VOLUNTEERS NEEDED - Completion of Raised Bed boxes - Saturday, 31 May 2014

Volunteers are required this Saturday morning at 10am in order to complete assembling and filling of about 10 raised bed boxes. These are the boxes located near the Fire Station on Viewmount Drive. These boxes are important for the development of the Garden in that they provide a good entry-level gardening experience for new gardeners, and a good way for older or disabled gardeners to continue gardening without the labour required to maintain annual and perennial sized plots.

Members of the community that are on the waiting list for a garden move up the waiting list if they help out with the boxes. This is great opportunity to be rewarded for your interest in becoming a NAGA member.

Meet at 10am near the raised bed boxes. Bring work gloves. Do not wear sandals or open toe shoes. If you have tools such as hammers or shovels, that would also be helpful.

(DO NOT park at the Viewmount Drive Fire Station)

Compost Delivery - Friday, 23 May 2014

Hello gardeners!

We are planning for the City of Ottawa compost to be delivered to the gardens tomorrow afternoon, Friday 23 May. The limit of compost is as follows (using the NAGA black wheel barrows):

Annuals: Maximum 3 wheel barrows for each plot;

Perennial: Maximum 2 wheel barrows for each plot;

Planter boxes: Maximum 1 wheel barrow for each box.

We ask for your cooperation as to permit that every gardener has access to the compost.

All the best,
Mike Chebbo
Chairperson

 

2014 Opening for Annual Gardening

Dear NAGA Gardeners,

The big tiller.

Last week (13 May) the entire annual garden was tilled (the tilling is only loosely scheduled with the city and we never know exactly when they will show up with the tractor). It also depends on the weather, as it has to be dry enough to till the soil and recently it has been wet. This makes it difficult for us to schedule volunteers for staking the plots, but that is the hand we are dealt each year.







However, before the tiller had left the property, a group of dedicated NAGA member volunteers  measured and staked the east side of the annual garden with the white numbered posts that mark each plot boundary. This is several hours of detailed, careful work which is done. As well, another NAGA volunteer re-painted many stakes and numbered them.  By the 16th, several more annual plots were staked by volunteers on the west side of the garden. As of today, May 17th all annual plots will have been staked, and the water has been turned on. Gardening is OPEN!



Stakes freshly painted.

Volunteers measuring and staking the annual plots.

Some gardeners began planting prior to the staking. These gardeners risk losing some of their effort if they mistakenly went outside of their plot boundary. All boundaries will be strictly enforced.

The NAGA Registrar is now busy going through the long waiting list (there is another post in this blog about the waiting list).

It appears as though the power corporation has relocated the massive wood-chip mulch pile from near their installation in the 'south-east' corner of the garden to along the back fence-line, behind plots 275-277. The corporation also put down a rough gravel path in this area, perhaps in preparation for upcoming work(?).

If you have not yet heard about your plot assignment, please wait to be contacted by the Registrar.



The 2013/14 Data Gathering Project

This is the presentation given at the NAGA AGM on 12 April 2014

AUTUMN PLOWING / SPRING ROTOTILLING, COMPOSTING, plus some additional info on (STONES, WEEDS and HARD CLAY)

Data was gathered both on Autumn 2013 and Spring 2014; it was collected from several allotment gardens, farms and consultation with fellow gardeners.

Where information came from:

• Troy Allotment Gardens Website, Wisconsin (USA), similar in latitude and climate to Ottawa;
• Blackburn Hamlet, and Kilborn Allotment gardens, a visit with George Bushell, President of the Gloucester Community Gardens.
• Talking to local farmers, and a visit to a working plantation in Charleston, SC (USA). 

Problems: Big stones in gardens

Immediate action required before May rototilling:

• Removal: the stones can damage plow equipment, even rocks the size of apples could damage prongs of rototiller.
• Walked around the garden and saw several large rocks, one nearly 2ft x 3ft!
• We need to remember that these gardens plots are part land-refill (i.e.: clay, rocks, pavement chunks, concrete pieces with metal, etc.) all of which would damage the farmer’s equipment.

Proposed Actions:

• NAGA Board sends communication to all gardeners to identify and remove any large rocks as soon as gardeners came across them, at any time of the year. If these rocks are too large for one person to safely handle, we’ll help. 
• I removed some rocks last fall before freeze-up and will champion this project but need assistance of several strong bodies and our riding-mower/trailer to immediately haul them off to our stone drop-off pile before rototilling begins.

