Harvest Social

The Whitehorse Community Garden will be hosting its annual "Harvest Social" from 6-7pm on Wednesday, August 17th. Drop by and say hi to fellow members and neighbours. As always, we are located under the clay cliffs at 7th and Ray Street.
For more info, contact Kathryn @ dugsyukon@hotmail.com or Randy at 633-4379.
See you there!

South Garden Dedication

The Downtown Urban Gardener's Society is pleased to announce the up-coming dedication of its South Garden to one of our cherished members and founders, Joan Craig. She has inspired and sustained this community effort since its very beginning spending countless hours making it first a reality then an important community institution. Her efforts, along with the support of her late husband Doug and her family, witness to community building at its finest.
Please join us in celebrating the dedication of our South Garden to Joan Craig on Wednesday - August 3rd, 6 pm. The Community Garden is located at 7th and Ray Streets one block behind the Yukon Inn and Plaza via Ogilvie and 7th. All are most welcome. Work bee to follow as nothing would please Joan more than to see the garden brimming with volunteer activity.

July 26th Taste Tour

Join us in the garden for our yearly Taste Tour.

Randy will tour the garden to explore what others are growing in their beds. See what's growing well this year and what others have planted. A great chance to sate your curiosity about your neighbor's plants!

July 26th, Wednesday, at 6 pm.
Work ee to follow...

Odds & Ends

Plant a Row

We've begun our weekly drop offs to the Whitehorse Food Bank. If any of you are feeling that maybe you've planted too much of something or that you won't be able to use all of it, let us know and we can donate it to the food bank. All you have to do is mark the row with a PAR stake and we'll do the rest. The produce is harvested, washed, weighed and bagged and then dropped off the next morning. The PAR stakes can be found inside the shed.
Thank you to those who have already donated. We've dropped off almost 25lbs so far!

Task Assignments

Many of you have not been completing your tasks as assigned. If you are not aware of your task, your name is listed in the shed with the task that has been assigned to you. If you do not understand what your task entails, please contact me and I will explain it further. Please remember to record your hours on the sheet, also in the shed.
Keep up the good work to all of you that have been busy with your tasks! It makes such a difference in the garden.

Catch and Release

Please let me know if the ground squirrels are getting into your garden. I've trapped and released 5 so far but with the clay cliffs so close there is no shortage in the population.








Missing in Action

It seems our black wheel barrow has gone missing as well as the hammer and hand saw. If anyone happens to know of their whereabouts, please let me know as they are missed.

June 29th Workshop

Join us at the garden on Wednesday, June 29th, at 6 p.m. for an Edible Weed workshop. Learn what weeds grow where in the garden and be surprised by just how many of them are edible!

The workshop is with Randy Lamb, our DUGS President (and weed specialist!) and is approximately an hour long. Work bee to follow.

Everyone and anyone is welcome to join us.

Compost, Potatoes & Greenhouse, Oh My!

Hi!

Hope everyone had a fantastic rainy weekend! I think it's just what the garden needed, though I also think you'll find the moisture will disappear as fast as it accumulated! The weather office is promising a warm weekend so make sure you continue to water those young plants.

Thanks!

I'd like to give a big thanks to the work crew from the Whitehorse Correctional Centre for the work they completed for us earlier this month. We now have two more beds, which, for this year, will be used to grow potatoes for the food bank. They replaced our deteriorating fence post for the fence along the lilac hedge. They also did a whole lot of weeding and mowing which after this rain you can't tell was ever done!
I'd also like to thank P&M Recycling for their donation of crushed glass for the base of the beds and to Kilrich Industries for their discount on materials.
Thank you all for your generosity and hard work!

