A Literacy Garden

I worked, some years back,

as a volunteer literacy tutor and was amazed at what some of the people who I helped learn to read could do.

It is feasible that we can combine the skills that people have with their desire to learn to read and do so while building and maintaining a garden.

People learn best, through an active process, that is by doing, and in the case of the garden, the first lessons could begin with the design of the garden plan. The first step could be determining what they gardeners want to grow and drawing on seed catalogues to form the basis of a reading lesson. Seed packets can also be included as they contain information that the gardeners need.

However, before we begin designing lesson plans, there are a few things that are even more essential. One is the land. Where will the garden be located?

There are some possible options; a church may be willing to allow the use of some of its property for this [purpose, or perhaps a school or community centre?

The municipality may have available land or if there is a literacy organization they may have land.

The teaching could be handled by master or other experienced gardeners working with literacy tutors to develop the lesson plans.

How does the process of creating a literacy garden begin? Well, as with most projects, you will need to assess your resources. For example, is there a master gardeners group where you live? Is there a literacy organization? If the answer is yes, you may want to contact these two organizations in order to determine their interest.

If you are a gardener and feel comfortable with your ability to share your knowledge with others then you may want to team up with a teacher or literacy worker and get a few ideas down on paper; keep it simple what you are looking for is a discussion paper, something to get people giving some serious thought to the idea of a literacy garden.

Happy Holidays

 🎄🌴🌳🌲 We wish you a prosperous and happy season.

Bees

 Honey bees provide us with much more than honey.  The honey bee is a major pollinator of many of our food crops, almonds, apples, avocados, blueberries, cantaloupes, cherries, cranberries, cucumbers, sunflowers, watermelon and many other crops all rely on honey bees.

When the honey bee is threatened, our food supply is threatened and we are also threatened. Fortunately, there are actions we can take to reduce the threat. One is to include in your home gardens plants that will attract and support the honey bee.

The second is to provide an environment for other bees so that our gardens do not rely solely on the honey bee.  The bumble bee and the blue orchard mason bee, among others, also provide pollination services. They do not produce honey.

The honey bee came to North America in the 17^th century. Some may have been intentionally brought over by people who intended to grow the fruit and vegetables they were familiar with in their new location.

Prior to the settlers’ arrival there were a number of bee species already here.  Some sources say there were as many as 4,000 native species spread across North America. Their source of nectar were the native plants.

If you are concerned about bees in general, then the best way to make sure they survive and thrive is to plant a mixed garden.

A mixed garden will contain plants that appeal to honey bees, bumble bees and other garden helpers.  The most effective way to create this mixed plant garden is to use succession planting. Succession planting involves selecting plants that will bloom throughout the gardening season.

To bring the bees in in the spring plant crocus, hyacinth, borage, and calendula.  To keep the bees happy through the summer, add bee balm, cosmos, coneflower, snapdragons foxglove, and hostas. Asters and sunflowers keep the bees feeding when fall arrives.

Plant the flowers in the vegetable garden bed either in the border or better place them amongst the vegetables. The early blooming flowers will bring in the first bees who are hungry and seeking sustenance.

Herbs are also powerful bee magnets. Chives, sage, thyme, borage and summer savoury are all good choices.  Borage with its bright blue flowers is a personal favourite.

Dandelions and clovers will also draw bees to the yard. Both are edible plants and this we will talk about another day. 

An added value of clovers and dandelions is there is no need to plant them in the garden bed. Most lawns will provide all of these two plants the bees need.

The first step to taking advantage of both clovers and dandelions is to stop thinking about them as the enemy and accept them for the many garden services they provide.

For The Birds

 Bird song brightens the day, even when the birds get up much earlier than you do. Song birds are a delight to the eye, as well as, the ear. A bird feeder is one way to bring these colourful charters to the yard. Add a bird house and a bird bath and all their basic needs are met.

However, once they birds are making use of the house, feeder and bath, it is the home owner's responsibility to keep them clean and full. Birds will become dependent upon this source and will suffer if the food is neglected.

Know your Birds:

It is not all that difficult to design a bird garden. Start with a little research; what birds are native to your region and what migratory bids will drop by, perhaps only for a short visit during the spring and summer. A trip to your local public library can be useful.

Once you know who your visitors are likely to be, then it is time to design the garden. Select plants that appeal to them. This is similar to accepting guests in your home, you want them to feel comfortable, but unlike your human guests you want the birds to hang around as long as possible.

