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Gardening Workboard

Gardening work bulletin board 2010

Rachel Weston, November 2, 2010

Well, it's that time of year when it is time to let the garden beds rest and rejuvenate for next season. Garden club sessions will be on hiatus until early spring. Leslie and I want to say a big thank you to all of the volunteers who helped make the gardens such a success this year! We certainly couldn't have managed without you.

Have a pleasant winter and we look forward to starting things up again in the spring...

Rachel Weston, October 26, 2010

Hey folks...

You will be happy to know that the bulbs are all in the ground! We finished them up last week as well as weeding some of the beds and transplanting a few plants to the brick bake oven garden (specifically: forsythia, hollyhock and cup plant). A CIty Parks crew was here on Thursday and Friday and did a fair bit of the work that was listed on the map that we posted here a couple of weeks ago, lots of changes!

Coming up this week we'll be taking down the tomato trellises and pulling out the tomato plants that have served us so well this season. We also have some tidying up of the virginia creeper vines still hanging on top of the rink fence after they were cut down last week. If our mulch order comes in we'll have mulching to do as well.

Gardening times this week: Wednesday October 27, 3-5 pm and Sunday, October 31, 1-3 pm - snacks and drinks provided!

Until next week...Happy Halloween!

Rachel Weston, October 20, 2010

Hello everybody,

These days the name of the game in the park gardens is bulbs...at least for the past couple of sessions and the upcoming one too ..we've primarily been planting daffodils as well as some bluebells, chionodoxa and garlic.

Coming up on the agenda we have the slightly precarious task of cutting back the prolific grape and virginia creeper vines hanging on the skating rink fence in preparation for skating season...

Gardening times this week: Wednesday October 20, 3-5 pm and Sunday, October 24, 1-3 pm - snacks and drinks provided!

Until next week...

Rachel Weston, October 12, 2010

Hey everybody,

I hope you all had a nice long weekend. I was away but Leslie was here keeping things moving along on Sunday with some volunteers and I haven't seen there handiwork yet but I can only imagine it was a pleasant afternoon of gardening since the weather was so lovely.

The bulbs did indeed arrive and they are on the agenda for planting this week! Other than that we'll continue with harvesting and putting veggie beds and flower beds to bed (how many beds is that?!).

Gardening times this week: Wednesday October 13, 3-5 pm and Sunday, October 17, 1-3 pm - snacks and drinks provided!

Until next week...keep on keeping on,

Rachel Weston, October 5, 2010

Hi there,

Well if autumn didn't arrive on September 21, it certainly has now. Leaves are changing colour and beginning to fall, and there's a bite in the air that makes warm sweaters, hot drinks and home made soups sound awfully cozy. We've still got a few tasks left to take care of in the park gardens that will keep us busy for another few weeks before we pack it all in for the winter. Last week there was a lot of wingstem and raspberry bush removals in the naturalized area on the west side of the park, with more to come tomorrow if the rain holds out. We also got down to the business of cutting down aspen saplings that have sprung up throughout the tree nursery and have been overcrowding the other species that are there. I don't know if any of you are aware of how aspens can grow countless sucker trees from the original one if given the chance. So much so that the the largest living organism in the world is considered (by some scientists) to be an Aspen grove in Utah that covers nearly half of a kilometre squared!

Anyways...this week there will be some more cleaning up (and harvesting) to do in the vegetable gardens, as well as composting and seeding clover as a cover crop that we'll turn in next spring. Either this week or next we will also be planting a variety of bulbs in a few of the garden beds around the park, generously donated to us by the Toronto Parks and Trees Foundation BULBS (Better Urban Landscapes with Bulbs) program.

Gardening times this week: Wednesday October 6, 3-5 pm (unless rained out) and Sunday, October 10, 1-3 pm - snacks and drinks provided!

Until next week...Happy Thanksgiving!