Wednesday's Work Bee

We need to sift the compost pile as it has so much 'refuse' in it. We try to pick the garbage out when we put the piles together but it's hard to get everything. The Corrections crew kindly hauled the sifter out of the south garden and into the north up by the compost pile. We can use it to hopefully remove the bulk of the un-decomposed carbon components and anything that just will not break down in a compost.
When we're done sifting and sorting compost, we'll take a bunch of it back to the south garden to mix in to the new beds. Once that's done, we need to get the potatoes in the dirt before it's too late in the season.
If we have time after that, I'd like to get the remainder of the greenhouse painted and hopefully levelled.
And now, with hockey season behind us, there should be no excuses for not coming down to help. It will be a full, rich night. :)

New Rule

In light of a recent incident involving dogs attacking another dog, all dogs MUST BE ON A LEASH when in the garden. This means when you bring your dog to the garden, as I do myself, he/she must be on a leash no matter how friendly he/she may be. We don't want to discourage you bringing your four-legged friends with you to water your plot but we must insist that they be on a leash or tied up while you are there. We certainly don't want any animals hurt or worse, any people, especially children, bitten.
I will take this opportunity to remind you to clean up after your dogs as well.

Tasks

I want to remind everyone again that their tasks are posted in the shed. All gardeners are expected to complete their 16 hours of work in the garden over the growing season. Please remember to record your hours on the chart also in the shed. If you do not understand your task, please contact me, dugsyukon@hotmail.com, and I will explain further as to what is expected.

I went to the launch for a wonderful new book by local favourite and owner of Aroma Borealis, Beverly Gray, titled "The Boreal Herbal". It is a wealth of information from identification to medicinal plant use to delicious recipes. Worth every penny! Check it out if you can.

Hope you are all enjoying the wild roses as much as I am. See you soon!

Alpine Film Night

A great way to spend your Friday evening!

Alpine Bakery - Doors open at 7pm

Wednesday Night Work Bee

Hi!

Just wanted to let everyone know the work bee for Wednesday night, June 15th, will be cancelled. I have a conflict in schedules that has absolutely nothing to do with hockey games. Feel free to show up anyway and work on your task if you haven't started already. The grass is only getting thicker! Remember to mark down your hours.
Another note, you should be watering your garden daily while you are trying to get things started. Even with the cool temps and the rain we've been getting, the soil dries out very quickly.
For those of you in the South Garden, please roll up the hose when you are done using it.

That's all for now. Good luck to all of you competing in the Kluane to Chilkat bike relay this weekend!
See you all at next week's work bee!

ps. Thank you to Mel, Marlene and Deanna who were all kind enough to help me with my Quest for Kale. :)

Wanted:Kale

Hi Everyone,

I'm wondering if anyone out there in garden land might have some kale, starters or seed , that they might be willing to donate to the Food Bank bed. I've searched high and low and am unable to find either. Let me know if you have any extras that need good homes.

A couple other notes...

All tasks are now posted in the shed at the garden. If your task doesn't make sense to you, please contact me and I will go through it further. Don't forget to put your weeds and grass in the weed compost and most importantly, don't forget to mark down your hours.

Please remember to put all tools, hoses and wheelbarrows back in the shed when you are done. These items tend to go missing if they aren't secured properly.

I haven't assigned water barrels to anyone this year so please, out of courtesy for the other gardeners, take the time to fill the barrels you use most and don't just leave it for your neighbour to take care of.
I am trying to find some more barrels as we do have a bit of a shortage at the moment. If anyone knows of anyone who might have any clean large barrels to give away, please let me know.

The work bee will be mostly concentrating on the tasks we were unable to complete last week. Painting is on the schedule so if that is something you are up for, make sure you wear painting clothes.

Of course, once again, the hockey game is on Wednesday night. If you aren't going to show up to help at the garden, please, at the very least, help the Canucks redeem themselves for the awfulness that was tonight's game.

June 1st - Wednesday Night Work Bee

Tomorrow's work bee is going to involve pruning raspberries. If you have a pair of pruners, please bring them. As well, make sure you have a good pair of gloves.
I'd also like to get the greenhouse levelled and possibly painted. I'm not sure I'll have time to pick up paint tomorrow before I come, but we can at least get the structure levelled.
We have rhubarb to shore and the Plant-A-Row bed to plant before the evening is out and the "gopher fencing" needs to be reset and braced in the two large beds in the South Garden.

