Wednesday, April 3: See the wonders of upcycled materials in extending the harvest season!
Read moreA Haircut for Willow 💇♀️
Wednesday, March 27: Pruning the willow, tidying up the accessible beds, and harvesting overwintered greens
Read moreHarvesting, weeding, and hummingbird feeding 🌺
Sunday, March 24: Harvesting overwintered greens, weeding out rooty plants, saying hello to some avian visitors
Read moreBurning berry bushes 🔥🫐
March 17, 2024
By Angela Hoy and Helen Shim
Gardeners pruned and singed the pruned branch edges on one row of blueberry bushes as described by Nancy Turner in her book, The Earth’s Blanket: Traditional Teaching for Sustainable Living, to increase berry production. Indigenous land stewards practice controlled burning or allow natural fires to burn the berry bushes.
We are unable to experience either in our urban setting, so we are hoping that singeing the pruned edge of the branches may replicate the effects on these bushes.
We also harvested overwintered greens, like radicchio.
We watered the recently planted broad beans, weeded out creeping buttercup and other early season weeds, and finally managed to clear the accumulation of partially composted detritus in the Collection Bay at the compost area into Bin 1. With the addition of some rotting apples, this Bin should now be off to a good start!
Composting and pruning with the Master Gardeners
Sunday, March 20: Vancouver Master Gardener Coordinators gathered at the garden on March 10 to learn about composting and fruit tree pruning
Read moreBack in the garden! 🌷
Our first work party of 2024!
Read moreRoots and shoots 🫚
This week at the garden, Nov. 15
Read moreMaster Gardeners unite! 🧑🏼🌾
Our latest intensive gardening session on Sunday, Nov. 19
Read moreGarlic galore 🧄
This week at the garden, Nov. 5
Read moreThe joys of composting 🌱
This week at the garden, Oct. 11
Read moreHip hip hooray for Apple Day! 🍎
By Isabella Falsetti
Thank you to everyone who joined us for Apple Day on Sunday! This was our first Apple Day since 2019, and we had an amazing turnout. It was wonderful to celebrate the apple harvest with the community on such a beautiful fall day. In total, we raised $632 to support the recovery of LMNHS. A huge thank you to everyone who donated, volunteered, and came out to show their support. 🍎🫶🏼
We had 10 different varieties of apples available for sampling: from Honeycrisp to Granny Smith to Red Delicious.
We also had a cider-making assembly line, with volunteers crushing up apples on one end and pressing them into juice on the other. At the end of the day, we had plenty of bottles of fresh cider for everyone to take home.
At our apple dehydration station, Art Bomke talked about fruit-drying process, with apples courtesy of the Vancouver Fruit Tree Project.
Volunteers prepping apples for cider-making.
At the middle of the day, we had a lovely apple potluck lunch with homemade dishes provided by community members. There were also delicious homemade apples treats for sale, courtesy of the amazing Cat Poppins.
We had a spectacular day and can’t wait for next year.
Autumn treasures in the garden 🌻
This week at the garden, Sept. 17 & 20.
Read moreKicking off the autumn harvest 🌽
This week at the garden, Sept. 6 & 10.
Read moreSummer in the Garden Pt. 2: Plant, Water, Harvest, Repeat!
August was a beautiful month in the garden. With the help of our gardeners, we were able to efficient complete a hefty list of tasks, including preparing garden beds for the upcoming winter season and weeding.
Read moreJoin us for our composting workshop 🪱🌿
It may not seem like it, but composting is essential to the welfare of any garden.
Read moreGet Involved!
Looking to help out with a specific project? We’ve got you covered!
Read moreA field trip to Strathcona Community Garden
Angela and Joanne visited Strathcona Community Garden to view their apple pressing process and composting area. This 3-acre garden was transformed from the False Creek mudflats and city garbage dump into a flourishing community garden that has served as the model for a city-wide community gardening program.
The Garden includes a heritage apple orchard with over 600 espaliered trees, a herb garden for the use of local residents along with bee keeping, composting programs, and an acre set aside for wildlife.
This blog has highlights of the trip for general garden, composting and apple pressing.
Be sure to sign up for the Composting Workshop September 17th with Angela Hoy and Save the Date for the return of our Apple Day on October 1st.
The Garden
Pictured below from left to right: the mature espaliered orchard with many dozens of trees; the wisteria walkway which must be a delight in the Spring making a return visit for sure; their ample greenhouse; and solar panels on a shed roof (we do plan to add another solar panel to our shed).
The Composting System
We also visited the composting area where we found Carla Frankel and several other volunteers hard at work chopping, sifting and barrowing in contributions to the massive pile of material to be processed. Pictured below: The “Advice” Board; There are 9 bins which are emptied in rotation. A new one is being started to the left of the “Advice” picture; Carla and Angela - Blackcurrant prunings root very easily, and Angela took the opportunity whilst at Strathcona to rescue some and take them home for planting and, if successful, to move them to RPCG to join the Berry Patch; Sifting finished compost. The sieve doubles as a front for the bay when not in use. We also saw the pile of mature horse manure from Southlands Farm for kick starting the compost!
Apple Pressing
In preparation for our RPCG Apple Day, October 1st, we wanted to see the process at Strathcona Community Garden. We are pleased that we may borrow the mulcher – 1st pass on the apples – that you see below in the two pictures on the left. The equipment for the 2nd step we are looking to the Tool Library to source. The equipment at Strathcona shown on the right below is not very portable for us to use.
Summer in the Garden Pt. 1: An Abundance of Greens 🥬
This week at the garden, Jul. 26 & Aug. 2
Read moreRecap: Tomato Festival 🍅
Today, tomatoes meant an encore. No booing here.
Read moreSeniors in the Park Day and Heat Response Training
Helping seniors prepare for hotter summers and adapt to climate change.
Read more