What's Growing 2019

Some people have planted...

 

It's quite a mix. Over here we have...

And over here...

 

photos by susan hirst

Still gardening strong!

Although there is not always alot of action on our blog there is certainly alot happening down at the community gardens in Little Lake Park.

Every year has been a wonderful year for us as our community of gardeners and friends continues to grow.

We would LOVE to have more volunteers join our community and there really and truly is something for everyone. Beyond planting, watering, weeding and harvesting we also value photography and blog posts ;) Perhaps you like to create newsletter or apply for funding. Perhaps you like to fundraise or create things.

Whatever your talents may be...

You are welcome to email us... midlandcommunitygardens@gmail.com

Find us on facebook

call Julie! 705-526-0740

Or head down to the gardens (Tuesdays and Sundays? Thursdays? )
*I'll try and keep this up to date!

We are right across from the dog park. Super easy to find. Super beautiful location.

Come and enjoy the nature, the beauty and the gardens :)

Potluck!

We are booked in from 5 - 9 at Chigamik this coming Friday, January 11  -
aiming to start eating at 5:45.

Laura Jane will open up at 5 pm.  I was advised that we should allow
20 min. or so for their speed-challenged oven to heat-up.  Please let me
know if you need oven time there so we can get the oven started early.

Since I am better at growing food than cooking it :) I will bring salad
basics -
lettuce, kale and dressings from Operation Grow.  The rest of the menu is
Pure Potluck!

Please bring your own plates, mugs, cutlery etc. and a cold drink if you
like.  Coffee and tea will be available.

Agenda: Casual
- celebrating tasty food - memories of 2018 for fun and learning -
Inspirations for 2019 - all welcome!.

Laura Jane and I are sure looking forward to brightening up these "bleak
mid-winter" days by sharing food and fun with you on Friday!

Julie

PS  Hope you are all familiar with Chigamik's location - #845 King St.  -
little strip plaza - East side of King, across from car dealer.

Newsletter Fall 2018

Apples! Squash! Gourds! Fall is a wonderful time for gardens, and MCG is no exception. And it's the tail end of harvest. Time to get cooking!

Also, now is a good time to plan for spring. Lay cardboard and leaves and other bio materials to prep your space. The cardboard will kill the grass and reduce weeding!

Midland Community Gardens succeeded in pleasing the many visitors to the garden during season.   And that is in spite of late spring‘s still-frozen ground, followed by drought and a record number of “heat warning” summer days, and too many ‘too-wet-to-work' days this fall

Midland Community Garden “winterizing” is steadily progressing. Peter Murray wins  the first-to-finish WHAM prize for completing the weeding, harvesting, and mulching of the Spiral Herb Garden

Most of the rental beds are well on the way. Thank you to  Susan, Karole, Monique, Nanette, Joe, Jennifer, Morgan, Elija, Milka, and Jenny.  A reminder to renters: there is still triple mix available for top dressing your beds, and chicken wire for holding down leaf cover is in the shed. The triple mix and a sled for moving it and/or wood-chip mulch is under the black tarp near the north compost bins. Make an appointment  with Julie to get chicken wire.  First come, first served.

The compost bins and small ‘insitu’ ones situated throughout the whole garden can receive your garden weeds and leaves from home. Just leaves and not oak please!. Chopped leaves will compost quickest. Weather is not proving helpful for drying the leaves so they will chop better when you run over them with your mower. Thank you to Jean, Pat, and Morgan for compost work.

Fall Projects:

Julie is still hopeful of completing the Hugel bed in the raised bed/rental area.

The creating of a Medicine Wheel Garden on our first Hugel mound is moving forward, slowly but hopefully surely! Thank you to Janet and TJ for clearing the sunflowers and weeding the ‘mound’.

The weeding of the ground around the apple trees has been completed, thanks to Monique, Trish, and Julie. Pruning and possibly some wrapping and trunk-painting to follow soon.

Mulching and weeding  are perennial tasks. Thank to us all and Cory. More of it will continue until cold and snow force us inside! Web-siting is also perennial. Thank you, Peter Ladage. And thank you, Laura Jane, for Facebook help.

Julie at 705-526-0740  or jwb@bellnet.ca

Newsletter Summer 2018

SPIRAL BED
The spiral bed was built by Peter and Chris Murray of Yhcrana Organics, using old logs, brush, compost, wood chips, and soil, that eliminates any need to apply chemically synthesized fertilizers.