Rachel Weston, September 28, 2010

Hi folks,

How is everyone doing? We're still going strong in the gardens. Although vegetable garden tasks are dwindling down somewhat, we still have lots of things going on in the other gardens around the park. Over the past week a crew of volunteers completed the thankless task of de-thistling the native tree forests (thanks by the way : ), and we also tackled some of the weed-trees in the tree nursery near the soccer field and more weeds in the wild rosebush garden in the middle of the park.

Coming up this week is a big project down in the naturalized garden where a colony of wingstems and raspberry bushes have overtaken and swallowed up most of the other plants that were growing down there. It's time for an overhaul! We'll also be adding compost and possibly seeding a covercrop to enrich the soil in the vegetable beds to prepare them for next year

Gardening times this week: Wednesday September 29, 3-5 pm and Sunday, October 3, 1-3 pm - snacks and drinks provided!

Until next week...be well,

Rachel Weston, September 21, 2010

Hello Gardeners,

Hope you all are doing well. I have to say our last garden club session was particularly lovely - not only because of the fabulous weather on Sunday, but also because we finished the day sipping parkcrafted herbal teas and munching on delicious treats that included fine cheeses courtesy of Caitlin and delectable park-grown grape tarts and park-baked bread with park-grown nasturtium leaf and flower butter courtesy of Leslie...can you tell i am thrilled by all of the park-grown ingredients? Anyways, it was all very refined and so nice to send our dear friend Anna B and our favourite garden groupie Alice off to NYC in style! Bon voyage, we will miss you both : )

Besides all of the munching and sipping we did get a bit of work done as well pulling out some of the many thistles that have made themselves utterly comfortable down in the native tree plantings along Dufferin Avenue (a task that was also taken on last Wednesday and will most likely be on the agenda again tomorrow..it's that big of a job!!) A special thanks is also due to Joel for helping us out once again with the compost bin repairs.

Gardening times this week: Wednesday September 22, 3-5 pm and Sunday, September 26, 1-3 pm - snacks and drinks provided!

Until next week...happy equinox!

Rachel Weston, September 14, 2010

Hello all,

'Tis the season for harvesting and enjoying the fruits of our labours (and the roots and flowers and leaves too : ) So with that in mind we thought it was high time for a little garden-inspired fiesta this Sunday - with some tasty treats and some herbal teas made with ingredients that we will glean from the gardens around the park. The festivities will commence at 3 pm but interested gardeners can come beforehand to get their hands a bit dirty if they'd like - please note we are going back to our 1-3 pm session time.

Tomorrow's session will be a fun one too since Leslie et al will be harvesting grapes to be used in desserts for the Sunday tea party : )

A special thank you is in order to Katheryne Schulz and Janet Teibo who graciously donated some lovely porcupine and fountain grasses to us which we have planted in the beds in front of the rink house. Thanks also to the volunteers who helped out with the transplanting and dividing - it was a big project but well worth it!

Gardening times this week: Wednesday September 15, 3-5 pm and Sunday, September 19, 1-3 pm followed by a garden tea party from 3-5!!

Looking forward to seeing you at the party...

Rachel Weston, September 7, 2010

Good evening gardeners,

I have to admit to a little bit of wistfulness as the cool evenings and mornings become more daily than exceptional. It would appear that September weather is right on schedule (sigh)...Nonetheless, it is good news for a lot of gardening projects that have had to wait until the hottest days of summer have passed. Here's a taste of some of the projects coming up in the next couple of weeks:

- dividing and transplanting various perennial shrubs and flowers to thin out and fill in some areas in different parts of the park - grass seeding - bulb planting

The word on the veggie garden path is that the last of the late season crops have been planted so the main thing to do there is just keep on harvesting and snacking as we go : ) So far this season we've made pretty good use of the harvest. Besides all the vegetables that have made it into food cart salads and onto pizza day pizzas, Leslie's been getting creative with some of the edible fruits that aren't even growing in the vegetable gardens - such as her grape and elderberry sauces for friday night supper desserts over the past couple of weeks!

