Gardening 101 Here We Go!
The building I live in is awesome in so many ways. To start, Artech is where I live and work, so commuting is a non-issue (yay!) except of course when I have to shoot on-location, but that happens just enough to mix things up a bit. Then, our building has amazing recycling facilities downstairs which was a major plus coming from the old-school apartment we were living in last year. And now, on the heels of Mayor Robertson’s new garden, we’re building one of our own! There is this long and somewhat narrow plot of unwanted city land behind our building, right up against the concrete wall of the building actually, that a bunch of us in the building have decided to figure out how to make this work for growing our own food, and I am totally pumped about it! Divided up into individual plots, possibly as big as 10×10, in the coming weeks we’re going to research, build, plant and grow.
A huge thank you to Megan for taking the reins in getting this going, and I’m sure we’ll all have to put in alot of blood, sweat and tears (are there blood, sweat and tears in gardening?) for it to be successful but I know we can do it! I promise to photo-document the entire process, from the ridding of the blackberry bushes that currently reside there (apparently a rototiller will be needed), to the first sprout of a bean or a squash or a strawberry, to the first home grown meal we’ll have this summer. And everything we learn about gardening along the way I will of course share. First up on the list: this March snow needs to stop.
Tags: gardening 101, growing fruits and vegetables, Vancouver community garden
March 16th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Congrats on starting the garden!
March 16th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Thanks Raul! Apparently beans and peas are a good place to start, but I’m really looking forward to tomatoes and strawberries!
April 6th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
Yo Jackie,
Jenn here ( Byron’s cooler grrls side)
Just read through your ubersexy website…I am jealous so let’s not get into it, but w/ the gardening bits I can help.
Every April/May Home Depot has a deal where you can rent a rototiller for $15.00 for four hours! It’s awesome, and I can till under my entire garden which looks about 1/3 bigger than your plot-to-be.
Check for @ the rental zone in HD and they’ll usually know when the sale is. Just have a car to transport it in, and a couple of people ready w/ blood sweat and tears. And yes, with the looks of your space, there will be LOTS of all!
When it comes to soil, a bale of Sunshine Mix #4 is a good one, it’s expensive but you can mix it in w/ other soil and it’s great to airate (sp) the soil cuz it has puralite in it.
Yes organic soil is lovely, but you can MAKE organic soil by continually adding your compost, dried leaves, shredded newspaper, worm castings etc. Check out proper composting techniques so you don’t end up w/ rats and raccoons rummaging in not-so-composted-soil.
WHEW! Sorry to overwhelm you but there’s so much wonderful stuff to learn and explore and I get excite to hear about good people growing good stuff : )
Have fun and feel free to email me if you want/need anything.
April 9th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Jenn!!
Thank you for all those tips, you rock girl! (and yes you are Byron’s cooler side)
We’re heading into building the beds this weekend, then the soil is coming next week (and then in my head magically all my veggies appear) I’m so excited! Yes, that composting note is a great point to remember too.
I will keep you posted, and we must get together for tea soon!
September 11th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Hi Jackie,
It’s great to see you have had such an abundant crop this year!
Thank-you for your soil purchase and please let us know if we can be of any further assistance. We also have a nice organic soil ammender and also wonderful composted mushroom manure that you can use annually or every couple years to make sure your garden’s nutrient levels are topped up adequately after your harvest.
BTW, our company also supplied all of the bulk sustainable organic soil (Yardworks Pro-Soil Premium Rainforest Blend) for Mayor Robertson’s new community garden at Vancouver City Hall.
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:33 am
[...] the establishment of 2,010 new garden plots, right? C’mon now! I’m all over this because this year some fellow tenants in my building got together and started our own community/building garden plot, [...]