Landless Gardeners

20 food initiatives to get excited about

2011-08-29T22:34:00.007-03:00

In the latest issue of Regina's Briarpatch magazine, the staff had a look into some of the country's most exciting food initiatives... and look who made the list!

"Briarpatch is a contemporary issues magazine with a chip on its shoulder and a fire in its belly. Fiercely independent and frequently irreverent, Briarpatchtackles today’s most pressing problems from a radical, grassroots perspective. Publishing bimonthly, Briarpatch conspires to provoke, inspire and empower its readers in their efforts to build a better world..."

20 food initiatives to get excited about

Community kitchens, food costing, markets and more!

BY BRIARPATCH STAFF • AUG 25, 2011 • ACTION

Illustration: Claudia Dávila

A recent study on the Canadian food movement found it to be uniquelydecentralized and self-propagating in comparison to other social movements. Through phone and e-mail conversations with food activists across the country, Briarpatch learned about dozens of inter-connected but independent food-related initiatives that together are crafting a network of more sustainable, democratic and inclusive food systems that challenge our current corporate, industrial model. What follows is a small sampling of the most exciting initiatives we came across.

....

18. Landless GardenersFredericton, N.B.The landless gardeners grow organic vegetables communally on the donated lawns of private landowners in downtown Fredericton. They start their seeds in a greenhouse donated by the Conservation Council of New Brunswick. The gardeners are dedicated to promoting and enhancing community gardening in Fredericton and have held numerous public workshops.For more info, e-mail landlessgardeners@gmail.com.

Click here to view the entire article and see what other exciting initiatives are happening around the country!

Landless Under Attack!

2010-10-22T13:21:00.001-03:00

The real dirt: City squashes front yard veggie plot

Published October 22, 2010, The Star

What constitutes a “natural” garden to the City of Toronto?

Grass, apparently. Just grass. Plus, perhaps a few flowers. But certainly not vegetables.

That’s what Sylvie and Vic Oliveira discovered this summer after they turned their Bloor West Village front yard into a vegetable garden.

The Oliveiras live at 26 Deforest Rd., on the corner of Runnymede Ave. It’s a big renovated house, which virtually fills their backyard. So last spring, they thought it would be fun for the family (they have four young kids) to grow some veggies and herbs in the L-shaped space that adjoins the sidewalk out front.

The kids were enthusiastic. The Oliveiras got busy. They planted a cornucopia of crops — tomatoes, eggplant, lettuce, cabbage, corn and herbs. And everything grew so well (the past long hot season was great for veggies) that their little corner-of-the-street experiment became a bit of a novelty in the neighbourhood.

“The neighbours seemed to like it,” says Sophie Oliveira. “No one complained to us. One lady even admitted snitching a ripe tomato and I told her I had absolutely no problem with that. The garden was here for all the community to enjoy.”

Their efforts looked so striking and different, I dropped by one night in August to compliment the family. That’s when I heard about The Letter. The Oliveiras had just received it from the City’s transportation services department — a terse missive demanding that they remove all the vegetable plants immediately and...

To access the full article click here.

Short of Land, but Not Ingenuity

2010-10-13T09:39:00.004-03:00

Landless Gardeners in the news! HERE magazine sat down with one of our own, Andi Emrich, to talk about the group and our beginnings.

To access the entire article click here.

Bringing Food Home... De la nourriture de chez nous

2010-09-20T12:33:00.002-03:00

More garden Wrap Up: Tuesday September 21 6:00p.m.

2010-09-20T09:57:00.002-03:00

We had a great day on Saturday digging, pulling and picking in the beautiful September sun and we are now well on our way to wrapping up for the year. Because of the whispers of risks of frost, we harvested all of the tomatoes, cucmbers, basil and other herbs, and the hot peppers... we even took out the rest of the potatoes as they are easy to store.

This means that there are a lot of vegetables for the taking! Loads and loads of potatoes and tomatoes will be brought to the Grey Street garden on Tuesday evening and are up for grabs!