Gardening times this week: Wednesday September 8, 3-5 pm and Sunday, September 12, 9-11 am and 5-7 pm - snacks and drinks provided!

Until next week...

Rachel Weston, August 31, 2010

Hey y'all,

Again not a lot to report in the gardens this week with only one full gardening session but things are looking good for the most part. Tomato plants are heavy with fruit that is ripening faster than we pick it, the late season crops of rapini, tatsoi and chard are coming along and the edamame beans are looking cute and fuzzy. In the flower gardens there are still plenty of blooming black eyed susans, 4 o'clocks, morning glories and sunflowers and in the native areas there are lots of yellow flowers on the wingstems, cupplants and goldenrod, and some beautiful purple flowers on the joe pye weed, ironweed, and blue vervein. We'll soon be seeing a much bigger splash of purple around the park when all of the asters start to bloom.

This week there will be weeding, watering and harvesting to do in the veggie gardens, weeding around the firepit where we planted a bunch of marigolds a few weeks ago, maintenance on the cob green roof, and tidying up some of the wilder places around the park.

Gardening times this week: Wednesday September 1, 3-5 pm and Sunday, September 5, 9-11 am and 5-7 pm - snacks and drinks provided!

That's it for now...see you in September,

Rachel Weston, August 25,and 29, 2010

Hi everybody,

Well there is not too much new activity to report this week as both sessions on Sunday were rained out, but I must say I was thrilled that there was finally a decent amount of rain to water everything nicely.

For the most part the plans for this coming week remain the same as last week: some cleaning up to do in a couple of the flower beds, and some weeding, planting, and harvesting in the veggie gardens.

Gardening time this week: Wednesday August 25, 3-5 pm and Sunday,

August 29, 5-7 pm - snacks and drinks provided!

Note: The 9-11 am Sunday session is cancelled this week.

Until next week...enjoy the last few days of August!

Rachel Weston, August 22, 2010

Hi everyone,

It doesn't look like the rain is letting up so the session this afternoon is cancelled.

See you next week...

Rachel Weston, August 17, 2010

Hello all,

Things are still humming along in the gardens at Dufferin this week. There has been weeding and watering, planting and transplanting, mulching and fertilizing, and harvesting aplenty.

On the agenda this week:

- tackling a few more of the problem areas where weeds or just plain old plants are getting a little too big and crazy and crowding out their neighbours too much - bad plants! tsk tsk - finding a place to put all of our city-delivered compost! they were very generous and now we are scratching our heads wondering where we have left to put it all. - planting more veggies in the gaps left behind from our already harvested crops - my how time flies...

Gardening time this week: Wednesday August 18, 3-5 pm and Sunday, August 22, 9-11 am and 5-7 pm - snacks and drinks provided!

That's it for now, until next week....happy gardening,

Rachel Weston, Aug 11, 2010

Things are looking good at the park in large part due to a visit from some fairy godgardeners last week (aka Toronto Parks) who spent two days ripping out weeds, brushcutting, and garbage collecting. they made a really big dent in the overwhelming maintainance we were needing to do so a big thank you is in order for that. unfortunately one area was tackled with a little too much vigour and a big bare patch of earth is now surrounding the garrison creek tree nursery where there was once a colony of black-eyed susans and native geraniums. hopefully we can get our hands on some more native species to repopulate the border as soon as possible. if anyone is doing divisions this fall and needs to get rid of some of their extra plants, let us know. Native, semi-shade tolerant species especially!

In vegetable garden news, there is continuous planting and harvesting going on. some rapini and tatsoi went in last week, and soon the carrot patch will be replaced with brocolli. meanwhile some of the cherry tomatoes have ripened and lots more are on the way, the beets are ready to go, and the kale is nearly finished. nasturtiums are blooming like crazy too! Lots of our veggies have been finding their way into park pizzas and salads which is great.

