Apple Trees and Broccoli

Hello everyone,

I was trying to give all the apple trees a deep watering today. So far this year they haven't had one and I wanted to makes sure they got at least one to get them through July and August. There's a lot of apples formed so if they don't get knocked off by hail, we should have a bumper crop this year.

The largest apple tree suffered some damage - probably a weedwhacker that got too close. The bark is scratched off in some places. It's not enough to kill the tree but I'll put some snow fencing around the bottom of the trunk to prevent future damage.

We have broccoli over at the Leisure Centre. I first saw it last Friday on the corner of the fenced in plot. It's a small head - more like a floret but it's there! Yay! I'm not sure what to do with it. I can't see myself harvesting it and taking it over to the Drop-In Centre as a donation. Maybe I'll just take a picture and then let it go to flower so everyone can see what broccoli blossoms look like. It could even turn into a seed saving exercise later in the year. At the very least we know if you plant broccoli seedlings in May, you could harvest at the end of June.

I've just received this announcement from Gael of the Community Garden Resource Network. (See below) Can anyone go over there to pick up some perennials? We could use some for the flower/herb bed and a few more to go in the bed behind the dumpster and maybe in front of the horse radish as well.

Alma, you'd mentioned you knew someone who had perennials he wanted to donate. Joan or Lorna, can either one of you help pick them up? I can check with our volunteer, Geoff, to see if he might be willing to do it as well. He's only got a car so I don't know how much can fit in there though. Ron's brother takes the truck to work so I wouldn't have much luck trying to get the truck on weekdays.

Hi Community Garden Leaders,

Free flowering perennials! A Calgary Horticultural Society member has generously donated perennials to beautify your community garden. They are available right now on the west side of the Calgary Horticultural Society office at 208 – 50th Avenue SW

(The office is the little blue house behind Chinook Hobby Shop which is on the corner of Macleod Trail and 50th Avenue SW. The Society’s office has a large parking lot in front of it but you can drive a vehicle in the alley right beside the west side of the office to the new community garden donation pickup area. (There’s be a sign soon!)

The perennials are labeled and in bags for transporting. They include:

Hyssop, Shasta Daisy, Blue & White Monkshood, Silene, Leopard’s Bane, Veronica Prostratata Blue, Penstemon Hirsuite, Fleabane Pink Jewel, Lynchris Viscaria, Lungwort, Dusty Salmon Maltese Cross, Hot Pink Feranium Macrorrhizome and more!

To confirm with everyone, the empty plot no. 6 (the one infested with raspberries) will be for the youth volunteers who are coming. They will plant fast growing vegetables like salad greens. No. 14 can also be for the youth to plant if that's ok with everyone. No. 4 appears to be empty but it could belong to someone. We could use that bed as a nursery bed where we can start seeds and stash perennials. The Parent-Link plot (in the flower bed right beside the garden shed) will be empty at the end of the season and perennials can be moved into it then.

Maeve, please check to make sure plots no. 4 & 14 are indeed empty. Can the rest of you can get back to me on whether you approve of those empty plots being used by the youth and for a nursery plots.

I'm going to contact Gael from the Resource Network (as above) and let her know we're building more plots and to ask her to get the word out that we're taking names for a list of people who would like to rent a plot next year.

Alex