Best of luck to everyone with their gardens this year!
The positive effects of gardening are well known and I wish all of you the chance to be healed and nurtured by natural outdoor spaces this year.
There are several topics of note regarding The Greener Side that I’d like to share with you today.
- Year long edible gardening workshops at The Center for Urban Ecology, Humber Arboretum
- Beta release of The Urban Edible Garden Coursebook
- The Greener Side: Coming full circle with our edible gardens
- On going development of our hand made upcycled vertical planters
- Continued sales and installation of our legendary organic 5 way mix
- Announcement of our new worker and apprentice for 2010
- Participation in the New Organic Landscape Alliance (OLA) website.
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Year long urban agriculture/edible gardening workshops
at The Center for Urban Ecology at Humber Arboretum, hosted The Greener Side.
The 3 season, 15 session course is broken down into 3 separate course registrations each comprising 5, 3 hour classes held every 2 weeks at Humber College.
All classes will be hosted at The Center for Urban Ecology’s new demonstration edible garden. Week 1 will show the garden as it is now, a lawn (VIDEO LINK)
Each class, students will receive hands-on experience and theoretical knowledge covering the relevant activities of the specific time of year. By the end of the year you will have been guided through the growing season of an Toronto edible garden, from it’s first days of planning and planting, to it’s final days of clean up and review.
The main advantage of learning in an environment like this is that you learn hands-on, on site, and in real time. You can take what you learned that very week and apply it to your own garden the very next day.
The Spring Session, starting April 21, 2010 at 5:30 pm, covers Site, Soil and Plant Selection.
The Summer Session, starting June 23, 2010 at 5:30 pm, covers Organic Plant Health Care, Garden Maintenance and Harvesting.
The Fall Session, starting Sept 15, 2010 at 5:30 pm covers Composting, Seed Saving, Season Extension and Garden Clean Up/Review.
Inquiries will be received at info@thegreenerside.ca.
Registration is through The Center for Urban Ecology or naturecentre@humber.ca at Humber Arboretum.
Each session is $225 plus $50 for materials (install, maintenance and materials)
Recommended coursebook is $30.
Enrollment is limited to 20 people per session
The course runs every 2 weeks except the first week (April 21), which is followed one week after with the second class (April 28). We want to give people enough time to hear about the courses before they start, and for various reasons were not able to promote the course up til now…..
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Beta release of The Urban Edible Garden Coursebook
written by Chris MacLuckie, available through thegreenerside.ca and LULU.com April 12
The beta version of this book has 7 chapters and totals 100 pages without photos.
This book was written:
- to make a long winter pass by more quickly
- to get my ideas and experience down on paper
- to reach and help the do-it-yourselfers
- to be a teaching aid for TGS edible garden clients.
CHAPTER 1
Course Objective, Summary, Focus and Orientation
Outline of the Book and Coursebook Goals included
CHAPTER 2
Foundation of Urban Edible Gardens
System Requirements, Materials Needed, and Local and Organic Inputs Sections included
CHAPTER 3
Edible Plant Specifics
Edible Plant Groups, Cultural Needs, Plant by Plant Guide, and Natural Fertilizing and Protection Sections included
CHAPTER 4
Edible Garden Design and Install
Site Location, Suitable Plants for Garden Size, Container and Medium Options, and Companion Planting Guide
CHAPTER 5
Edible Garden Maintenance
General Maintenance Tips: Observation, Soil Prep, Planting, Watering, Weeding, Fertilizing/ Feeding, Pest Management, Disease Management, Plant Support, Harvesting, Seed Saving, Composting; And Monthly Garden Maintenance Guide Sections included
CHAPTER 6
Ongoing Edible Garden Sustainability
Rain Water Collection, Composting Excess Waste, Container Recycling and Reuse, Seed Saving and Sharing, and Training, Documenting and Celebrating Sections included
CHAPTER 7
Urban Edible Garden Support Systems
Internal Garden Support, Culinary Celebrations, Neighbourhood Involvement, Post Harvest Partnerships, Government Support Sections included
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The Greener Side: Coming full circle with our edible gardens
We approach the edible component of the garden within the larger landscape (VIDEO LINK). Through annuals, perennials, herbs, veggies, berries, fruits, flowers and nuts, we are supporting one of a kind creations, well designed, well fed, and well maintained.