2018
2018 is providing weather extremes of temperatures and drought conditions are proving challenging for our food growing. However, faithful volunteers and plot renters are keeping things green and flowering, harvesting rave comments from visitors - especially for the beautiful blue false indigo flowers and now the prolific daisies.

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PLOTS
Determined plot renters are seeing plants taking hold thanks to regular watering. It’s getting late to start a bed now, but unrented beds will be rested or green-manured for the future. The former lasagna bed is ‘under construction’. Contact Julie at 705-526–0740 or jwb@bellnet.ca for rental information.


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SHARE THE WORK, SHARE THE HARVEST.
The central herb and salad beds are underway and the Parks Dept has topped up the north pile for path-mulching around the rental plots. We certainly invite sharing of our prolific mint and oregano!

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WORKNIGHTS – WEATHER PERMITTING
Julie will be in the garden from 7–8 pm Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday evenings. These nights encourage meet-up with MCG gardeners.  Sunday nights include music to weed by as we are within earshot of the Sunday evening concerts. Julie will try to meet needs for tools, etc, at other times. 705-526–0740 or jwb@bellnet to make arrangements.
 

FOOD FOR THOUGHT TUESDAYS – WEATHER PERMITTING
Meet at the Gardens, 7-8pm.

July 3 – Watering; compost tea for plants; mint infusion for us!

July 10 - Herbs

Please bring questions and suggestions for more Tuesday nights.  Or send to Susan at s.hirst@rogers.com.
 
SOIL FERTILITY BUILDING – aka COMPOSTING

We now have some of our very own MCG compost for garden use.  Pat’s family has again provided leadership in the north compost bins. Peter D brought bags of leaves last fall for the south bin.  Jean is spearheading our new partnership with Operation Grow and bringing us compost from that indoor growing facility every Friday.

FRUIT TREES AND BUSHES
The trees survived the  winter, and the apple trees have set fruit. We would love to have a volunteer who would make weekly visits and advise on the care of the trees. The cherry tree has been planted in the centre of the children’s garden. The fruit bushes have fruited but not showing signs of filling out yet.

GARDEN TOUR
Always worthwhile. Organized by the Midland Horticultural Society. Saturday, July 14.

Right now it's raining, washing the last (hopefully) of the snow away. Time to start planning your garden (if you haven't already).

You don't have to stop gardening just because there's snow on the ground. One idea is to try sprouting, which you can do in your kitchen. You can get Sproutmaster seeds from the Crow's Nest and get started! Sproutmaster has directions and more. And seeds are so nutritious too. (With help from Julie Barker)

Julie Barker, co-founder of MCG, receives an award of merit from Mayor Gord McKay.

Copyright © 2017 Huronia Transition Homes

Even though there's snow on the ground, you can get fresh produce, locally and hydroponically grown, from Operation Grow, a project of Rosewood Shelter, at the old LCBO. Until able to open full-time, look for Operation Grow's pop-up shops.

MCG doesn't have trees overhead but recommends that leaves not be bagged. Instead, leaves can be swept into the garden and used as mulch. Furthermore, they decompose and supply the garden with nutrients. You can even mow-and-mulch them so they break down faster. The Canadian Wildlife Federation has this and more ideas.

Natural bee nest material is recommended over commercial ones as advertised in Garden Making. Bundling 20 cm hollow stems such as daylily works well and can be composted after a season of use. Commercial products can harbour pest or disease, so require thorough annual cleaning.

Read the whole article and more in Garden Making.

It's harvest time! We grew apples, beans, peas, squashes, lettuce, and so much more. And the foods you can make: sides, salads, pies.... Just in time for Thanksgiving.

Julie Barker (in hat) and Susan Hirst on behalf of Midland Community Gardens, receiving the 2017 Simcoe County Food And Agriculture Charter Award for Best Community Garden, with Gerry Marshall, mayor of Penetanguishene (in green) and George Cornell, mayor of Tiny Township.

There are zucchinis growing in the gardens for Zucchinimania!

A "Three Sisters" Garden

Midland Community Gardens has won the 2017 Simcoe County Food And Agriculture Charter Award for Best Community Garden!

Rain, rain, make things grow!

Soon the peas and beans will show!
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Much thanks to the Gillies-File family for the new boxes!

'We all love lists. As we click on a promising headline, we anticipate an easily digested scrap of knowledge – not too much information, not burdened with complexity, but knowledge nevertheless - simplified, ordered, finite, authoritative. Armed with a list, the gardener can face up with a measure of confidence to the bewildering array of choices in the seed catalogue or garden centre. '--more