Hope to see many faces out this Tuesday. here are the details:

When: Tuesday September 21 ***6:00p.m.***
Where: Grey Street Garden
What: a bit of harvesting and a lot of taking of vegetables

27 July 10

2010-08-05T10:02:00.010-03:00

Our square-foot gardening is becoming a veritable checkerboard of greenery! Every week brings some changes as crops move from square to square, hopping skipping and jumping their way with each harvest and new seeding. This week's big mover - lettuce! In a dramatic gambit, fresh lettuce transplants from our greenhouse at Conserver House take up three - three! - whole beds, in near-complete lock up of the entire east end of the garden. Bravely bracing between the lettuce and the tomatoes, the onions stand ever tall while the red cabbage just keep getting bigger and bigger, thicker and thicker and menacingly Audrey II-esque - be careful! while the marigolds seem to be suffering from... something weird. Most flowers shine bright yellow, while others look like they've been hit by some kind of anti-marigold death ray. Zap! The beauty of gardening, of course, is seeing the stuff you usually get on your plate, in its natural environment. Kind of like the special features track on a DVD, or a "making of" special. To wit - An Apiacean Adventure: The Making of Coriander - from plant to leaf to flower and seed Can't you just taste that coriander goodness - how about a coriander pesto chicken salad whilst waiting for the basil to come out? (Speaking of basil - stay tuned, coming soon!)

Urban Gardening Workshop August 14, 2010

2010-06-30T10:55:00.000-03:00

Curious about growing your own food? Ever wondered how a plant a garden? Have a

planting project and want to get advice from experts? Then this workshop is for you!

Falls Brook Centre, in collaboration with Landless Gardeners, will be hosting a workshop

on urban gardening. Farming guru, Shannon Herbert, with many years experience in

gardening and animal husbandry, will be leading the workshop. She will be providing

participants with an understanding of the ins and outs of gardening.

Topics covered in the workshop include: companion planting; urban gardening methods

and projects; backyard composting and vermiculture; beneficial insects; seed saving,

and; urban gardening as building activism. The workshop will provide an opportunity for

classroom discussion as well as hands on applications, so that participants can walk away

with the experience needed to start their own gardening projects.

If you have a garden project in mind, be sure to bring your questions and ask the experts.

This is your chance to get advice on how to make your project a success.

This weekend workshop runs from 9-5 both Saturday, August 14th. Registration fee is

$25 for the day. Lunch is not included, but the workshop will be a 5 minute walk from

Fredericton’s Farmers Market, or bring your own. Space is limited, so book your spot

today!

For more information on this workshop and to register, please contact Greg LeBlanc,

workshop coordinator – by email: greg@fallsbrookcentre.ca or by phone: (506) 375-

4310.

Companion Planting

2010-06-29T21:17:00.003-03:00

This year, with a little bit of experience under our belts, we decided to try out some different techniques (like the square foot beds we wrote on in the last post). We wanted to learn about complementary plants before we planned out what crops to plant where. Companion planting "...assist in the growth of others, be it attracting beneficial insects, naturally regulating pests, repelling harmful insects, providing nutrients, part of a biological pest control program, and in some cases simply a shaded microclimate or climbing support" (Wikipedia).

A little research on the web gave us an idea of what to plant with what and as was mentioned in the last post, the square foot beds would be perfect for mixing crops.

Here are some of the companions you might try:

* Lettuce & Carrots
* Onion & Lettuce
* Peas & Beans
* Cucumber & Beans
* Beans & Carrots
* Beets & Sage

This season, we started out planting some of the above companions.. but Mother Nature sometimes has other plans. As the season has progressed, we have noticed a few beds where our seeds were not germinating. Because of this, we were able to put into practice one of the big lessons we learned last year about growing a garden: If it doesn't grow, move on!

Last year, we ended up with a lot of empty spaces because we kept hoping plants would germinate--if only we gave them time. However, as we have learned, the season in central New Brunswick is short and sweet. When something is not growing, a gardener should get in there and replace it. You could call 2010 the Landless Gardeners' "year of being ruthless"--we give seeds the time they need to germinate but if nothing comes up, we put in a new crop! This type of ruthlessness has meant our companion planting plan has definitely strayed a bit. Perhaps next year when we have learned even more about our soil and sun exposures, we will be able to plan even better.

Square-Foot Gardening...Kind Of

2010-06-14T11:56:00.009-03:00

This season, the Landless Gardeners are trying something new! On May 6, 2010 some of the Landless came out to help dig up the Chuge plot and work it into a checker-board of beds. Square foot gardening is a technique dreamed up by Mel Bartholomew that is supposed to help save space, time, money and water! It is most often carried out using raised bed boxes, not in full-out backyard gardening, but we thought we would give it a try this year.

