Summer veggie planting coming soon!

We’ll be starting to put in our summer veggie seedlings over the several work parties. With nighttime temperatures finally staying above 10 degrees, and higher; these are now at reasonable levels for our tender heat loving vegetables. We will start with tomatoes and squash on June 1st, then plant zucchini, cucumbers, and basil over the following weeks.
Vegetables that thrive in cooler weather, such as peas, lettuce and other leafy greens and root crops are finally starting to put on growth.
We are still going to wait a couple of weeks to direct seed our beans, since beans need minimum nighttime temperatures of 15 degrees to ensure good germination rates.
These zucchini plants can hardly wait, they are already starting to grow flowers and you can see tiny zucchini’s starting to form.

Thank you to Urban Roots for the amazing donation of the plants!

Guided work party report May 22

Art invited our whole group of volunteers to see Judy’s garden and learn about the Yard Gardens scheme; several of the volunteers stayed to help replant the strawberry plants and attack a buttercup invasion.  The remainder came back to RP and tackled our own weeds: in the woodland border, the Roots bed (a delicate job removing small hairy bittercress and other weeds from the emerging carrots (finally!) and the turnips, although as yet there is no sign of beets) and in the larger herb garden, where the forget-me-nots are now past their best and need removing before they go to seed, also the self-heal which has started to spread rapidly.  Some of the larger perennial herbs suffered during the winter and had to be either removed entirely or cut back to new growth lower down.  As the standing water has now evaporated we have removed the majority of the wet weather boards and stacked them temporarily beside the Shed until they are needed again. In the Espalier Orchard, the long water shoots (vegetative growth) were removed to allow the trees to concentrate energy on growing fruit.

Angela

Guided work party report May 18th

From Angela,
Despite the dreadful weather forecast, we had a rain-free, if windy session. Most of our volunteers now know the drill and helped themselves to bins, tools, kneeling pads/seats and set to weeding the brassica and pea beds, and along the edges of the paths.  Two other areas were also tackled today, the blueberry patch and the northern section of the Orchard.  The south pollinator bed was also weeded and tidied up, and then composted, and looks a treat!  The Buddleia Globosa appears to have survived the winter after all and there is new growth at the bottom, so the dead stems were cut back to make it less unsightly.  One of the figs appears to have died but our Espalier expert Richard  Hallman advises waiting until July and if no new growth by then, it is definitely dead and should be removed.  In the Alliums bed, a forest of tiny green leek shoots has appeared, and in the Roots bed a few carrot leaves are showing under their protective cover,  but strangely no beets yet!

Guided work party report

May 11, 2022 from Angela Hoy

We had 13 volunteers! Be sure to sign up for work parties. Click here to sign up for May sessions. . Click here for the June-Sept schedule. We are hiring a Work Party lead. Email Joanne for information.

We discussed the next phase of planting, the summer vegetables, which will take place in June; it is still far too chilly at nights for warmer season vegetables like beans and squash/cucumber/tomatoes.  We had a bit of a chilly breeze but no rain, so were able to continue weeding the vegetable beds, especially the Broad Bean and Pea beds which had sprouted hundreds of tiny unwanted seedlings.  And the rest of the 'volunteer' potatoes were removed from the Garlic, which looks almost ready for harvest (end of June).  Most of the spring planting seedlings generously supplied by Urban Roots Giving Gardens have now found homes, but we planted a few Chard and Parsley plants, and the remainder were shared between the volunteers.  We have more than enough Chives of our own, so these were donated to the Produce Library. As we had manpower available, we took the opportunity to completely turn the compost:  a barrowload of finished compost was added to the herb bed where the new Parsley was planted, after which Bin 2 was turned into Bin 3, and Bin 1 turned into Bin 2.  Not much heat, but hundreds of tiny creatures toiling away in there!  At the end of the session we were treated to delicious home-made rhubarb muffins and Mint tea , very welcome!

Our gardens' impact in the community

Check out our infographic highlighting the Riley Park Community Garden and its’ impact in the community during the past two years living with Covid. We are proud of the community in which we live and work, the volunteers who garden and support our work in other ways. While restrictions have lifted at this time, we ask our community to respect the preferences of our neighbours and that masks are welcome. Email Joanne for more information and to get involved.