Hopefully you have all started to see your yard and neighbourhood turning a bit more green day by day!  It may need a few more days for the critters to move out of leaves and stalks so if you are wanting to get on yard cleanup, it might be nice to leave the leaf litter in a pile rather than bags so they have more of a chance!

During the spring but not spring days, it is a great time to plan out what you want to grow if you haven’t already done so.  Our garden does have a seed share, so we may have seeds that you want, or you may have to go buy some to fill in what is already gone or unique!  Below are some great resources to plan for your activities.

It is unlikely you would get to homesteader volumes from our small plots, but the below linked sheet can give you a better idea what kind of produce volumes to expect from your plantings!
pdf from Michigan State University

​If you have wondered when to put out plants and what is meant by date of last frost, this link accesses the Alberta government weather program - it lets you pick your nearest weather station, adjust for plant sensitivity to frost, and get the range of frost dates.  In general, Edmonton lists Average last frost at May 7th - but this is the average.  

Below is what the system gives using the Blatchford weather station for the next month - the 50% likelihood of a 0deg frost is around May 12th, and likelihood of frost after that drops rapidly; this helps show why common advice is not to plant tender things (tomatoes, peppers, annual bedding plants) until May long weekend!  Things like peas, lettuce, and carrots can go in much earlier as they are starting straight from seed and are more cold/frost tolerant.  Happy planning and planting!

Until then, keep your sweet little baby plants well tended under some grow lights, and if you can, put a fan on them for a few hours a day to toughen them up for the real world!

While we still have a lot of snow to melt off - it is time to start planning the garden!  This involves returning members confirming they will be back, and setting up our plans, hopes, and wishes for the year :)

Our 2022 gardening season kickoff meeting is planned for April 24th, 7-8 pm at St. Augustine’s.  It will be in person again - exciting!

Until then, I hope your spring melt goes smoothly with a minimum of ice chipping and no falling down.

Unfortunately earlier this year, the Hope Mission warehouse had a very big fire that took out the stores of what they had for those in need. So at this time we are coming together as a community to bring some hope for warmth and safety. The Hope Mission needs all sizes of underwear, sweatpants, gloves, coats or jackets, short and long sleeve shirts, socks, toques, long johns. As well as all sizes of Hoodies, backpacks, runners, and belts. Not to forget the need for big and small shampoo, conditioner, body wash, razors, deodorant, toothbrush, small Kleenex,…
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Hi Everyone!
It has been a busy and rainy growing season, but now that we are well into fall, it is time for a preserving session!  We selected fermenting this year as we haven't done this type of preserve yet, so it is expanding our knowledge even further.

We have many flowers blooming for the bees, and much promise of future harvest :)  Happy Spring folks!

Wednesday coffee meetings will start soon, and many beds are springing to life!

2017 was a wonderful growing season, and had many great events - Kids helping plant the garden, Fulton Place Garden Tour, Edmonton Horticulture Society Tour, and Kids helping harvest the garden, and a Making Tomato Sauce Session!

In preparation for the 2018 year, Sherry has sent out a request for 2017 gardeners to confirm whether they wish to keep their beds or if they will not be returning.  We may not officially know how many are not returning until the Spring Planning meeting (April 17), but if you are interested in a bed, please send us an email and we will add you to the waiting list.

The next Garden meeting is on March 21st, 7 pm, please attend if you'd like to support and influence the governance of the garden.

The planting committee has already met to discuss what to plant in the shared beds, many selections were made due to the decision to have our fall preserving session a Making Pickles session.  If you wish to be part of the planting committee for future years, please let us know:

• There will be some surprises along the way (scattered plantings and flowers), pending approval by the Church
• Red and White geraniums and other red/white flowers for the sign bed
• Removal of perennials from the sign bed (replanting elsewhere), and adding a pumpkin to the sign bed so it can soak up the sun and water available there
• 3 sisters bed will move to bed 1 - it was too hot/dry last year, we are hoping the slight shade helps keep the squash and corn happier
• Box 14 (previously 3 sisters) will be a plot of regular eating corn and some herbs
• Box 3 (donation bed) will be planted with peas, we will do two crops for continuous harvest
• Box 31 will be planted with peppers and eggplants
• Box 36 will be planted with red beets
• Box 38 will be planted with carrots
• Herb beds (Bees & Butterflies, Medicinal, Taste/Touch/Smell) will remain the same
• Grape vines and strawberry trays will be planted for the water bins
• A Grape vine will be planted by the steeple
• The bean towers will each be planted differently:
  • Red and white sweet peas
  • Broad beans
  • Indeterminate Tomatoes and tomatillos

This year's requested harvest activity was to have a tomato sauce making session as we got a donated food mill earlier this year, and there was a bountiful tomato harvest!

We would like attendees to let us know they intend to come in advance (send us an email), and whether they have tomatoes and/or jars they can bring to the event.  If you have any fresh basil, oregano, or other herbs that go well in tomato sauce, please let us know what you can bring.  We will be collecting $10 for the event to cover any needed purchases during the event (like more jars, lemon juice, and vinegar), any surplus will be donated to St. Augustine's in thanks for use of their kitchen facilities.

The session will be on Sept 23, 2017 from 1 to 4:30, hope to see you there!

The barley adventure continues!  One of the beds in the garden, and one in my backyard were ready for harvest.  There are now stooks of barley in my backyard garden drying for the next 14 days.  We'll keep an eye on the other beds, they'll need to be harvested soon as well!

We got many, many complements on the barely at the tour this year, so I guess even without beer, it was a win :)