Chuge plot after tilling, but before bed-making

The gardens were tilled before we made the beds and we added our alpaca gold to help amend the soil a bit. Last year, we found our rows to be too narrow, and a lot of our gardening space was taken up by an overabundance of walking lanes--once we were started making the beds this year, we found that dividing up the garden into squares once again creates a lot of space for walking. Next year maybe we'll try two-foot-wide rows to increase planting space, and decrease walking space.

Here's how our square-foot beds turned out

In a nutshell, square foot gardening requires dividing up the space into 4x4 ft beds; those beds are subsequently divided into four 1x1 ft squares (making a smaller checker board within) and planting is done by squares according to how much room the plant needs. For example, 16 beets can be planted in each square foot and one tomato every square foot as well.

The square-foot method is certainly an interesting way to organize the garden! Doing things this way can help diversify the garden a bit by mixing up the plants that grow together instead of having one row of the same thing. Also, because each four foot block is divided into four one-by-one foot spaces, there is a lot of opportunity for companion planting which we planned for this year. Companion planting is the the idea that some plants can benefit others when planted next to, or close to one another.

Rupert, being a good boy and walking along the paths

To learn more about square foot gardening visit http://www.squarefootgardening.com/index.php/About-Square-Foot-Gardening/

The bottom line

2010-05-11T22:32:00.003-03:00

Last year, we (the Landless Gardeners) attempted to garden four plots on a $0 budget. Because of all of the wonderful people who gave us support (through offering up land, donating plants and seeds, lending tools and dropping off alpaca gold) a lot of our expenses were covered... but not all. When we needed money to be shelled out, members offered their own support, volunteering their dollars to buy those extra lettuce seeds or the lime we needed to amend the plots. As a group, it may have seemed to be a free summer, but we all recognize the necessary inputs that go into keeping a vegetable garden. Last year--in spurts throughout the summer--we as a group spent more than $200 (without counting labour or counting those generous donations and loans).

This year, we are asking participants to contribute a small fee of $20 simply to cover the costs of keeping a garden. No profits are being made... just good old fashioned responsibility & expense sharing. If at the end of the season, money remains we'll redistribute it equally among members.

And in the name of education, keeping close watch on our expenses this summer will mean a better understanding of what it truly takes (monetarily, anyway) to grow a garden. We'll certainly keep everyone posted on our results.

Grow a Row for the Food Bank!

2010-04-09T13:24:00.004-03:00

The Landless Gardeners are planning this season to grow some food to be donated to the Fredericton Food Bank!

Last year we found ourselves on a couple of occasions with more food than we could possibly consume and we asked the question, "Does the Food Bank accept fresh produce from the garden?". Well, friends, the answer is a resounding YES! Just harvest, wash and trim your veggies and drop off at the Fredericton Food Bank or call for pick up!

This year, the Plant a Row Grow a Row campaign is happening in Fredericton! This campaign seeks to encourage folks to grow an extra row of veggies for their loacl food bank. The organizers of Plant a Row Grow a Row Fredericton have teamed up with the Fredericton Food Bank as well as a bunch of greenhouses and nurseries around the city to make the campaign a success. They have transplants and seeds to give away for those who want to grow an extra row and check out their first event coming up in May:

Spring Kick-Off Event

Saturday May 8, 2010

1:00pm-4:00pm

Renaissance College, 811 Charlotte St.

If you would like more information on the Plant a Row Grow a Row campaign, check out the Fredericton chapter blog at http://www.rowrangfred.wordpress.com/ or visit http://www.growarow.org/

...and the planting begins!

2010-03-26T09:03:00.003-03:00

Over the winter, the Landless Gardeners were fortunate enough to form a relationship with the Conservation Council of New Brunswick (http://www.conservationcouncil.ca/) who are in possession of a beautiful greenhouse. Even more fortunate for us, they were willing to host our seeds for the months leading up to gardening season. Located just a couple of blocks from two of our plots and a beautiful building filled with helpful and enthusiastic folks, the greenhouse at the Conservation Council is the perfect place to start the season... and start the season we did!

