Guided Work Party - Aug 7 2022

Angela and Alex talked about the profusion of weeds and other plants springing up in the veggie beds and also some seed boxes, and deduced that it was our compost that was to blame, which does not get hot enough to destroy weed seeds. We discussed ways to avoid so many weeds, from putting weeds into the weeds bin as opposed to general compost; firming the soil after removing weeds to prevent new weed seeds germinating; leaving compost materials to dry for longer in the Collection Bay and shaking seed heads to remove seeds before adding to compost bin.

It was agreed that purslane (Portulaca oleracea) could be left as it would act as ground cover and also provide a harvest for those who like to eat it, and it is easy to remove when necessary.

Angela

Good harvest today.

Picking blueberries

Weeding the red Orache bed

Weeding the seedling boxes

Digging the Potatoes

Little Explorers in the Garden - July

Our budding naturalists had an amazing day at the UBC Botanical Garden! We had two wonderful volunteers from UBC help guide us through the garden. In awe, the children were quiet and serene, awashed in green. We were impressed by all the leaf litter on the ground and leaf skeletons! The ground was also incredibly soft from all the soil and organic materials, something we don’t normally feel in the city.

Our volunteer guides then spotted an owl! This was a first for many of us as we looked above at the owl, and the owl looked below at us. As we made our way through the garden, we also spotted a yellow swallowtail butterfly dancing around.

A real highlight was the canopy walk, suspended in the trees, the kids were able to imagine themselves as the owl seen earlier, all of us now perched high in the garden. As we went through, we got up close and personal with some Western Red Cedars and Douglas Firs! Excited and with a bit of an adrenaline rush, we made it from beginning to end safe and together.

We then went through the Moon Gate and Tunnel. Because the inside of the tunnel was lined with corrugated metal, we pretended we were beans in a can! On the other side of the tunnel we made our way to the vegetable garden. There we saw lots of different veg including beans, peas, tomatoes, and more. Each of us got to try a pea, yum! 

Such an amazing day we won’t soon forget! This event was sponsored by the UBC Botanical Gardens and their generous contributors. Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to learn!

Guided Work Party - Aug 3

The perfect temperature for gardening, partly overcast with nice breezes! 

Checking on our vertical gardens!

Citizen Seed trial, bush beans

busy working away!

We harvested a whooping 1.5kg of blueberries. Our blueberry bushes have been so productive that there will be many more to come! Our wonderful volunteers also weeded out plantain from our pollinator flower beds to make room for more pollinator flowers. 

The paths around the garden were also looking a bit sparse, so we redistributed mulch around the garden. There was so mulch mulch, and it was tumulchous to move around but we did it! Puns courtesy of Art! The mulch had only been sitting around for 5 or 6 days but had already started composting and reached a whooping 45 Celcius! Our resident soil expert Art mentioned that if you needed to rid your compost of pathogens you’d want to have your compost reach 55C for over 15 days. 

Thank you very mulch to devinearboriculture for donating the mulch (contact information below)!

Selina gave us a great demonstration on how to make Calendula and St. John Wort infused oils. So simple, why not give it a try!

Jan

St. John’s Wort

Selina teaching us about home made salves

Making calendula oils!