Plowing / Rototilling

NAGA standard practice:

• Autumn: plots are plowed
• Spring: plots are rototilled

Other Allotment gardens standard practices:

• Spring: gardens are rototiller
• Autumn: NO plowing/ rototilling

"Backyard gardener's" standard practice is usually just a spring cultivating of their garden plot.

Farmers in the area have moved onto minimum soil cultivation, i.e. one plow disc, or single harrow between rows of the previous years crop.

The city-contracted farmer who plows our allotment gardens questioned me as to why we plow in the autumn. He stated that rototilling is enough and is all that is required. Benefits of big money ($) to be saved here, plus the added environmental benefits of no additional plowing.

“Plowing/Rototilling Experiments” done at the gardens last autumn and this spring 

• Experiment #1: two plots P290, P283 were not plowed in the autumn, they will be rototilled only this SPRING. This was a 'worst case' plot selection; as both these plots are heavy clay (had never had composting), and were in a low area under several inches of spring water melt. 
• Experiment #2: 1/3 of plot P289 rototilled only in the autumn; 1/3 of plot P289 was rototilled only in the autumn, with 6 bags of leaves (not shredded) added prior to rototilling; 1/3 of plot P289 was rototilled only in the autumn with 6 bags of shredded leaves added prior to rototiling. 

Action: Compare the cultivation results between all plots in May (depth of rototilling and amount of soil break-up), and if results are comparable, do only Spring rototilling in the future.

*Additional food for thought: could it be done in Fall vs. Spring? 

• Pros: not waiting on the city’s spring plowing time schedule, you could plant when you wanted to, and also plant some crops on your annual in the fall (e.g: garlic); and 
• cons: would our clay soil be better aerated/broken up by waiting until soil is completely dried later in the spring?

Composting

• Troy, Wisconsin (USA) allotments: everything is composted right on each individual’s plot.
• Boone Plantation Commercial Farm, Charleston, SC. (USA): everything is composted on same spot where it was harvested. All farmers compost on the same harvested field.
• Blackburn: some gardeners do compost on their plot. The rest move their compost to the edge of their plot in the fall. A farmer is then hired ($) to clear it to the far end of the field. Once there, it is NOT USED  (as in never) as the gardeners find it too much work to reclaim it. The Chair cannot get any action or consensus on composting on the plots, is frustrated and has given up.
• Kilborn: everything is composted right on each individual’s plot.

NAGA: we are the only ones to have compost bins.

As of today there are “ 22 COMPOST BINS” on the grounds, ... 20 small, 2 large. There also appears to be 18 additional new bins made from pallets (looks kind of fort-like) at the fire-station end of the gardens, ...some have compost in them, locks on them, others have garden fencing, poles, cages, chairs stored in them.

EVERY COMPOST BIN is presently FULL and/or OVERFLOWING onto the surrounding area. We seem to be inundated with the stuff! They also have GARBAGE and STONES thrown into and around them. Gardeners who have the temporary bins next to their plot have to move the soil back to level their plot every year because the tractor can’t plow or rototill in the desired direction because the bins are in the way.

                                 

Currently gardeners are encouraged to carry their plant material from their plots and place it in “TEMPORARY BINS.” As these fill-up, all the compost is moved again to large “HOLDING BINS” to compost for a year. It is then turned over and any un-composted material is moved to a “Second Bin.” Gardeners are then encouraged to dig out the composted material and return it back on their garden plots. As this is very heavy and hard work and getting volunteers has not been a reliable solution, money is paid out ($) to do the emptying, transporting, and turning the compost throughout the season.

Reasons given by NAGA gardeners on why they don’t compost on their own plot:

• Some gardeners thought “they were required” to tidy and remove all season-end plant materials off their plots each fall. NOT TRUE, just cut up pieces into small enough bits so as not to tangle the rototiller. 
• Some were afraid of plant diseases if left on plot and not going through a full year of composting. NOT TRUE, discard any diseased plants to the garbage immediately as you would normally do. ALL FARMERS compost directly on their fields, I’ve been doing it for over 15 years on my plot with zero problems. 
• Most gardeners I polled don’t use the binned compost as they find it too hard physically to separate out the uncomposted materials, rocks, plastic, glass, wood pieces, twine, rope etc. They preferred the free ($1000/yr) mushroom compost provided by NAGA in the spring. 
• Some were concerned that leaving weeds to compost on their plots would result in hugely larger number of weeds sprouting next spring. NOT TRUE, you will always have weeds. Just the physical act of pulling one weed that has gone to seed will disperse hundreds of seeds onto your plot. 