Greg, planting far too much broccoli

Yesterday, four of the Landless Gardeners got together at the greenhouse to start some seeds. After some consultation with soem more experienced gardeners and farmers (and a look at the upcoming forecast) we decided to plant just three crops. With the greenhouse being unheated and the weather about to dip again over the next few days we did not want to freeze anything before we even got started. We ended up planting broccoli, green onions, and beets.

Kerri, getting into the green onions!

The beets weren't a necessity since last year we had plenty of luck with growing them straight from seed outdoors however, we're attempting to do more succession planting this year to make foods available at different times throughout the season, so these beets will turn out to be an early crop and we'll plant more from seed in June.

Some of the Landless Gardeners, divying up assignments... our research

team (Bill) working feverishly on the right.

In a week or two, we'll be back in the greenhouse to plant some more seeds. We may even start some lettuce that we can pick straight from the greenhouse! Are any of you planting anything yet?

Greenhouse Vegetable Pollination

2010-02-18T12:09:00.006-04:00

We just received a question about greenhouse vegetable growing from Shaun via email. Shaun writes:

I have some questions about gardening in greenhouses... how are vegetable plants fertilized inside a greenhouse? Do you allow bees in the greenhouse? I've only done open plot gardening, and I know from my short experience that you have to have bees to fertilize tomato plants and zucchini and all the rest. These are all flowering plants that require insect pollination. I've been thinking about getting a greenhouse for my backyard, but I'm confused about the pollination issue.

Great question! For us, this isn't really an issue because our plants are only started in a greenhouse and then moved outdoors. But here's what you need to know:

Things like tomatoes and peppers are self-pollinating and therefore, only need to be gently shaken regularly to get the pollen moving(immitating the wind for example). Things like lettuce and beans will figure things out on their own without any intervention. Lettuce is just leaves, so unless you are looking to save seeds, just let them be.

Other veggies, however, such as zucchini, squash, cucumbers (which have male and female flowers) need a little bit more attention. One method is "painting" pollen from the male flower onto the female flower (or vice versa). You should note however, that there are some self-pollinating cucumber verieties to be found out there. They are often bred for use specifically in greenhouses. But like you mentioned, it is possible to use insects in your greenhouse by sinply leaving a door open (if you've got a door and a window you might even be able to make a cross-breeze and to get that wind in there). This might, however, have the potential of letting unwanted insects in so be careful!

Happy planting!

Winter = Memories of Summer

2010-01-11T23:35:00.007-04:00

Although you wouldn't expect such bright and fresh photos to appear on a cold January day in Fredericton, we thought it about time to really show off our harvest and talk a little bit about preserving. It is, after all, the time of year when the canned goods really come in handy.

Back in August, the gardens were overloaded with vegetables and a couple of the Landless Gardeners decided to take a good walk through the greenery on one of Fredericton's hottest days of 2009 to try and rescue some of the wilting veggies. It wasn't long before our basket began to over flow:

Most of the veggies were divided up to be used in the coming days for fresh salads and other yummie meals but we decided to do a little canning as well! Although the kitchen was hot with boiling and sterilizing jars, we managed to still "beet" the heat outside. Can you guess what we were preserving...?

Canning beets is a beautiful and messy process that not only leaves you with a long-lasting sense of accomplishment on the inside, the evidence can be found written all over your paws! The red root vegetable's deep colour will sick around for days after you've been canning... a medal of honour. The beets were boiled with some vinegar and scooped into our sterilized jars to seal and cool.

Now it is winter and that day of canning seems like a million years ago but all of the wonder of last summer's hard work can still be found within those few jars of bright red beets in the pantry.

radio interview with Jon Steiman

2009-10-07T11:44:00.009-03:00

part 1 of 5

part 2 of 5

part 3 of 5

part 4 of 5

part 5 of 5

Jon Steinman... LIVE IN PERSON!

2009-09-30T11:25:00.009-03:00

On Sunday September 27th the Landless Gardeners, in cahoots with the Conservation Council & Renaissance College, hosted Jon Steinman of Deconstructing Dinner (www.deconstructingdinner.org)for a presentation here in Fredericton. The event was a great success as about 40 folks took in Jon's presentation and participated in an animated and thought- (and hopefully action-)provoking discussion afterward.