Busy, busy, busy! So I can use lots of help. Of course, I realize most of you will be at home watching Game #1 of the Stanley Cup finals. I'll forgive you...only if you're cheering for Vancouver :)

See you tomorrow.

General Notes...

Weeding has begun at the garden. If you notice an area that has been recently cut and have a few extra minutes, please rake the clippings (grass only!) and place them in on the compost pile which is now "cooking" under the tarp. We have a lot of coffee grounds percolating in the pile and the nutrients which the clippings would provide will help to improve the mix. Thanks for your efforts.

If you drive to the garden, please park parallel to the raspberry trench, aka the fence. This somewhat limits the exposure of the raspberry bushes to engine and exhaust fumes. We plan to expend a great deal of time and energy reenergizing the bushes this growing season by adding additional soil, thorough weeding, careful pruning, lots of water and "infill" planting where needed. Thanks in advance for participating in this project. The raspberry crop is one of the defining and unique elements of the garden which always brings praise and appreciation from the public.

After using garden tools, please return them to the areas which are labeled for storage of that particular tool. At a glance, we can tell if any are missing or need replacement. If a tool needs repair or gets broken, please place it off to the side by the water hoses so that they can be repaired or replaced. Definitely hang the pitch forks and don't place them in the storage barrels. The prongs are just about eye height and could mishaps could easily occur.

Lastly, always put away hoses away in the shed after using (with the exception of the South Garden hoses). Be sure to make sure the shed is locked when you leave the garden. Be aware of any other gardeners in the garden who may still be using it. It never hurts to ask!

Water

The water at the garden has officially been turned on. No more hauling water from across the garden! Thank you to Alphonse, from next door, for keeping the three barrels at the north of the garden full for us.
Unless someone has done it already, I will be down at the garden tomorrow a.m. to fill the rest of the barrels.
If you haven't got your garden cleaned out and planted yet, please be reminded that gardens not planted by June 10th will be reassigned to the hopefuls on our waiting list unless, of course, you've already notified me of your absence.
I should have all the individual tasks sorted and assigned by the end of the weekend so until then weed, weed, weed away!

Have a great weekend!

'Tis the Season!

After this weekend of rain, and sun now in the forecast, the dandelions (among other weedy culprits) will be out in full force. A reminder to all gardeners to keep a 2-3' perimeter around your plot reasonably free of weeds. If you have a plot that has grass growing up and around the box, please try to keep the grass trimmed as well. Getting that close with the weed eater is really hard (costly) on the weed eater wire.
Below is a clipping from a magazine I thought you might find interesting (click picture to enlarge) ...

And for those of you daring to try a little "weed eating" yourselves, click here for a link to a great set of dandelion recipes!

Welcome!

Hello Everyone and welcome to a new, and hopefully fruitful, growing season at the Whitehorse Community Garden!

I'm sure everyone is anxious to get going in the garden so I'll get straight to the details. First off, many of you being new gardeners have asked me what is good to plant in your garden. You can plant whatever you want, short of anything illegal, but the real question is what should you plant to get a decent yield. I'm including a link to a previous post, here, that should answer your questions on that. As well, I will be holding a workshop/information session on Wednesday, May 18th on "Getting Your Garden Started". It's an informal affair at the garden and I'll touch on what to grow, tips for planting, soil preparation, using compost, planting techniques, etc. It would be a good time to ask any questions you may have before the long weekend which is generally the date we (in the southern Yukon) use (loosely) use for getting our gardens planted. The workshop starts at 6pm and is followed by our weekly work bee at 7pm.

On the topic of work bees, we have a work bee every Wednesday night from 7-9pm, rain or shine, unless it's really shine-y and hot and in that case I usually won't show up. Our hot days are so few and far between, I'd rather be out and about enjoying the sun instead of digging in the dirt :) Rainy days on the other hand are great for weeding! ;)
I will be holding an additional work bee this Saturday, May 14, from 9-3pm. Feel free to show up whenever and for as long as you can. All and any help is appreciated. All hours worked at our work bees go to your 16 volunteer hours in the garden.