It is not necessary to convert your whole yard into a bird sanctuary, although if that is possible. There is room for the home vegetable garden, cut flowers herbs and an area that is for the birds.

A bird garden will provide food and shelter as well as a look out point, exactly what plants will do the job depends upon where you live. However, regardless of your location, tall and medium size shrubs can provide a nesting place and a food source for many species. An herbaceous ground cover can provide a fine habitat for species, which prefer to feed on the ground. They are among the most vulnerable of birds because they are easier prey than birds up in a tree or on a feeder, so give them some protection.

Plant Choices:

Use plants that are native to your area when designing your bird garden. Native plants are adapted to the growing conditions in your area and birds and other beings have been using them for shelter and to find food for many generations so the plants and the birds are well matched.

Using native plants not only attracts birds but also helps preserve the natural habitat of your region so you are helping to preserve regional bio-diversity when you use native plants.

If you have only a small space to set aside for the birds that is fine, two or three shrubs, a few wildflowers and some low growing herbs can be all you need, as long as you do your homework first and match the plants to the birds.

Compost

 Healthy soil means healthy plants. 

How do you keep your soil healthy?  Simple, use an organic fertilizer at the end and the beginning of each gardening season. Where can I get organic fertilizer? Easy enough, make your own from material already at hand.

I am talking about compost which is an excellent organic fertilizer

Now you can go out and buy compost, if you do choose an organic compost. However, a cheaper way to get compost is to make your own.

I would be amiss to mention using well-rotted manure to feed the soil. Sheep manure, purchased locally, is my choice when no other source of organic fertilizer is available.

Making your own compost is a straightforward process. All the material needed are right at hand. Food scrapes, not bone or meat, but vegetables are excellent compostable material.

You can also add grass clippings to the mix. Besides adding grass clipping to the compost pile leave the bulk of the clippings where they fall when you cut the lawn. This is a cheap and healthy way to feed the lawn.

Composting is an excellent way to recycle material that might otherwise end up being transported to a landfill. There is no need to add to the mountains of waste we already toss out.

Composting is how you can complete the growing cycle. You put compost on your vegetable garden to help the plants grow; you harvest the plants for your meals and then put the scarps in the compost which you then put on your garden to help the plants grow. This closed circuit approach reduces waste and produces healthy food for you and your family.

What can you compost? The following information provides you with a list of items that can go into your compost pile.

From Your Garden:

Leaves (chopped - to speed their breakdown)

Grass (not wet)

Plants & Weeds (without ripe seeds)

Old potting soil

Soft plant stems

From Your Kitchen.

Coffee grounds and filters

Fruit scraps

Vegetable trimmings

Crushed egg shells

Tea bags

Shredded paper.

The following items should not be placed into the compost:

Dairy products including cheese

Meat, fish (including sauces) and bones

Plastics

Metals

Fats and oils

Pet waste

A perfect mixture of material for the compost bin consists of ½ brown (carbon-based material) and ½ green (nitrogen-based) materials by weight.

Remember that a successful gardener builds soil and compost enables you to do that work.

There are a number of ways to keep the organic material as it turns to compost. For the average yard, if appearance is a priority, there are a number of options commercially available. Compost needs to be turned over, so keep this in mind when buying one.

This simplest way to make a compost pile is to dig a pit in the ground and add the material. This compost pit will need to be turned over on a regular basis. A pitch fork is a perfect tool to accomplish this task.

A better way is to build your own composter. There are plans on the Internet and in books available at the public library. Pick a plan that suits you and compost away.

Tips On Accessible Gardening

 Anyone, if they want to, can garden. Appropriate design, that is design that understands and incorporates the wants and needs of the individual, is the key. 

Gardening is the act or, as I prefer the art, of growing plants. While not all gardens are works of art, the designer, using basic design principles, incorporates the seven design elements (line, shape, form, space, texture, value and colour) when creating a garden.

What plants the gardener grows is a personal choice and the variety of possibilities is vast. The most successful gardens embrace diversity and employ a wide palette when laying out a garden.

All too often, people when they think about a garden, visualize flowers and-or vegetables planted directly into the ground in neat and straight rows.

There is nothing wrong with this image and many successful gardens adopt this design. 

However, it is only one of a number of ways plants can be grown.

