Well, the gardening season is more or less over. Some of our fruit trees have been in the ground for over a year, and it’s time for us to look back and see how far we’ve come. Have a look at the short film above (it takes a couple of minutes to load) and you’ll remember where we were at in 2009. Now in 2010 we’ve added more fruit trees, had a huge harvest festival, renovated our perennial bed and there’s lots more to look forward to in the years to come. Thanks to all the amazing volunteers who helped make our project happen. And thank you to Chris Martin and Brian Green of Parks Forestry and Recreation and to our wonderful city councillor Joe Mihevc. You guys rock!
Category Archives: Stewardship
Getting into the flow
Cooling off at the harvest table
The volunteers at Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard are finally getting into the flow…of our new irrigation system that is. We raised money for it’s installation in 2009 and it was installed in October that year. But due to various circumstances we haven’t been able to use it since then. No longer! Thanks to Tom Feeney from Parks and Recreation the system is now working perfectly. Instead of dragging buckets across the park from Lynn’s house, we’ll be stretching a hose across the park to water our 14 fruit trees and we can set a sprinkler up near the pollinator garden to water that perennial bed.
Today was also a special day because we welcomed two wonderful new volunteers. Newcomers Hani and Michael joined our regulars: Lynn, Sherry, Susan, Cliff, Alex, Ildie (who came by for moral support), Debra and Rocko the dog (or is it Franco) who barked his encouragement from under a nearby shade tree. We completed the mulching of the pollinator garden and cut down any thistle as a way to weaken the plants. It is looking great and we’ll meet up next Sunday for more of the same.
Black Eyed Susan
So what’s up and out in the perennial bed? Black Eyed Susans are now blooming along with the Bee Balm and Daylillies. The sage is thriving and the lavender and thyme are digging in their little roots. Come and join us next Sunday for more stewardship. For more information look at our stewardship calender on this website.
The Happy Hoers (and mulchers)
The Mulching Team
Some folks pay $90 a month for a gym membership. Why waste the money when you can come to Ben Nobleman Park on a weekend morning and do some hoeing, mulching, weeding, weed bag shlepping, and other fitness activities? Working in the orchard is great for core strength, muscle toning, cardio-fitness and other great stuff and it makes our little park look so much more beautiful. Or so says Sherry, our garden fitness trainer du jour!
After at least a month focusing on the pollinator garden, we now have some time to lavish attention on our fruit trees and the patch around the pears and plums was ripe for a serious weeding session. Instead of pulling the thistle this time, we took our Fiskar’s hoes and hoed them down making it quick and easy work and preventing the weeds from going to seed. We’ll need to do that on a regular basis. Our hope is at some point Parks and Rec will put sod down in that area, which will look great and make our work easier.
After hoeing, we used our remaining mulch, donated by Parks, Forestry and Recreation, to mulch around the fruit trees. The rings of mulch will help retain moisture around the roots of the trees and prevent weeds from popping up.
And in other news from Ben Nobleman Park: We now have evidence that pollinators have indeed found the pollinator bed. Butterflies and bees have already started fluttering around the new plants and they look happy indeed.
Pollinators have found the pollinator garden