Jon's presentation was centered around the deconstruction of a "typical Canadian meal" where we learned that essentially--as he put it-- we have very little choice at all about what we consume. Every part of this "typical" meal he traced back to one giant company... even down to the smallest ingredients like the salt in the steak and the corn syrup in the soft drink. It was a strak picture he painted as he continued to talk about only a handful of these companies that are controlling the food market.

Luckily, Jon saved time to tell us about some organizations and movements that are being carried out in his home town of Nelson, British Columbia. He spoke of the food being produced in people's backyards (ringing any bells?) and that is being harvested for sale at the market. He talked about the new grain CSA that sees hundreds of pounds of grain being sailed across the Lake to shareholders. Then there is the Co-Op store that sources everything locally first, where people can bring in their own cartons for refills on eggs, and where locals cart over their homemade soups and breads for sale. There's a local cheese-maker who takes part in the process all the way from the udder to packaging.

There is hope... and it sounds delicious!

After the presentation about a dozen people came together with Jon for a fantastic potluck featuring dishes like delicious organic chicken, curry, sour-cream cranberry pie, fresh salads, organic beef stew, roasted veggies from Mike's garden, and the most local of all meals was from the Landless Gardeners' very own gardens (within 50 feet or so... a yummy leak and potato soup!

To finish up, our very own Kerri interviewed Jon for CHSR so stay tuned for that which should be airing sometime this week!

Thank you to everyone who came out to enjoy the afternoon and to all who helped put it together!

2009-09-13T17:55:00.011-03:00

You are invited to attend a FREE presentation by Deconstructing Dinner host Jon Steinman as he delves into the issue of resilient food secure communities! Sunday September 27th at Renaissance College--> 3pm

About the Presentation:

In recent decades, Canadian communities have become considerably dependent on a concoction of unreliable and unsustainable ingredients beyond the control of individual communities themselves.

With over a decade of experience involved in the food system, Jon Steinman shares perspectives on food via his weekly radio show Deconstructing Dinner. The show encourages Canadians to rethink how we produce, access and consume food. By taking
apart the building blocks of our globalized food system, Jon believes Canadians can
discover a wealth of opportunities to create more resilient and sustainable communities.

Jon will introduce his talk by deconstructing a standard North American meal, only to
reveal shocking insights into the state of our food system. Using a dynamic audio-visual presentation, Jon will share a handful of inspiring examples of how the Kootenay region of British Columbia is quickly redefining how it accesses food. Through independent cooperative grocery stores, community/retail supported agriculture projects and innovative and passionate farmers, a movement of food lovers is enhancing local economies, increasing food security for the region, strengthening community well-being, and providing residents with a strong sense of place and purpose.

About Jon Steinman:

After growing up in Toronto, Jon attended the University of Guelph where he graduated from the Bachelor of Commerce program in Hotel and Food Administration. While there, Jon developed an immense appreciation for food. The University did also introduce Jon to agriculture,but regrettably this link was not made as an integral
part of his program of study and instead was a result of the University being home to Canada’s largest agricultural school. In other words, Canada’s future food service and restaurant managers were not learning about where all that food originated. Jon developed a concern about this unhealthy detachment between eaters and farmers across the country, and indeed this disconnect is still present today.

Jon became enthusiastic about pursuing positions in restaurants that were fostering a greater connection to their suppliers than is otherwise found within any standard foodservice establishment. This commitment took Jon to the Niagara region of Ontario and the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. Chefs there were developing working
examples of how businesses and eaters could play a significant role in ensuring that viable local/regional food systems could remain healthy and prosper.

His work in the Niagara region also led him to spend one year in France, where the clash between traditional food systems and industrial food systems was glaring.

Upon returning from France, Jon developed a passion for communicating his servations about the food system. After maintaining a weekly column that was published in southern Ontario newspapers, Jon launched the weekly radio show Deconstructing Dinner in January 2006, and based the show in Nelson, British Columbia at Kootenay Co-operative Radio, CJLY. Today, the show airs weekly on 35 Canadian radio stations and reaches a global audience through international radio stations, the Internet, and a weekly column accessible in periodicals and on web sites.

Deconstructing Dinner takes listeners behind the scenes to examine where our food comes from. The show has been effective in addressing the risks and threats of an industrial food system in the face of vulnerable resources,environmental concerns, mounting negative impacts of our food on human health, and the rural and farm income crisis.

Deconstructing Dinner is unique. Unlike most other media, the show not only
points out weaknesses in the food system, but also recommends concrete
alternatives.