This article begins an ongoing series that will look at how to create accessible gardens. Future articles will explore specific design considerations, garden tools specifically adapted to enable people to enjoy all gardening has to offer.

Gardens generally consist of two components, hardscape and softscape. 

Softscape is the living plants the gardener grows, vegetables, herbs, tress and so on.

Hardscape is the non-living elements, benches, ornaments, lights, paths and so on. Today and next week we will focus on hardscape.  For the home garden, a pathway enables people with varying mobility concerns, to experience the garden, directly.

The minimum width of an unobstructed pathway should be 0.90 m. The minimum width of a two-way wheelchair traffic passage is 1.50 m. The preferable width is 1.80 m. In the home garden, it may not be necessary to build a path that caters to two-way traffic.

The slope of an accessible path should not exceed 1:20. Pathways with a slope of more than 1:20 should be designed as ramps. A ramp may be needed if the property is sloped.

What materials must be used when creating an accessible pathway?

First the surface of the pathway needs to be well constructed and must provide firm, non-slip, level access.

 Do not use loose materials, such as gravel. Asphalt is a low cost and low maintenance material that provides durability. Weed maintenance may be necessary as over the years asphalt may crack. Asphalt, by itself, is not attractive, however, it can be surfaced with other materials to increase its visual appeal.

Asphalt paths may also act as a heat sink which can play both a positive and negative role in a garden.

Tarmac is another option. Tarmac refers to a technique or approach to paving that involves crushed rock or gravel held together with heated tar. 

There are other alternatives to asphalt and tarmac and I suggest taking time and reviewing the overall garden plan and the site itself before deciding on any material.

What is a Weed?

 

A weed is...

“A weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.” Ralph Waldo Emmerson

Most gardeners would not agree with Emmerson. They see weeds as an enemy. One which they will go to extreme lengths to vanquish. They will even wage chemical warfare in desperate attempts to rid their lawn and garden of any invaders. 

There is no need to go to the extreme to reduce the weeds in the garden bed. First, instead of seeing weeds as an enemy, view them as an opportunity. An opportunity to get outside and enjoy the weather while getting some exercise.

There are a number of great tools that have the sole purpose of removing weeds. Buy one you like and put it and you to work. Most of us can use some exercise, so turn your garden into a home gym and shed a few pounds while growing healthy and happy plants.

If you do not want to weed, then there are several ways to prevent weeds from becoming a problem in the first place.

The first and most important thing to remember about growing any plant is that healthy soil makes for healthy plants.

I have stated this before and repeat it now, because the next reduce weeding technique I will mention, is close cropping. Close cropping involves placing plants closer together than the planting instruction recommend.

This cuts down on the vacant space available for weeds to colonize. It will also increase the yield the gardener receives from the garden. A true win-win strategy. Close cropping demands healthy soil.

I have planted greens close together and it worked, no weeds and plenty of leaves for salads and so on. Also, peas and beans have provided a superior yield and reduced work when planted closer together than suggested.

Close cropping is a great planting method for gardeners with little space, a desire for a good yield and no time to weed.

Now this next method requires a bit of time at the beginning but can save much effort once the garden is planted. I have discussed it before, the no-till garden. Simply, do not dig or till the garden site, use successive layers of newspaper or cardboard, straw and mulch to create the garden bed. If you build this no-till bed high enough it can be placed just about anywhere, more next week.

If this method interests you start saving newspapers now, depending upon the size of the garden you will need a good stack of paper to get the job done.

The last method is one I have only tried once and am eager to do again. Hügelkultur or mound culture involves digging a pit then filling the bottom with logs, gradually adding smaller branches, compost and then soil until the desired height is reached.

Photos For A Grey Day

 

Is A PDC Necessary?

 

Permaculture is a holistic, nature-inspired design methodology that can be used grow food, build businesses and create communities.

There are a number of reasons why a permaculture course is valuable. Permaculture design can assist you to reduce your ecological footprint while saving you money, time and energy. This illustrates a permaculture concept- taking one action and accomplishing three or more tasks.

If you are interested in learning more about permaculture, I recommend that you begin with an introductory course. This allows you to find out if you are intrigued enough to develop you knowledge and skills further or if you just want to take what you know and apply it your your daily life and work.

Unless you want to become a teacher or permaculture design consultant, the intro course is all you need.

However, if you seek more and want to consult and or teach then further work and learning is required.