Another important that was done this week was the fixing of the compost bin. thanks for that Joel! other tasks that volunteers took on were transplanting some yarrow and rudbeckia, and mulching pathways and beds.

up ahead this week: more planting in the vegetable garden, tomato plant pruning, weeding the edges of the cob garden and the garden beds in front of the rinkhouse and tackling the weeds on the greenroof.

Gardening times this week: Wed, Aug 11 3-5 pm, Sun Aug 15 9-11 am and 5-7 pm

Thanks everybody for all the hard work!

Rachel Weston,July 27, 2010

Hey gardeners,

This past week there has been a lot of activity in the gardens. The raspberry and blackberry patches down by the cob have been weeded and thinned, as was the Bing Cherry flower bed in front of the Children's garden, where we laid some more cardboard and mulch to beef up one of the weedier pathways. Pie plates have now been hung on the tomato trellises to scare away the birds that are already munching on a few of the plants. Some spicy salad mix was planted next to Shah's giant squashes, and in the space of a few days has already started to sprout! There was more edamame planted as well. Today I finally used one of the bags of composted manure that we got from the Sosnickis to condition the soil around a rather sickly looking rose bush next to the wooden bake oven. Fingers crossed that the nutrient boost plus tomorrow's expected rain will make it feel better...

Coming up this week, there is some more planting and weeding to be done in the vegetable garden, as well as pruning the tomato plants.

Gardening time this week: Wednesday July 28, 3-5 pm and Sunday, Aug 1, 9-11 am - snacks and drinks provided!

Note: There is no official evening session scheduled this Sunday as I will be out of town, but those of you who have garden shed keys and are still itching to garden are certainly welcome to come out on your own time. The veggie beds are always in need of a little weeding, and the tomato plants need continual pruning. Do let us know in the garden log book or on email what you've done and anything you have noticed in the gardens.

Well that's all for now, until next week...have fun on the long weekend,

Rachel Weston, July 20, 2010

Hi there fellow gardeners,

Well last week we made some real headway on the weeds in the garden beds in front of the rinkhouse as well as in the veggie gardens and around the ash pit. On Sunday evening, Caitlin and I cleared most of the catnip, goldenrod and burdock that was crowding out the veggies growing on the other side of the fence and replaced them with some dwarf marigold seeds that will hopefully brighten things up later in the summer. Leslie and the Sunday morning crew also tied the tomatoes to their posts and they are doing beautifully. Some of our peppers are looking great while others seem to be lagging behind a bit. However the delighfully red amaranth is getting tall, the nasturtiums have started blooming and most of the garlic has been picked already! (Come down soon if you want to get a bulb or 2 before they are gone : ) It was very enheartening to discover in the garden log book that people have been harvesting the herbs to garnish their pizzas during pizza days at the bake oven, and some of the park's very own kale, chives and green onion went into a delicious asian salad that was served at the food cart on Sunday : )

Anyways, on the agenda for the coming week is - sorry to be a broken record - more weeding and more watering. it's just that time of year! But there will no doubt also be more harvesting to do! And some of the plants around the park are in need of a little TLC I have noticed. Next Sunday evening we will need to take a stroll around the park and stake a couple of the native plants that were donated for the Pollinator Garden Project, do some general pruning and amend the soil around some sickly looking plants.

Gardening time this week: Wednesday July 21, 3-5 pm and Sunday, July 25, 9-11 am and 6-8 pm - snacks and drinks provided!

Well that's all for now, until next week...I hope you are all enjoying the hot summer and finding ways to stay cool,

P.S. For those of you who have keys to the garden shed and don't know about the garden log book, it is sitting on the shelf directly in front of the door next to the sprinkler basket. There is a pen there as well so if you are doing any solo gardening, it would be great to keep track of what everyone has done each week. thanks a lot!

Rachel Weston, July 13, 2010

Hello Gardeners,

I am happy to report that after a lot of hard work on the part of both the volunteers and park staff the veggie gardens are really beginning to take shape. Everything that has been planted appears to be doing well and getting bigger by the day. In particular, the herb wheel is starting to flourish, the squash has already born fruit, and the kale is prime for picking and will hopefully be making an appearance in some of the park's upcoming menu items.

