A start to 2016

With garden plan and soil ready, we've begun our 2016 seeding. We've planted radish, spinach and lettuce seeds.

We're also very proud of volunteer David who has been honoured as the “Gardener of the Year” by the Lethbridge and District Horticultural Society.

Gardener of the Year

Harvest

Harvest began on July 23, 2013 with lettuce and swiss chard in abundance. The Buttercrunch lettuce had some fabulous heads. Since then, we have dropped off two more loads of lettuce and swiss chard as well as baby carrots. In total, we have harvested over 50 lbs of produce with a value of over $100.

We have also installed our new solar panel for our electric fence purchased through a grant from the Public Service Alliance of Canada Agriculture Union Social Justice Fund.

We have a marmot who has been caught munching greenery in our garden. The fence won't stop him but he's an unusual visitor so we'll leave him be for now.

Tomatillos

Swiss chard & Grand Rapids lettuce

Volunteer Karma

Seeds in the ground

Dave managed to get seeds in the ground yesterday just before all this rain. He planted carrots, red beets, swiss chard, Grand Rapids and Buttercrunch lettuce.

First harvest

We have harvested lettuce and swiss chard for 2 weeks now. We've delivered over 50 lbs to the food bank.

Seedlings are up!

Dave tells us that the red beets, swiss chard, peas and lettuce are up!

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. 

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!

Heat units!

The garden is beginning to flourish. On Thursday, 13 volunteers met to weed the garden, thin carrots and seed lettuce.

On Friday, the first produce was harvested! Lettuce and spinach were delivered the the Interfaith Food Bank.

What we learned? Water the lettuce well before harvesting, harvest when it is as cool as possible or have water in the harvest tub to keep the lettuce from wilting. The gourmet mix proved to be hardier after harvest than the other lettuces (Grand Rapids).

Seeding and weeding

On June 9, the Lettuce and Spinach team seeded more lettuce and spinach.

And hoed up weeds.

Shannan had a few plants left over from her home garden so these were planted as experimental crops.
Leeks, parsley, rosemary, basil and cantalope.

Emergence

Peas are up!

So are the beets!

Lettuce, spinach and carrots have begun to emerge. We dug down to check on the beans and they have germinated.

And the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and marigolds are beautiful.

More lettuce & spinach

The Lettuce Team is planning on seeding more lettuce and spinach Wednesday, June 9 after work. They'll also do some weeding. If you wish to help, meet at the Garden between 4 and 4:30pm.

Lettuce & Spinach varieties in our garden

Lettuce

Gourmet Mix-Canada No. 1

Lettuce

Grand Rapids-Mckenzie Seeds

Spinach

Bloomsdale Long-Mckenzie Seeds

planting

After a setback of snowfall, the planting of the garden has begun in earnest. Carrots, beets, spinach and lettuce have been planted and peas and beans will be in the ground this evening. The peppers and eggplant have been transplanted as they have outgrown their pots. Tomatoes, peppers and eggplant will be planted outdoors once the chance of frost has passed (typically, after this upcoming weekend).