If you have your own land and want to grow all or much of your own food, the intro course will help you decide whether or not this is a realistic goal. If you are convinced that you can indeed grow the food you need than it is time to take a closer look at the permaculture design certificate (PDC). 

The PDC is also essential if you wish to become a permaculture teacher or to take more advanced permaculture design courses.

The Smart Gardener

 I never actually stop gardening. I do not think about it all the time. When I talk about gardening in this context, I am considering a bigger picture. How will the garden season evolve over the next few years is one question I consider? What will a changing weather system bring to the growing season? What can we grow that will thrive and feed our families?

The weather has a direct and often an immediate impact on all living things, including the farm and the home garden. An unanticipated frost or cold snap can kill those tender annual vegetables. A prolonged dry spell may, at first, help plant roots grow as they go deeper and deep to find precious water. However, without irrigation, the crops will wither and die.

The last few years have presented the region with some unusual weather. I do not know what is to come but I do believe in being prepared.

There are steps we can take to keep our environment viable, even when the local weather presents us with challenges. For example, Synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, and pest killers destroy all life in the garden. In addition, the runoff pollutes streams, creeks, rivers, lakes and eventually the ocean. Use organic fertilizers.

Take care of the soil for without it the garden will not produce. The health of what we eat depends upon the health of the soil it is grown in.

Honey bees are at risk. No pollination and our available food supply shrinks significantly. Honey bees are not the only pollinators. Bumble bees and mason bees also help our food grow. Learn about them and what to plant to feed them and keep them visiting our gardens.

Growing food organically addresses these issues to a great extent but we need to go beyond organic if we are going to be able to produce, fresh, local, healthy food during a period of changing weather conditions.

Permaculture design is a holistic, nature-inspired design methodology. Permaculture design enables us to create human environments which are modeled after natural process and drawing upon both modern and indigenous technologies. 

Smart gardening involves understanding that repeating the same activities year after year, in a changing environment, will lead to frustration and failure.

The smart gardener knows how to create a garden that is resilient, or, in other words, can withstand the drastic shifts in local conditions. Growing food, for many gardeners, is often repeating the same actions year after year, even if the previous year was a disaster due to too little or too much rainfall, cooler temperatures than expected and so on.

The grower continues to plant the same annual plants. The exact location of the plants may be shifted. Tomatoes and potatoes are grown in a different spot than the previous year, but they are still grown.

The use of annual food plants means the beginning of the gardening season can be a busy one. Backyard gardeners are often rushed, trying to prepare the soil and get the plants in on time.

Garden Planning: A Winter Activity

 The urge to garden appears long before the growing season begins. I feel the need to plant, something, anything while is still covered in snow. When the temperatures are hovering around zero Celsius.

It is even too early to start seed indoors.

Cucumbers may not be the best plant for the novice but if you know what they need and make the effort to see they get what they need you can grow them and just about anything else. The following short list will give you some tips for growing some of the vegetable garden essentials.

Cucumbers:

The cucumber is a demanding plant. They have an extensive root system that requires regular watering and good healthy soil to grow best. The plant will tolerate a variety of soils but it will do best in a loose well-drained soil that is complemented with organic matter such as well-rotted manure or compost before planting. The soil pH should be between 6.0 and 7.0.

Strawberries:

There are four basic types of strawberries. They are June bearing or spring bearing, ever bearing and day neutral.

The fruits of day neutral plants and ever bearers are usually smaller than June-bearers fruit.

June bearing strawberries are classified into early, mid-season and late varieties.

Onions:

Onions are not all the difficult to grow. First off, you have two types of onions, summer onions and winter onions. Summer onions are fresh onions that come in yellow red and white and have a fairly thin skin.

These are the sweet onions, the ones that you are most likely to find in your sandwich or salad. It is their high water content that makes them sweet.

Companion Planting:

Companion or compatible planting is the first step towards understanding plant communities and how designing you garden as a functioning community of plants that benefit from each others’ company is a natural model that increases your garden’s vitality.

Perhaps, one of the oldest plant communities that we know of is the Three Sisters, beans, corn and squash. It is a First Nations planting method that goes back for several centuries and is often associated with the Iroquois.

You will succeed if you feed the soil organic material such as compost, by the way compost is a great way to reuse kitchen scraps (vegetable) that you might otherwise toss away and turn grass clippings and fallen leaves into food for your soil.