Last week Leslie and Johanna got down to the business of staking the tomato plants and they rigged up a very lovely bamboo trellis for them. All that's left to do is tying the plants to the poles which is on the agenda for this week. Apart from that there is (as always!) oodles of weeding to do. One of the major areas is the garden bed in front of the rinkhouse where, amongst other things, a ridiculous amount of deadly nightshade has taken root! I pulled out as much as I could before it got dark this evening but there is still lots left to do. In all honesty it is quite difficult to stay on top of all the weeds in all of the different beds throughout the park. We really need a good turnout of volunteers to tackle them all. Come on out folks!

Gardening time this week: Wednesday July 14, 3-5 pm and Sunday, July 18, 9-11 am and 6-8 pm - snacks and drinks provided!

That's it for now, until next week....happy gardening,

Rachel Weston, July 7, 2010

Hello Gardeners,

How's everyone handling the heat? We found it a tad uncomfortable on Sunday afternoon (who knew how much worse it was going to get?!?) and the idea of shifting the garden club meeting time from the hottest part of the day to one with a more humane temperature was tossed around. So...we are going to try out a new Sunday schedule with not one, but 2 sessions! - one in the morning (9-11) and one in the evening (6-8)! That being said, this coming weekend I won't be around to lead the Sunday evening session, however the morning session will be on and those of you who want to are of course welcome to come out on your own in the evening. For now the Wednesday session will continue to be at the same time, from 3-5 pm.

Oh, i forgot to mention what was done in the gardens on Sunday. A hunt for bamboo poles to stake our delightfully flourishing tomato plants proved successful although it was just too hot to get started on it yet - so that was put on the agenda for today's and Sunday morning's sessions. However they did get pruned, and we weeded and mulched some of the flower gardens close to the rink house, and tidied up the raspberry bush bed on the west side of the triangle veggie garden.

Powdery mildew has been vigorously attacking a lot of the phloxes in the park and Mayssan and I picked up some soap and sulfur spray (sulfur is a non-toxic, natural fungicide) to combat the problem but sadly can't use it until the temperature drops a bit. The heatwave has also necessitated a daily watering schedule for the veggies which is being done by park staff each evening - thanks for that!

Gardening time this week: Wednesday July 7, 3-5 pm and Sunday, July 11, 9-11 am

That's it for now, until next week....Drink Water!

Rachel Weston, June 29, 2010

Hey gardeners,

Last Sunday was a little bit iffy weather-wise but we managed to fit in a couple of hours in the garden. Lots of weeding got done in the vegetable beds, with a few more seeds and seedlings finding homes in the last few available spaces. What a delicious feast we have in store over the next few months with all of the different things we have growing - kale is almost ready for harvest, and there are quite a few varieties of tomatoes, beans and peppers, as well as amaranth, carrots, cucumber, squash, brocolli, collard, mustard and other greens, and lots of different herbs... We also cut back some of the morning glories on the back of the wooden bake oven that were threatening to swallow up some of the other plants whole if they wrapped around them any tighter. Anyways, this coming week will be mostly about maintenance....weeding, watering, staking, trimming, deadheading and what have you.

Gardening time this week: Wednesday June 30, 3-5 pm and Sunday, July 4, 1-3 pm

By the way, if anyone is interested in adopting one of the park's lovely Cup plants (Silphium Perfoliatum), there are about 4 or 5 of them potted up that will be sitting under the wooden table next to the wooden bake oven as of tomorrow morning (Wednesday). They are free for the taking, first come first serve. These are quite beautiful and robust native plants, members of the sunflower family that can grow up to 2.5 m tall, with square stems, yellow flowers, and cup-forming leaves. For more info, check out: http://www.tallgrassontario.org/IndSpecies_Closer_Silphiums.htm. The only caveat is that they can spread quite vigorously if conditions are favourable (damp, sunny) which is great if you have an area that is difficult for other plants to grow or else it just means you'll need to keep an eye on them and keep them under control.