On the topic of 16 volunteer hours in the garden... As your Gardener's Contract states, all gardeners are to "contribute 16 hours over the course of the season for volunteer communal work ...". We're finding that many gardeners are not holding up their end of this important part our philosophy as a community garden and many are doing far more than their share (Bravo!) and so we have a new rule this year: Any gardener, returning or otherwise, who has not fulfilled their 16 hours of volunteer communal work will lose the privilege of returning to their plot the following season and first choice of their plot will be given to new gardeners and/or returning gardeners looking to change plots. In other words, your plot will be up for grabs.
Something else I will be doing a little different this year, is that I will be assigning every gardener a small manageable piece of the garden to take care of. This should eliminate the rather large tasks (mostly weeding) that gardeners are faced with when I ask them to take care of a complete section of garden. There will be a few extra tasks (mostly watering) that will be assigned as well.
All hours are to be recorded on the monthly chart in the shed. I will have the chart up this week.

In other news, the outhouse is now on site and, as usual, use at your own risk.
I expect the water to be turned on this week sometime, if it hasn't been already. Those of you in the south garden will need a demo of how to turn the water on and, most importantly, off once that happens. If you can understand it, I did do a post a while back on the steps and you can see that, here. If it doesn't make sense, I can show you how when I see you.

I think that's it for now. I hope to see many of you at the work bee tomorrow night. Stay tuned to the blog for any updates in the garden.

May 1 Deadline for Returning Gardeners

Returning Gardeners (from previous season) have until May 1 to let me know if they will be returning to the garden for the 2011 growing season. If I am not notified that you would like to return, by this date, your plot will be reassigned to a new gardener. As always, new interest has grown this year and our sign-up was very successful. Now I just need to find space for everyone!

2011 Garden Sign Up

Hello Everyone!

Sign up for a plot at the Whitehorse Community Garden will take place on Saturday, April 2nd, at the Whitehorse Public Library from 12-2pm. As always, returning gardeners from the previous year will get first choice of their beds and then all remaining beds are available on a first come, first serve basis. The costs are as follows:

Annual Membership Fee: $20.00
Bed Deposit: $20.00
Shed Key Deposit: $5.00

Returning gardeners need only pay the annual membership and possibly the key deposit if you need a new key to the shed.
As part of the Gardener's Contract, and general philosophy of the community garden, all members are expected to give a minimum of 16 hours in volunteer time to the garden. This works out to about an hour a week for the extent of the growing season (May-September). These hours can be worked in the form of assigned tasks or as part of the weekly work bee. We also usually have a couple of early/pre-season work bees to get the garden cleaned up and ready to go. These are a great way to work off some of those hours early in the season and free up your time later on to concentrate on your garden plot! We will announce dates and times once we get closer to spring, which seems really far away these past few -30 nights!

I look forward to seeing all the familiar faces at the sign up as well as any new ones...

See you soon!

Plant-A-Row 2010

2010 was a great year for our Plant-a-Row program. In total, combining what we grew in beds we designated for the program and the donations from individual gardeners, we managed to donate 480 lbs of vegetables to our local food bank. Below are the totals in weight(lbs): Beets - 98 Berries - 11 Cabbage - 8 Cauliflower - 1 Green onion - 2 Lettuce - 16.5 Kale - 13 Kohlrabi - 4 Potatoes - 242 Spinach - 15 Swiss Chard - 27.5 Zucchini - 42

Thank you so much to those that helped throughout the season to take care of and harvest the designated beds and to those who choose to donate. I'm looking forward to another, and hopefully even more, fruitful season this year! (The picture is of a frosty delivery of beets. I'd left them on my deck for the night and woke up to a rather chilly morning. Thank goodness for hardy vegetables :) )