An adventure in composting...

Sunday we were very lucky to have an expert on composting come and share come valuable information with us. In essence lifting us out of the inactive compost club (basically we were piling up garden waste with nothing happening) and ushering us into the composting elite (or at least capable, in theory). Bert, with a varied resume of composting experience from a multitude of community gardens and other sources cannot be thanked enough. I have a feeling that if one was to map out all the composting done in Calgary he would have had a hand in most of it at some stage.

In all we spent an hour or so delving into the magic of bacteria and other critters recycling our organic wastes. It really is quite amazing what microorganisms can do. Here are some tidbits that I can remember (sorry I'm not one for taking notes):

• try and mix equal parts browns and greens by weight (browns are dried leaves, newspaper, paper egg cartons; greens are your grass and veggies)
• because greens are mostly water when you add them to compost the final mixture ends up being 20 parts browns to 1 part greens once everything has dried and started to mix
• if your compost is starting to smell it is probably too wet and needs to be turned, also add some browns
• if nothing is happening and you are getting pest infestation (ants, wasps, mice) your pile is probably too dry; add water and turn
• if you have a large enough compost pile and it is working properly it will cook some bad things out of the soil (like seeds from weeds); but to be sure you can put your weeds and their seeds in a sealed black garbage bag out in direct sun for 3 days (driveway works well) this will definitely cook those nasty weed seeds
• if you don't get oxygen to the microorganisms that are doing all the work by turning your compost and not over watering the process turns anaerobic and starts producing greenhouse gas bi-products, much like a landfill (best to keep it aerobic and turn your compost when it needs it
• a working compost pile will create temperatures from 30-50 degrees Celsius (I'd recommend gloves)

And of course what would a day at the garden be without a lovely picture (thanks Paul for being our photographer). Ohhhhhh...and also it rained just as we were finishing up so we didn't have a chance to implement any of our new tricks on our pile in waiting, however next weekend our compost pile will be propelled into action by all of us new compost apprentices.

Bert Einsiedel imparting compost wisdom

Last chance for composting...

We still have some spaces left for the composting class.

Want to learn more about composting and how to incorporate this into your home or community garden plan? Then join us for Composting 101 with Bert.

Composting 101

When: Sunday, June 12 1:00 – 2:30 PM
Where: Harvest Gardens (Harvest Hills Community Garden; from Country Hills Boulevard go south on Harvest Hills Gate, left on to Harvest Hills Drive, right on to Harvest Lake Drive. The garden is located at the west end of Harvest Lake Drive .)
Facilitated by: Bert Einsiedel

Please RSVP to garden@northernhills.ab.ca with name and number of attendees by June 10th.

Brought to you by the Northern Hills Community Gardens .

In order to help defray costs a donation of $5.00 per person is kindly requested at the door. Bring mosquitoe spray and a lawn chair.

Hope to see you there!

Composting session...

Want to learn more about composting and how to incorporate this into your home or community garden plan? Then join us for Composting 101 with Bert.

Composting 101

When:                         Sunday, June 12 1:00 – 2:30 PM
Where:                        Harvest Gardens       (Harvest Hills Community Garden; from Country Hills Boulevard go south on Harvest Hills Gate, left on to Harvest Hills Drive, right on to Harvest Lake Drive. The garden is located at the west end of Harvest Lake Drive .) 

Facilitated by:            Bert Einsiedel

Please RSVP to garden@northernhills.ab.ca with name and number of attendees by June 10th. 

Brought to you by the Northern Hills Community Gardens .

In order to help defray costs a donation of $5.00 per person is kindly requested at the door.  Bring mosquitoe spray and a lawn chair.

Hope to see you there!

Ignorance was working...

Last year was the first year for Harvest Gardens and many of its gardeners. Our knowledge was largely lacking but our spirit and energy more than compensated for it. I think most of us would say that we were fairly proud of what we were able to accomplish. We had some great help from the more experienced gardeners, which certainly went a long way, and that tradition continued this past weekend.

Composterrific!

About 20 of our gardeners were lucky enough to sit in on an excellent beginner gardener session that we hosted and was conducted by Janet Melrose from the Calgary Horticultural Society's Community Garden Resource Network. It has been a long time since my brain felt that full. Climate, soil, planting, harvesting, it was a little bit of information overload but I definitely think my garden will be the better for it. I already figured out why my carrots were lackluster performers last year. It was great to see a large group of new gardeners from the Coventry Garden and I can't wait to see how things turn out at both of our locations. All I can say is if ignorance was working last year, I can't imagine what the results will be like this year.