Well that's all for now, see you soon...

Rachel Weston, June 15, 2010

Hello again gardeners,

Last Sunday lots got done in the gardens because there was so many hands on deck. Thanks for all the hard work everybody! We tackled some weedy patches and cleared some more space in the veggie gardens, planted lots of veggie seeds and seedlings, transplanted some yarrow, planted even more pollinator-friendly plants that were once again donated by Clement Kent to the park, and got the trellis on to the wooden bake oven for the morning glories that are itching to climb something....it ain't pretty but it will do the trick and be covered with lovely flowers soon i hope!

This week there is still more veggie planting to do...hope you can make it down.

Gardening times this week: Wednesday June 16, 3-5 pm, Sunday June 20, 1-3 pm

Until next week, try not to get too distracted by soccer fever...

Rachel Weston, June 8, 2010

Hello gardeners,

Last Sunday was a nice day for gardening - not too hot, not too cold, and the vegetables and flowers - and weeds : ( - were looking quite healthy after the rain we got last week. We planted a couple of varieties of peppers and did some maintenance in some of the flower beds, as well as planting some of our flower seedlings.

This week we have more veggies to plant, and more weeds to pull!

Gardening times this week: Wednesday June 9, 3-5 pm, Sunday June 13, 1-3 pm

Until next week, happy gardening!

Rachel Weston, June 1, 2010

My goodness, is it really June already? This season crept up on us so quickly and now here we are in the full swing of things with so many spring flowers already past bloom and early summer flowers bursting forth one after the other. Last Sunday was a full-on planting day. Shah and Anna started planting some of the tomato seedlings out in the veggie garden while Leslie and I got busy planting some native species around the park.

We had the opportunity to partner up with Clement Kent and his Pollinator Gardens Project (check out his blog: http://pollinatorgardens.blogspot.com/) who donated some seedlings to start one up and helped us plant as well. While i was looking into the plants he had available I realized that we have an awful lot of fabulous native species growing at the park already, but these new arrivals are exciting because they are especially attractive to birds, butterflies (and butterfly larva), bees and other insects that we need to keep the whole pollination scene abuzz (so to speak). Anyways, in case you're interested, the plants that were donated so far are:

False Indigo
Ironweed
Swamp Milkweed
Whorled Milkweed
Meadow Blazing Star
Blue Vervein
Culver's Root
Joe Pye Weed
Along with some of these, we also planted some native grasses and grass seeds in the cob garden...

Canada Rye
Little Bluestem
Indian Grass
Switchgrass

This week is another planting week with the main focus being on getting the rest of those vegetable seedlings planted out. There is also plenty of weeding and pruning to do around the park and some more seeds to be sown.

Gardening time this week: Wed June 2, 3-5 pm, Sun June 6, 1-3 pm.

Until next time...

Keep a look out for those birds, bees and butterflies,

Rachel Weston, May 30, 2010

Hello gardeners,

I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend and enjoyed the fine weather we are having at last. With all this heat it is definitely time to get the seedlings out of the rink house and into the garden! Tomorrow's session is cancelled but Sunday will be a planting day - seedlings need to be planted in both the flower beds and the vegetable gardens, and seeds need to be sown as well. Should be fun!

Gardening time this week: Sunday May 30, 1-3 pm.

FYI, there will be a man named Clement Kent at the market this Thursday who is a pollinator researcher and will have a booth with the Parkdale Horticultural Society where he will be telling people about his pollinator garden project. Sounds quite interesting and may inspire some fresh ideas for the park so be sure to come and check it out if you can make it.

Until next time...

