Volunteer Meeting - a dozen new recruits!

The Volunteer Meeting was a success with about a dozen new people signing up to help with the garden. These new volunteers have been distributed among our teams. Thank you to our new recruits!

Our first job will be planting our tomato seeds for our Tomato Plant Project. This will likely happen next week (the first week of April). Emails will be sent.

The Tomato Pepper Eggplant Okra Team (TPEO) will start their seeds the week after.

Upcoming Gardening Events

These are also posted on the calendar. Click on the poster to enlarge.

Volunteer Meeting - March 30 12:15pm

The seeds have arrived

Some of our seeds have arrived in the mail. Tomato and pepper seedlings will be started in a couple weeks.

What's new in the garden this year?
How about okra and swiss chard!

The planning begins...

We held our first meeting of 2011 recently. We discussed plans for the 2011 garden and the searching through seed catalogues has begun. Our garden plot soil has been amended with the addition of compost and used potting mix. We will surely see improved harvest yields from these amendments as well as enjoy the improved soil texture. Last year, the soil crusted over like clay and we had to help the seedlings break through!

We plan on increasing the area of our garden slightly and plan to add a raspberry patch.

We also have some other exciting projects planned - to be revealed later on!

If you are an employee of the Lethbridge Research Centre, email lrcgarden@yahoo.ca to volunteer. We will host a volunteer and information meeting in March.

Good bye to 2010

As 2010 draws to a close, I think we can all be grateful for what we have - our friends, our family, our comfortable lives. We can be proud of our effort for the 2010 Garden and I look forward to 2011 and the second year of our Food Banks' Garden. While the snow covers the ground and darkness comes far too early, we will soon be planting seeds in the greenhouse and tilling the newly warmed soil.

Happy New Years!

And for interest's sake, here is the Farmer's Almanac weather forecast for the prairies for 2011....

Annual Weather Summary: November 2010 to October 2011

Winter will be 2 to 4 degrees C colder than normal, on average, with the coldest weather in mid-January and other cold periods from the second half of December through much of January and in mid- and late February. Precipitation will be a bit above normal, with above-normal snowfall, especially in Manitoba. The heaviest snowfalls will occur in early and mid-November, late December, and late February.

April and May will be much cooler than normal, with near-normal precipitation. Snowfall will be above normal, with late-season snowfalls in early and mid- to late April.

Summer will be drier than normal, with temperatures below normal in Alberta and Saskatchewan and above normal in Manitoba. The hottest temperatures will occur in early to mid-July and mid-August.

September and October will be drier and slightly warmer than normal.

Feedback from the Lethbridge Interfaith Food Bank

"The total weight of produce brought in was 2079.50 pounds, for a value of $4159!  This is absolutely amazing, and considering we didn't have such a great growing season, your garden was definitely one that kept our stock up enough to ensure enough produce for our clients.  Please pass along our thanks to your crew, you guys did a fantastic job!"

Final harvest

The final carrot harvest was completed this week. In total, we donated 2079.5 lbs of produce to the Lethbridge Interfaith Foodbank!

There is a bit of work left to do in preparation for next season's garden. We'll be spreading compost and tidying up the garden in the next few weeks. Then it's time to rest until next year!

Remember - Potluck at Ken's this Wednesday!

Tomato harvest

On September 14 & 15, we harvested tomatoes. They were green but the risk of frost was imminent.

We also harvested peppers, peas, lettuce, carrots and beets.

Our mascot "Jazz" (and our other mascot "Ken")

Approximately 600 lbs

We now have donated approximately 600 lbs and have beets, carrots and the majority of our tomatoes yet to harvest.

The weather is still wet and temperatures are cooling. We have had to prune our tomatoes hoping to encourage ripening. The danger of frost is lurking and we have a contingency plan should we need to harvest the tomatoes before they are ripened.

The beans have finished and the peas are nearing the end. Lettuce is still growing and we have harvested a few eggplants.

We have seeded radishes two weeks ago and plan to have an early fall crop to harvest.

The apple trees on site are nearing ready for picking. We'd love to have extra help when it comes time for this. Let us know if you are able to help!