For more information on Deconstructing Dinner visit
http://kootenaycoopradio.com/deconstructingdinner/

West Platt street party

2009-09-13T14:14:00.004-03:00

Just a few weekends ago, the Landless Gardeners joined neighbours from the West Platt neighbourhood in hosting a street party. The event was intended to foster community and reclaim the streets for people, as opposed to cars. The party was well-attended and drew families and students onto the street where people took part in a drumming circle, games, and neighbourhood BBQ.

Members of The Landless Gardeners brought fresh-picked (and washed) veggies to the street party, contributing some food for the BBQ, which made a lovely salad and great veggies skewers. The remaining food was provided to anyone in the community who wanted to sample a taste of our gardens.

While at the street party, we had a chance to tour the garden of one West Platt resident who had constructed a miniature greenhouse out of four old window panes, hinged together, with a piece of plexi-glass acting as a cover for the top. The man explained that his self-constructed greenhouse allowed him to start some transplants in the spring, and to extend the outdoor growing season of herbs by leaving them in the greenhouse. Great use of old windows!

The Landless Gardeners are nearing the end of their growing season, but there's some canning and preserving left to do before colder weather sets in. Stay posted for more information on dates and times for those events.

--The Landless Gardeners

Son of a blight!

2009-08-17T10:30:00.005-03:00

We've got it... blight.

Rummaging through the gardens on Saturday morning we noticed a row of potatoes had become completely wilted and blackened and figued we'd been struck by every potato farmer's worst fear. Resident garden expert, Mike, confirmed that we were looking at blight and we began pulling out the plants and shoving them in garbage bags to clear the garden of further contamination (apparently blight can be even more devastating to tomatoes... and we'd have a lot to lose if it spread to our fruitful plants). Luckily, at this stage the potatoes are still fine to harvest and eat so we set about digging up our yummie tubers... just be sure to get them before the plant turns to mush and travels to the potato itself!

Here's what blight looks:

Here's what wikipedia had to say about blight:

The spores of this water mold overwinter on infected tubers, particularly those that are left in the ground after the previous year's harvest, in cull piles, soil or infected volunteer plants and are spread rapidly in warm and wet conditions. This can have devastating effects by destroying entire crops.

Spores develop on the leaves, spreading through the crop when temperatures are above 10 °C (50 °F) and humidity is over 75% for 2 days or more. Rain can wash spores into the soil where they infect young tubers, or else spores can be blown in from miles away by the wind.

So we probably have all that rain we were getting in July and the extreme heat & humidity now showing itself here in the city. Luckily we were still able to harvest our potatoes... and lets hope this doesnt spread to the other plots!

--The Landless Gardeners

The Fruits of our Labour

2009-08-14T10:52:00.003-03:00

The Landless Gardeners are in the gardens with fervour! Our tasks mostly consist of a little bit of weeding and harvesting! Veggies are popping up everywhere these days. We are enjoying new potatoes, huge beats, lettuce & kale, peas, & beans. The carrots are still growing... trying to plump up to a decent size. Our onions are beginning to peep out from the ground and our tomatoes tend to ripen one at a time amongst the huge clusters of green fruit!

Harvesting some of the potatoes on Tuesday (once the flowers have bloomed and died, you can harvest potatoes. At this stage they will be small and thin-skinned. Potatoes can be left in the ground to grow further and get their thick-skins)we decided to try out using "crop residue" (the organic material that builds soil) to help nourish our soil. Crop residue can also help prevent erosion. So instead of composting the leafy green part of the potato, we spread it out over the top of the now empty rows to decompose and makes its way back into our soil that has been working so hard to produce those delicious potatoes.

We also took time Tuesday to talk about future plans and upcoming events that the Landless Gardeners are looking to be a part of. So look for us in the coming weeks and months (more details coming)as we share food and spread our name at a Fredericton block party, the Concervation Council's 100 Mile Dinner, and collaborating with some other Fredericton groups to host a presentation by Jon Steinman of Deconstructing Dinner (www.deconstructingdinner.ca)here in Fredericton for the public. We'll keep you posted!

Until next time, keep diggin'

--The Landless Gardeners

Our very first TUESDAY TALK!