Stay hydrated,

Rachel Weston, May 19, 2010

Hello gardeners,

Last Sunday was beautifully warm and sunny and we got down to some weeding in the asparagus patch and prepared some beds in the veggie garden for seedlings to go in over the next couple of weeks. We moved a few plants around to make some space in the bing cherry bed that is just bursting at the seems right now with all of the dame's rockets blooming and the other foliage growing in thick and fast. We also added some compost to the cob green roof where we are going to be experimenting with some new plants (native grasses etc). Today Heidrun led a youth group in adding compost and mulch to the round bed near the cob too. The plan for tomorrow's session is to continue working on the circular herb garden plot.

Gardening times this week: Wednesday May 19, 3-5 pm.

Note: there is no Sunday session scheduled this week, but if you are itching to get your hands dirty you are welcome to head on down and do some weeding on your own! You can just leave the weeds in the pile next to the garden shed and we'll bag them up afterwards.

I guess that about covers it for now...

Til next time...keep those thumbs nice and green!

Rachel Weston, May 11, 2010

Hello gardeners,

Sunday's session was a bit chilly (we even had snow in the morning?!?) but we did some more seedling transplanting and spent some time thinning and de-thistling one of the thickets in the park. Compost and mulch arrived yesterday and there have been work bees going on this week to get that incorporated into a bunch of the flower beds near the rink house (thanks to Mayssan's speedy crew!) so that will set us up nicely this Sunday to start planting some seeds and transplanting some of our flower seedlings outside. Our own compost is just about ready to be screened and added into the veggie gardens as well and Leslie is planning the redesign for the herb garden area.

Gardening times this week: Wednesday May 12 3-5pm, Sunday May 16 1-3pm

Please note that the gardening time on Wednesdays has moved an hour earlier and is now at 3-5 instead of 4-6 until further notice.

Until next week, happy gardening!

Rachel Weston, May 4, 2010

Hello gardeners,

Last Sunday's session was spent mostly in the rink house taking care of our little seedlings. There were lots to separate and move into bigger pots and also some basil seeding to do (sadly the first batch didn't do so well!). We also did some weeding, watered the veggie gardens, and made some mulched pathways around the beds. The peas are really flourishing now and the kale is coming in too. Another batch of rhubarb got harvested as well and will once again be playing a starring role in this friday night supper's dessert: Rhubarb Brown Betty!

Plans for this week... weeding frenzy! a lot of the flower beds and veggie beds are in dire need of weeding and with a big order of mulch and compost coming in for the flower gardens it will be important to have the beds prepared ahead of time. there is also some bean planting to do and some more seedling transplanting as well.

Gardening times this week: Wednesday May 5, 4-6pm, Sunday May 9, 1-3pm

Until next week, happy gardening!

Rachel Weston, April 26, 2010

Hello gardeners,

Well it was admittedly not the most pleasant of afternoons for gardening yesterday and only a couple of us crazies even made the attempt but we did manage to get the sweet cherry tree garden tidied up a bit, watered our seedlings and took some of the hardiest ones outside for a little bit of hardening off.

This week we have an ambitious agenda that may end up extending into the following week as well. There will be basil seeding and seedling transplanting (into larger pots) and possibly some more garden fence building since the one Heidrun built with the City View students for the asparagus patch looks so nice. There are more gardens beds to clean up including the green roof on the cob and the rosebush garden (a bit of a prickly job, longsleeves and gloves will be essential!), and yep you guessed it - dogwoods to be moved! If there's any extra time I'd also like to do some grading and grass seeding over some bumpy patches next to the wooden bake oven.

Gardening times this week: Wednesday April 28 4-6pm, Sunday May 2 1-3pm (back to the usual schedule)

Until next week, happy gardening!

Rachel

P.S. Don't forget to come down to the park on Saturday, May 1 as well for the Jane Jacob's Walk and all of the other events that are going on... I'll be doing some gardening in the flower beds in the afternoon so feel free to join me as well : )

http://janeswalk.net/walks/view/dufferin_grove_park_and_its_friends/

Rachel Weston, April 20, 2010:

Hello gardeners,

It turned out to be a lovely afternoon for gardening on Sunday. In the gardens we sowed some kale, beets and spinach outside and seeded some brocolli in the rinkhouse. We were excited to see how well our other little seedlings are doing (for the most part!) and some peas and carrots are already coming up in the garden. The rhubarb patches are bursting and prime for picking so Leslie says it may make an appearance in the dessert she's making for friday night supper this week (hint: tasty orange cake with a blueberry-rhubarb sauce)....yummy!