If you missed this past educational session keep checking in for our next event. We are planning a hands-on composting experience with an expert. His name is Bert Einsiedel and he also has a blog with some great info, check it out and stay tuned for when we finalize dates.

As winter’s end approaches...

at least according to local groundhogs, people are starting to shift their minds towards spring and summer. Hopefully being outdoors is somewhere near the tops of your spring to do list. One of the best ways to get outdoors in the spring is to dabble in some gardening. Whether you’re a beginner or someone who would just appreciate another seasoned gardener’s opinion there is a number of educational workshops that the community garden group wants to offer to their members this year and if there is interest expand this to all members of the community.

Workshops may include subjects such as:

• Composting Basics
• Starting Plants from Seed
• Food for Small Places
• Growing Food for the First Time
• Vegetable Gardening for Zone Three

Any other ideas would be appreciated and can be sent to garden@northernhills.ab.ca.

If you are interested in vegetable gardening and want to participate in these workshops keep watching the community garden blog or follow the Community Garden link at http://www.northernhills.ab.ca for more information and updates.

There are also some other great local educational opportunities offered by The Calgary Horticultural Society and Green Calgary, being but a few. Below is a great example of a fast approaching event, it looks like a lot of fun.

Free to compost, at last...

The perfect weekend finally arrived for building the compost bin. Unfortunately for my in-laws I conscripted their talents to help me out. I would like to thank them a bunch because I think I may have been a little overwhelmed if it weren't for their efforts.

Any who, after a beautiful Saturday and a little sweat but no tears (that I'm willing to admit to) Harvest Gardens has been adorned with a two bin compost system. Feel free to open it up and place your garden materials and other appropriate kitchen wastes in the bin. It will soon be in its final resting place, though if it moves I don't think you'll have trouble tracking down its new location. It will soon have a lock attached so that no one is tempted to add creative things to our bin (my mother in-law informed me that Chestermere recently had a dead goat placed in their recycling bins, so I think we'll err on the side of caution). Next year we will set up some learn to compost sessions. The bin is equipped with a rotating brace to keep the lid opened, and the front panels are removable if you need to rotate the compost or dig some out. I think the pictures below will help out more than these words. I also added some building pictures if anyone wanted to check it out.

Maybe no Da Vinci but plans all the same.

The materials.

First wall finished.

Progress.

Compost bin's view of Harvest Gardens.

Removable front panel.

Finished and in place.

Keeps the lid from knocking you on the head.

Overwhelmed by the leaning tower...

The leaning tower of pallets! I have been considering a plethora of options for Harvest Gardens' compost system over the past month or two. A few weeks ago Carla provided me with some great links about compost construction. It turns out she is quite the community gardener being a member of the University of Calgary community garden as well. I encourage everyone to check out their Urban Gardener blog and the web site that hosts their very creative how to video "How We Built Our Community Garden's Compost Bin".

I really liked the idea of reusing pallets. And having heard some other positive comments from people that had re-purposed pallets I was raring to go. I knew that there were a few hanging around my office and after checking around I found out that the company I work for would be overjoyed if we found another purpose for their slightly worn pallets. So I decided last week that on the following Monday I would take my lunch and pull some pallets apart salvaging some wood for our compost project. The pictures below are what I  found as I walked in with a little claw hammer that I borrowed from the receptionist (it was included in an Ikea picture hanging kit, apparently the hammer couldn't even handle tapping tacks into drywall either).

Needless to say I will be bringing some other tools and scheduling some extra time for this one. I couldn't even reach the top of the stacks to pull a pallet down to try and work on it. But there is definitely some great wood to be had.

Anyway I have reset my fear-o-meter and will strive to tackle this one on Wednesday. There will definitely be pictures for proof, and more than likely a splinter or two.

Composting anyone...

As the summer moves on and more and more veggies are finding their way into our mouths many of us are also finding that there is a noticleble amount of compostable material as a by product of our gardening adventures. It has always been a plan to implement a compost system for Harvest Gardens, it seems however that it is needed sooner rather than later.

Currently I am looking into a bunch of designs with key features being: strong construction (so that it can withstand the rigours of park life), large enough to accomodate all our organic would-be wastes, looks great (after all our garden is a masterpiece so far, why ugly it up if we don't have to), low maitenance (no one wants more to take care of), and if possible cheap to construct. There are a million different plans for composters out there, here is one site I have found helpful. I'm leaning towards something similar to the picture below, but would love input from anyone who has experience or is interested in being part of this little composter project. If you are such a person email cmroy@yahoo.com with the subject: COMPOST.