We can arrange the plantings in such a way that the onlooker simply sees attractive plants or we can set a specific area just for edibles.
Straight lines, curved beds, in ground, raised bed, barrels, containers, wood, stone, brick, adobe, plastic or custom moulds, its your garden, your way.
From simple to elaborate one of a kind one time installations to weekly maintenance timely harvesting and and even on one one coaching.
For a fresh healthy harvest to be enjoyed well by you, your family and friends.
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On going development of our hand made upcycled vertical planters:
“Your Urban Garden” Vertical Planter/ Mobile Greenhouses through R & D trials at Humber College
The vertical planters are being used to grow:
- earlier in the year
- later in the year
- in places regular gardens don’t fit
- more easily, with less bending
- with recycled and re-used materials.
As a former commercial grower, I learned that much of the field planning work is done to bring a crop to market before and after the other growers as unit prices are higher at this time.
Any technique to extend the season was worth looking into. The additional costs involved in achieving earlier and later crops however, would often be the limiting factor in implementation.
My experience so far with our YUG’s is that the season is easily extended due to the fact that the soil is ready for planting earlier in the year. Furthermore, by installing an inexpensive removable and ventilated plastic cover, the crops can be harvested up to 8 weeks earlier and 6-8 weeks later. This allows for more timelines in the same planter throughout the year: resulting in more fresh, healthy food. The linked pics show Mizuna greens ready to harvest on March 25, 20 days after transplanting.
Humber College is helping The Greener Side develop these recycled vertical planters/ mobile greenhouses into mass marketable upcycled garden accessories.
We are currently trialling different watering systems (VIDEO LINK) with water reservoirs and perforated tubing set up in useful configurations. Throughout the season ongoing trials will be performed to rate ease of use, efficiency and alternate means of fabrication. Results will be updated periodically.
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Continued sales and installation of our legendary organic 5 way mix
Our organic weed seed free and chemical free worm compost, available in cubic yard tote bags or loose (VIDEO LINK). Delivery of 1 yard or more.
So far this year, after reducing our price point from last year, we have sold more tote bags than all of last year. We have also delivered quite a bit loose product (VIDEO LINK). We have sold to 4 organic farms as far away as Simcoe and look forward to servicing your needs vis-a-vis paper trail for certification.
Organic farms are in dire need of a product that is pure, where the ingredients can be tracked and proven to be pure. Our organic 5 way mix satisfies the exacting standards required for organic certification.
Plus, it looks good, and doesn’t smell.
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Announcement of our new worker for 2010
We have one new personnel addition to The Greener Side this year.
M- will be accepted on a trial basis this April. M- comes with 20 years experience designing, installing, and maintaining sustainable edible, ornamental and native gardens all over the world.
She is also a certified Permaculture Instructor and recently has been instructing the grounds crew at a US Embassy in eastern Europe on sustainable gardening practices.
We at The Greener Side are anticipating a very busy spring. Hiring M- for a trial period as a way to supply the needed experience to handle the spring rush was a mutually agreed upon strategy. If we like the arrangement she will continue working alongside The Greener Side hopefully for many years to come.
Don Moffatt (link) is our head gardener for ornamental gardens. His 15 years experience working in very well tended gardens in Toronto, alongside my experience with organic soil health and edible landscapes, allows us to confidently take over where you and your other gardeners left off.
We’re a small company, that aims to stay small. 2 work crews, 2 trucks. We send only our senior gardeners to every work site.
That’s The Greener Side guarantee of quality.
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Participation in the New Organic Landscape Alliance (OLA) website.
As part of my role as Vice President of The Organic Landscape Alliance, we have made it a priority to overhaul and modernize our educational website. The updated website will be up around mid to end April.
In the meantime, what OLA offers is an opportunity:
- to learn more about creating sustainable landscapes
- to find a service and product provider to help you garden naturally.
For gardening companies, it offers members an opportunity to be seen on line to gain business, and to be known as a green company.
All applicants are screened before being accepted, to ensure they follow best practices in sustainable gardening.
All the best in 2010!