2009-07-22T10:45:00.006-03:00

About a dozen folks showed up last night for a tour of two of our gardens with Mike Carr--gardening extraordinaire! We followed Mike through the rows as he exaplined what was happening in the gardens and answered our questions about everything from planting to harvesting to pests.

So... here's what we learned:

Keeping Foods: Beats can be harvested and stored in a cool dry place to last over the colder months for local easting out-of-season! Onions need to be hung to dry or laid-out in a sunny, dry spot for a few days.

Replanting: Certain crops such as carrots, spinach, radish, lettuce, peas, bok choy, kohlrabi, kale should be planted throughout the summer as they are quick growers. Ideally, every two weeks you should be doing some planting in your garden throughout the summer. Whenever you notice that seeds are not taking (after a few days) you should plant more seeds. If there are spaces, fill 'em up! We still have a few days to do some replanting and ended the evening last night with some spinach planting.

Harvesting: Onions should be harvested once the greens turn yellow and start to wither. Potatoes can begin to be harvested once the blossoms are finished--your first potatoes will be small and thin-skinned. Continue harvesting as the summer goes on and into the fall.

Corn Pollination: Corn should be grown in large blocks for pollination purposes. Pollination occurs via wind thus it is important to clump large amounts of corn together.

Pests: Potato beetles. They lay small orange eggs in the leaves of the potatoes and need to be squashed when found. Take a look through your potatoes and get rid of them as soon as possible. The cucumber beetle has yellow and black sripes and can be delt with by covering your plants with a plaster cover. The cucumber loves the heat anyway and will not be bothered by that pesky insect!

Late-Season-Planting: Broccoli, cauliflower and kale can all be planted later in the summer

Seed Saving: Peppers & tomatoes are easy seed savers. Try smearing tomato pulp onto a paper towel and leaving it to dry for really quick seed saving.

Pruning: Tomatoes need to be pruned for "suckers" (tiny buds that form in the "arm pits" of your tomato plant). This way the plant won't get out of control (like ours have!)

Check out the Gardens!

2009-07-22T10:24:00.011-03:00

Here are two of our gardens plotted out:

SPIN farming in Saskatoon

2009-07-08T13:06:00.002-03:00

I just found an interesting, short documentary about a visit by a CBC producer (Sean Prpick) to Saskatoon to meet the father of SPIN-Farming, Wally Satzewich. SPIN stands for Small, Plot, INtensive farming. Wally’s idea to densely plant crops in available urban spaces, like backyards and abandoned lots, has caught on all over the world. Wally’s crops are spread out over 25 half-a-dozen residential backyard garden plots that he rents from homeowners, plus land he owns himself.

This approach definitely has some parallels to the Landless Gardeners and I'm sure we could all learn a thing or two! Below is the link to the page and the mp3. Check it out:

http://www.cbc.ca/spark/2009/05/sneak-peek-spin-farming-in-saskatoon/

2009-06-12T20:22:00.001-03:00

Still plotting...

2009-06-09T23:37:00.002-03:00

Last Saturday saw an enthusiastic crew descend on our two newest plots to till the soil and add copious amounts of manure. The work was made easier by the use of Mr. Langille's tiller, as the machine ate through sod to leave us with healthy (and hopefully fertile) soil.

Now that the beds are formed, there's just one more important thing to do... plant something! The next step is to plant seeds and transplants at three of the four gardens on Saturday June 13 at 9:30am , starting at the garden on the corner of Church and George.

In light of this project being a learning experience for many of us first-time gardeners, it's only appropriate to share some of the lessons learned.
Among the lessons learned:
1) The benefits of gardening do not extend to immunity from sunburn. Wear sunscreen.
2) It's okay to be knee-deep in sh!t, so long as you're gardening. (Your vegetables will thank you for it.)
4) Roto-tillers save many hours of (wo)manual labour. Try to make friends with people who own roto-tillers.
3) A long day is best finished drinking a cold beer with friends.

As for next Saturday, we'd love to see you out! Even if you've never joined the Landless Gardeners before, you're welcome to meet us at the corner of Church and George to dig in and get planting. We've got the equipment, just bring yourself.

Plot One: Up and Running!

2009-05-25T12:11:00.000-03:00

Greetings from the garden!

The Landless Gardeners have found land! We spent our first Saturday on the Church Street plot with shovels and pitch forks turning over sod to prepare the ground for a summer of growing food.