You will succeed if you place the garden where the plants get the sunlight they must have; vegetables need at least six to eight hours of sun each day. Tomatoes and peppers love sun and heat so consider this when planting them.

Vegetables need water and you cannot always rely on the rain, so install a rain barrel and plan for those dry id-summer days. Speaking of planning, make a rough sketch of what will go where before you plant and this will guide you through the planting.

Seed packages give the gardner all the information required to plant correctly. read the pack follow the instructions. be sure put the right plant in the right place. Water when needed.. Nature does a great deal of the work for

Nature does a great deal of the work, but now and then you do have to lend her a helping hand.

Flowers For Beauty

 

Over the years I have designed and grown a wide range of gardens. They ranged from a one pot with tomatoes and basil on my balcony to a 1 acre commercial operation. One reoccurring question raised through all these various gardens’ projects over a 17 year period is whether to grow flowers or not.

I am not talking about edible flowers but flowers that are grown purely for ornamental or ascetic purposes either as cut flowers for the table or bouquets or dried flowers for various craft purposes.

To clarify the discussion further, I am not discussing commercial growing of cut flowers or flowers for drying, both of which could be solid business opportunities, but rather flowers grown purely for personal use and ascetic qualities.

There are gardeners and then there are gardeners; some will only grow food and scoff at those who grow, for example, gladiolas. Te glad has no edible value but it perhaps one of the most beautiful flowers that I have seen.

I have grown glads in containers on my balcony and in the backyard, just so I could have them to cut and bring inside to admire.

I remember on evening some years back I was sitting on my balcony looking up at the sky when I noticed a small bird hover near the deep red glads growing in the container. It was a hummingbird. It paused in its flight and gave me a look that said hey what you are doing here this I my space.

The hummingbird bird came back at approximately the same time every night for a week. Now that is what I call a good reason to grow flowers; to attract these winged jewels.

The group of gardeners who want to grow only food; or plant trees will argue that growing flowers for purely aesthetic purposes is a waste of time and resources (soil, water) but I simply cannot agree.

Beauty is a function and one that deserves our respect and attention. Spend, even20 minutes, in a backyard near the flower garden, feel the sun warming your face, hear the hum of the bees and watch the butterflies float from plant to plant and you will see the value that beauty brings. The dance of life is taking place before your eyes.

Besides a cutflower garden can attract the beneficial friends, (bees and other insects) to you garden that will help you do the work.

My perspective is this; if you have enough space for a garden then take a diverse approach, grow the vegetables that you want for your table but add a few herbs and a few cut flowers into the mix so that your garden will not only provide a greater bounty for your table, but so that you set out a portion for your garden helpers.

The successful gardener does not work alone. Another saying that is worth remembering here is that we do not live by bread alone; vegetables will feed your hunger but flowers will feed your heart. A thriving garden is a mixed planting garden, Herbs, flowers, trees, all have a place.

Water. Are we Running Out

 This was written awhile back, but the continued attempts to make water a commodity, raise the question why is water not considered a human right?

t is four in the morning and the call of nature pulls you from your dreams of lakes and ponds, flowing rivers of endless water, you feel the need and get up and head for the bathroom. When finished you flush and head back for bed.

Later that morning, you are pouring yourself a cup of coffee; the water came from you kitchen tap and little effort was needed to get it.

Later that day, you reach into the fridge and get the water jug or take out a bottle of water that you purchased at the grocery store when you last bought your groceries. Neither action takes much time or thought.

When it comes to our lawns and gardens, many of us have developed some water wise skills and are becoming aware of the importance of water conservation.

For some, this has carried over into our homes and how we use water to prepare our meals and dispose of our personal; waste.

But for many millions of people worldwide, the convenience of turning on the tap and having cool, drinkable water readily available does not exist.

Dirty water is a leading cause of illness and death; globally, a child dies every 15 seconds from causes related to dirty water.

Now if you and I conserve water this will not help those who do not have ready access to water in any direct sense, but if we begin to treat water as the essential resource that it is; a resource that everyone needs access to then things can begin to change.

Water is essential to life like food is; however, while we may last up to three weeks without eating, we will only live for three days without water.

In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) through a proclamation by the General Assembly on December 10 with a count of 48 votes to none with only 8 abstentions.

Included in that Declaration is Article 25 this says;

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Water was not included.