On the horticultural side, we got down to measuring the garden beds for compost and mulch and cutting back some more dogwoods for transplanting to new homes around the park and watering the ones we already transplanted last week. With so little rain this week it seemed like they needed another good drink.

The plan for this week is more seeding, transplanting seedlings to bigger pots, mulched-path making, garden bed cleanups and what will be an ongoing project for the next little while...more dogwood transplanting : )

Gardening times this week: Wednesday April 21 4-6pm, Sunday April 25 12-2pm

Sunday's session is a bit earlier this week because Foodshare is holding a composting workshop at the park from 2 to 5. Apparently space is quite limited but if anyone is interested in pre-registering for one of the last few spots available they should contact Leslie at 416-535-5653 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 416-535-5653 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

Until next week, happy gardening!

Rachel

P.S. Anna's presence was certainly missed last Sunday but it is great to hear that she and her little daughter Alice are doing well and getting acquainted with each other! Congratulations Anna!!

Rachel Weston, April 6, 2010

dogwood tranplanting: also to triangle bed and possibly side bed where rose was transplanted

seed planting:lots of seeds and seeds on order to sow in garden beds at front and side of rink house, border beds around vegetable gardens, brick ovens: poppies, marigolds, sweet peas, hollyhocks, etc.

black walnut-friendly plants: european wild ginger, cinnamon fern, lungwort, great solomon's seal, bugleweed - all ok with black walnut, shade, dampness, and cool foliage (a few flowers) - is there a budget for any of these?

big cob garden planting plan: native grasses and mostly-native wildflowers (mixes i was given for wildflowers are not all natives), switchgrass, little bluestem and indian grass

native plant garden planting: butterfly-friendly plants - coreopsis, swamp milkweed...?

compost/mulch: 2 inches of each in most beds - i still need to measure for accurate amounts

Anna Bekerman, April 5, 2010

Notes in bold are good for work bees.

Gene wants to meet with the plumber in mid-April to sort out the fountain (he hopes the plumber can commit to it as a priority). One of the main problems was that it shoots too high in the air and it needs to be adjusted. Stumps in front garden -- did hort or someone say they could remove these, or should we ask Dan Watson or someone?

• there is graffiti on the back of the big bake oven that needs to be painted over.
• sand added/loosened around tether ball.

Cedar garden behind big bake oven:

• Spread wood chips along path running East-West through garden
• define edges of garden by clearing away dead stalks and raking leaves outside of garden area.
• look into hybrid clematis (turnafolia)

Native species gardens along path through the gulley:

• Clean brick path, tidy flat stones along garden edges
• cut down dead stalks
• thin raspberries
• thin cup plants and create defined groups of them
• pull up choke cherry suckers in spring and again in July

Newish tree beds in gulley:

• prune red twig to improve colour
• move red twig (especially those that are hindering the saskatoon berry plants) to around big bake oven, behind small bake oven, around oak tree between eastern tree nursery and white pine, cob garden.

Black walnut grove:

• prune wild plums after they bloom
• plant some new walnut-tolerant plants (eg. ferns, Rachel looking up others)
• cut back red twig

Cob garden:

• rake leaves up from around garden, redefine edges
• add some red twig to crescent-shaped bed
• add switch grass (Rachel to decide plants) to bigger cob garden

Old tree nursery (near fieldhouse)

• cut the small growth between the forks of the forked pine

Rose garden (south-east of big bake oven)

• put down 4 inches of mulch over whole bed to cover everything but the roses
• prune roses if need be to define edges of gardens

Front garden

• make another garden path with broken bricks from green bin by big bake oven
• redefine small triangular bed with bricks (there should be enough there)

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