As the old saying goes, many hands make for light work, and that certainly has been the case over the last couple of weeks. Gardeners have been showing up in droves to get their hands dirty and now we've got something to show for all of that digging. The plot is now planted with a variety of veggies--cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, beans, peas, carrots, onions... (check out our garden map).

We had a lot of fun experimenting in the garden and getting some helpful hints from a veggie guru. We learned a few things:

- Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant (and other veggies, we're sure) need to be started early indoors.
- It is too late to start indoor plants now for our climate in New Brunswick so we're going to have to plan our other plots accordingly by planting veggies that can just be started in the ground.
- Transplants (we did aquire some tomatoe, eggplant, and pepper plants) need to be heavily watered after being planted in the ground
- ... and Alpaca poo is a great fertilizer to pump up the soil!

After our day in the dirt on Saturday, a few of the Landless Gardeners headed over to Renaissance College to take part in a "round table" discussion on food security in Canada. Alex Atamanenko, agriculture critic for the NDP, has been travelling the country talking with communities and getting input on what food and agriculture issues are on the minds of Canadians. There was discussion on GMO foods, the biofuel industry, international trade, food labelling, conventional and organic farming. Afterwards, Mr. Atamanenko took time to visit our plot and hear about what the Landless Gardeners are doing in Fredericton.

Overall, it was a great weekend for food growers!

We would like to invite anyone interested to our next meeting: Tuesday May 25, 7:00 p.m. on the lawn at Renaissance College (811 Charlotte Street). If its raining, come meet us at the Lunar Rogue. Hope to see you there!

The Landless Gardeners

Fredericton, meet the Landless Gardeners

2009-05-16T20:59:00.000-03:00

This post is going to end by talking about building a community of local citizens. A networked group of people to have fun, share their experiences and knowledge about growing food in the city. One of the many purposes is to share efforts and create a welcoming atmosphere where people can learn while doing. The benefits--in terms of exercise, participation, nutritious food, friendships and fun--are all easy to talk about and important points.

But we are going to start by talking about our name.

Names can be important and we wanted ours to be informal, informative and relevant. We wanted to suggest two things when hearing it: That there is a number (we hope large) of people who want to grow food and that there is a shortage of land set aside for the purposes of growing food. With all of the land (lawn) space in the city, our thinking went, perhaps some people in the community would, if they thought the idea to be good, allow a portion of their lawn to be planted with food?

The basic setup we propose is:

Allow us a small plot of your front yard
At harvest time, you as provider of the land, get 10% of the food grown.

There is absolutely no requirement for the person who donates the land to do any of the gardening work although of course it is not prohibited!

What we provide is:

All of the materials and labour.
A rain barrel positioned under a down spout to collect water.
Beautiful vegetables!

Our hope at the end of the season is to have a block party where we cook the food and invite the neighborhood to celebrate with us a successful grow season. We want to have as much involvement of people as is practical. We are an all ages, all levels of experience group. We have people participating who have tended gardens their whole lives as well as those who are have never grown any type of plant at all! So if you walk by and see us at a plot and have suggestions, advice, or just want to check on what we are doing please feel free to stop and talk!

Of all the things we want to do -- have fun, grow food, learn skills, exercise -- it is the community of people that we hope will form and the friendships made that will last longer than any of the produce we grow.

For anyone curious about our plans or has an idea for us please contact us a landlessgardeners@gmail.com or post a comment on the blog.

Happy growing season,

the Landless Gardeners

Landless Gardeners

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Short of Land, but Not Ingenuity

Bringing Food Home... De la nourriture de chez nous

More garden Wrap Up: Tuesday September 21 ***6:00p.m.***

27 July 10

Urban Gardening Workshop August 14, 2010

Companion Planting

Square-Foot Gardening...Kind Of

The bottom line

Grow a Row for the Food Bank!

...and the planting begins!

Greenhouse Vegetable Pollination

Winter = Memories of Summer

radio interview with Jon Steiman

Jon Steinman... LIVE IN PERSON!

West Platt street party

Son of a blight!

The Fruits of our Labour

Our very first TUESDAY TALK!

Check out the Gardens!

SPIN farming in Saskatoon

Still plotting...

Plot One: Up and Running!

Fredericton, meet the Landless Gardeners

More garden Wrap Up: Tuesday September 21 6:00p.m.