Contributed by Stephanie - On June 14, 30 tomato plants were delivered to the Lethbridge Interfaith Food Bank along with fertilizer and instructions.  Foodbank coordinator Teresa gave Ray, Lorna and Steph the tour of their new facilities.  They were very happy to receive plants and gave them to clients right away.  They even got pics of clients with plants. We’ll deliver another 30 next Monday.  They will be ready for more.

Also, on June 14, Parthiba and Karen planted cauliflower and cabbage in the garden.  These were the plants left over from the Lethbridge Horticultural Society sale that were donated to the garden.

Garden is looking pretty good.  It is almost full.  More lettuce to be planted, and perhaps more peas.  Everything is still fairly small, and some things are a bit sad due to lack of heat, but hopefully this will change.  Radish, carrots and beets up.  The eggplant is looking great.  Peppers, tomatoes, okra (1.5 rows) all Ok.  Okra going thru a bit of transplant shock.  

Ray set up the solar panel for the electric fence but we might have to change it out as it's not working right.

Parthiba says there are still marigolds to be planted too so they may call on others to help.

Garden update

Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and okra seedlings have been transplanted to the garden. Peas have been seeded. The first load of potted tomato plants is heading to the Food Bank on Tuesday (if you can help out with delivery, contact Stephanie). If you have extra vegetable seedlings from your home garden, let Parthiba know and they can be transplanted to the Food Bank Garden. We're also still looking for raspberries, or other fruit bush, donations.

Lettuce has been seeded

Today Lorna and Stephanie seeded a couple rows of lettuce. They may seed more tomorrow, if the rain holds off!

The Stop Community Food Centre - Toronto ON

This is a very inspiring project from Toronto -

Mission

The Stop strives to increase access to healthy food in a manner that maintains dignity, builds community and challenges inequality.

What We Do

The Stop has two locations: at our main office at 1884 Davenport Road we provide frontline services to our community, including a drop-in, food bank, perinatal program, community action program, bake ovens and markets, community cooking, community advocacy, sustainable food systems education and urban agriculture. The Stop’s Green Barn, located in the Wychood Barns at 601 Christie Street, is a sustainable food production and education centre which houses a state-of-the-art greenhouse, food systems education programs, a sheltered garden, our Global Roots Garden, community bake oven and compost demonstration centre.

Take a look at their website.

Tomato Plant Project Update

On Tuesday, several volunteers met to transplant the 135 tomato plants to their pots. These tomato plants will be donated to the Food Bank to distribute to clients - including participants in the Young Chefs Program. With in a couple weeks, these plants will be turned over to the Food Bank.

Garden plan for 2011

3 May 2011 update

It seems like spring has finally arrived in Southern Alberta. Meanwhile, our volunteers have been busy starting seedlings in the greenhouse - tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, okra, marigolds.

Hybrid tomatoes for the Tomato Plant Project

Okra seedling

Be prepared in the next couple weeks for transplanting our Tomato Plant Project patio tomatoes into larger pots.


Our garden spot looks great - Dave has been overseeing the amendment of the soil over the winter. He plans on discing and plowing the garden this weekend. Planting can be started after that! It's likely the Carrot, Lettuce and Pea Teams will hear about seeding in the next couple weeks.

Garden with compost and recycled peat moss

Varieties

Here are some of our vegetable varieties for 2011.

Grand Rapids Lettuce

Grand Rapids Lettuce - Loose leaf. 45 days to harvest. Good tolerance to tip burn. Well adapted for outdoor use.

Buttercrunch Lettuce - Head lettuce. 60 days to harvest. One of the best tasting loose leaf types. Harvest over a 2 week period. Thick, crisp leaves are very tender.
 

Odyssey Lettuce - Head lettuce. 62 days to harvest. Dark green butterhead/boston type with excellent tip burn and bolting tolerances.  Heads are slightly larger and heavier than Baja.  Use for fresh market or processing.

Bright Lights Swiss Chard

Bright Lights Swiss Chard (hyb.) - 55 days to harvest. Unique blend of many colors. Mature plants average 50 cm with savoyed leaves.  Colors fade when cooked.

Centennial Rocket Tomato - Bush type. Only half the leaves of normal Tomatoes--so most of the energy goes into early medium-size fruit. Heirloom Seed.

Prairie Pride Tomato - Bush type. Abundant, flavorful, low acid content, medium-sized fruit on sturdy, compact plants. Heirloom Seed.

Mamma Mia Hybrid (paste tomato) - 60 days to harvest. Mamma Mia is a meatier, firmer fleshed fruit, just right for a thick and rich spaghetti sauce, or for salsa and any other recipes requiring a rich Tomato taste. Staking type.

Early Prolific Hybrid Pepper - 55 days to harvest. Produces far earlier than any other sweet Pepper on the market. The fruit is 3-lobed, with medium thick walls and a mild sweet flavor.

Black Bell II Eggplant - 58 days to harvest. Early maturing oval round fruit are dark in color, good quality. Plant is a little more compact than Black Bell, tolerant to Tomato Mosaic virus.

Annie Oakley II Hybrid Okra

Annie Oakley II Hybrid Okra - 48 days to harvest. (F1 hybrid). Pods are ridged, medium green, tapered, remain tender up to 4 1/2 in./12 cm long. Spineless, dwarf plants.

Bonanza Yellow Marigold/French - The Bonanza series is larger flowered than the Janie or Boy types. Blooms average 2 in./5 cm. Bushy 8 in./20 cm plants are early flowering and provide better hot summer garden performance than Janie types. Bonanza Bolero is an All America Winner. 

Early April progress update

The tomatoes have been seeded - both our garden tomatoes and our Tomato Plant Project tomatoes. Thank you Drusilla! The marigolds will be started this week, too.

Our garden is still far to wet to consider seeding. At least there are a few good gardening workshops to attend (see the poster below for the Urban Farmer sessions and the calendar for upcoming events).

Come on sun!

Seen in downtown Toronto.....