Health Unit are planning the development of a community garden in the greenspace on the west side of Dana St. just north of Laurier Blvd. intersection. This past Saturday, the groups involved had an Open House to introduce the plan to area residents. The plan is to have the garden up and going for the 2019 growing season.

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Blooming success for Brockville

Recorder & Times / Ronald Zajac / 10 October 2018

In July and August, [Communities in Bloom] volunteer judges [Doreen] Hill and Ron Dubyk travelled to Brockville to evaluate how city officials, local industry and businesses and the overall private sector, including volunteers, had fared in six criteria: Tidiness, environmental action, heritage conservation, urban forestry and trails, landscape and floral displays.

Brockville got a five-bloom rating, and a special mention for heritage from Communities in Bloom Ontario.

“Within the actual context of climate changes and environmental concerns, communities involved in the program can be proud of their efforts, which provide real and meaningful environmental solutions and benefit all of society,” the Communities in Bloom statement added.

“The quality of life in Brockville has been enhanced by the efforts of all its citizens,” Hill told council.

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Mulch: Multitude of benefits

Mother Earth News / Charlyn Ellis / 05 August 2015

The Willamette Valley, usually known for it’s darn near perfect summers—dry, breezy, in the eighties with cool nights—has seen two serious heat waves this summer. One came at the end of June, the second at the end of July. Both were problematic for crops, as they came right when many young transplants were settling into the fields. My own small scale fall and winter garden went in about four days before the second heat wave. How could I keep them alive in the blazing afternoon sun when their roots were not reaching deep into the soil? I mulched. First, I worked all of the residual mulch from the early potato crop into the bed. Then I nested each start in a base of straw mulch laid over the ground and soaker hoses. They all came through. Mulch. Straw, leaves, winter cover crops, cardboard or woodshavings … it’s useful stuff. Placed neatly around the base of young plants and later worked into the soil, it has a multitude of benefits.

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Tips for success in germinating seeds in hot weather

Mother Earth News / Pam Dawling / 27 July 2018

In an earlier post I wrote general themes for starting seeds in hot weather. Here are some specific tricks.

Seed Storage

Viability and vigor of seeds deteriorates when they are stored in warm places, especially if containers are not airtight, and the air is humid. If you have crops you grow in spring and again for the fall, store those seeds in a cool place over the summer.

Chilling lettuce seed can help germination in hot weather. We make a practice of putting our spinach seed in double ziplock bags and putting it in the freezer for two weeks before we attempt late summer sowings. This can trick the seed into germinating better.

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New garden book club

Cosies British Café, Well Grounded Gardens

This is for both the garden and book enthusiast to share an afternoon of conversation and ideas about garden books and gardening while enjoying a cosy refreshing break with friends.

If you are interested in joining us, contact wellgroundedgardens@gmail.com or 613-498-4475 for more information and to register for the first session Tuesday, April 24 at 2 p.m. Space is limited so be an early book worm.

The greens and browns of your compost

Mother Earth News / Rebecca Louie / March 2018

Get to know how different browns and greens behave in your system and curate compost ingredients to optimize moisture levels, troubleshoot problems, and affect the rate of decomposition.

Knowing the quirks of individual items is particularly helpful if your compost system has limited space or is in proximity of wary or sensitive neighbors.

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