Serenity now...

Things have been rather busy this summer. Today was the first day I had a chance to get to the garden in the last two or three weeks, for more than a peek. It's days like today that help remind me why community gardens are so great. Let me recount why I love Harvest Gardens.

First, the exercise. Though mostly from trying to avoid the mosquitoes, which usually then leads to me going crazy and trying to squash as many as possible. Some watering, weeding and harvesting always works up a good sweat. Nothing is a better stress reliever, the exercise that is not the mosquitoes, though maybe I should sell mosquitoes as a workout.

Second, the atmosphere. I think within about 5 minutes of watering and picking and weeding I was completely engulfed by the garden and everything it brings. I didn't think about anything else except whether I was picking the peas properly or not. Do you leave the little flowery part on the vine or break it off with the peas? Regardless the flowers and greenery have an amazing calming effect.

Third, the veggies. So I picked some peas, about 3 carrots, and maybe 20 odd lbs. of lettuce. What does that get you? With a glass of cool water to relieve the heat caused by running away from the mosquitoes, it gets you the best dinner ever. I think somehow my carrots are sneaking into the grocery store and stealing all the flavour from those carrots, with the peas as their accomplice. Unfortunately, to avoid detection by the carrot flavour police, my little orange friends are staying remarkably small.

Fourth and finally, the people. About one hour at the garden gets you a chat with two great garden members, a chance to meet a few neighbors, and helps you see what actually goes on in the neighborhood. Unknown to myself we have quite the bustling community on nice summer afternoons.

So if "the man" has got you down or if you're feeling a little blahhh remember to visit Harvest Gardens. It certainly did the job for me today. And thank you a boat load to whoever keeps replenishing the mosquito spray, I owe you about a pint of blood.

Resurgent centrepiece...

Here are some great pics of the transformation from a slightly wilted flower salad to our current splendiferous flower centrepiece.

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.

Canadian Tire to the rescue...

A few weeks ago Harvest Gardens had a wee set back as the centre piece flower bed had some unwanted visitors. Consensus is that vandals decided to pick a few flowers and toss them on the ground. I have a different theory, where by the flowers had a housewarming party to celebrate their new digs and had a few too many cocktails. Slightly dazed and confused from all the party excitement they lost their way on a walk about the garden and never found their way home (flowers aren't known for their sense of direction, but have you ever known a potato to get lost).

Regardless of the cause, we were a little short on flowers for the centre bed despite some great neighbors who did their best to replant the hungover flowers. It was a little demoralizing after all the work that had gone into the planting and care of the garden.

But I'm very happy to communicate that Canadian Tire heard our story and immediately stepped in providing us any plant material that we required. A few flats of petunias, some succulents for the edge, some really neat grass and giant marigolds for the centre and we're back in business. The business of looking awesome that is. I can't say enough about Canadian Tire stepping up for the community. They didn't bat a lash when asked to help out and even provided someone to help plan the replacement flowers. They helped turn my frown upside down. They made replanting a wonderful experience and I was glad to meet some really wonderful people at Canadian Tire.

Thanks you so much Canadian Tire! Please stop by for a visit.