Most of our NAGA garden’s common weeds produce anywhere from a few hundred - to thousands of seeds per full mature plant. And the seeds can remain fertile in the soil for years, for example a single lambsquarters plant can produce 39,000 seeds in one season and can germinate up to 40 yrs later. Scary eh!?!  Miss one weed (or your neighbour misses one), add in the results of plowing/ wind/ birds and every plot will get more than its fair share of weeds every year. I did three walkabouts of our allotment gardens last year (early summer, late summer, and fall). Every plot always had some weeds, ...including my own!

Proposed Actions: 

• Removal of these temporary bins and Phase Out the Large Holding Bins. Seems these temporary bins are very labour intensive and also just too convenient a drop-off spot for strewn garbage and stones. This will get gardeners doing their own composting on their own plots, putting garbage where it is should be, (in the main garbage bins) and taking their stones to the rock pile. 
• And here’s an Easy-Lazy Way to do it ...with no lugging heavy stuff from bin to bin to bin and then back to your plot: Just leave your compost material right there on your plot where it came from!!! ...your soil will thank you.

Darn Weeds

Here’s some tips on how to manage your weeds:

• Pull/hoe weeds regularly “before they go to seed,” and leave them to dry-out in a sunny spot in your garden for mulch. Expect the same of your neighbour. 
• Remove (or dry-kill) ALL quackgrass rhizome roots before you plant your garden, they will just continue to spread through your crop and then they’re really hard to remove. Dig a trough around the grassy side of your plot to prevent entry of these grass rhizomes. 
• Use plenty of mulch to keep weeds from sunlight and inhibit growing. 
• Plant veggie rows close together to shade out weeds. 
• Make a little time for weed control each time you visit your plot, ...it’ll pay huge dividends and give you time for more visiting with your fellow gardeners.

 Hate your hard clay soil?

We understand, yes it soaks up water like a sponge, and gets rock-hard when dried out ... but it does have tons on nutrients/minerals in it for your plants.

So we did a Leaf Shredding/Composting Experiment last autumn to help out the hard clay:

• I bought a used leaf shredder and Ron Elmer (with his generator) shredded leaves (free leaves from the curbside) and added them to 4 plots. Shredded leaves compost very fast compared to full leaves and don’t blow around during the winter. 
• Curious of the result? Check out the soil structure improvement results due to added leaves/shredded leaves on these plots P221, P229 (perennials), and A86 (annual). 

At the AGM I brought a 14 inch long, straight carrot I dug up on April 11  from my perennial plot P221. My plot has 15 years of just adding a few bags of leaves from the curb each year. A great improvement from the 1st year I dug my hard clay plot, bent the prongs on my digging fork, and had stunted short carrots. 

With a Leaf Shredder one can add way more leaves and amend the soil quicker. An added bonus is you don’t have to dig the leaves into the soil to prevent the wind from blown them around in the fall/winter.

*note: if you use a substantial amount of leaves or wood chips to amend your soil composition, you WILL HAVE TO ADD a bit of Nitrogen fertilizer to the soil to replace the Nitrogen used up in the composting of the leaves and wood chips! 

• I will also use these chopped leaves as mulch during the growing season to control weeds and retain moisture for the plants. Bonus ...it’ll turn into compost by next year. 
• So if you can’t grow long straight carrots in your hard clay, simple...just keep adding some leaves along with your plant residue to compost right on your plot!

Any interest out there in the community on exploring the benefits of the leaf shredder? ...let us know.

I hope to put together some information deck for our website soon, on Introduction to Managing your Soil better with Organic Gardening, other methods to improve soil structure and using less chemical fertilizers but still getting way more nutrients into your veggies. 

Happy gardening! 

Jim 

Stink(y) Bug(gers) invade Ontario, pest to fruits and vegetables

Read the CBC story here:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/invasive-stink-bugs-spreading-across-ontario-1.2602769

Quote from article:

Spring is when adult stink bugs emerge from the warm confines of where they spent winter, usually attics and soffits.

The agriculture ministry is asking anyone in Ontario who finds a stink bug to catch it, take a photo and send the picture to the ministry.

“The best way to preserve specimens, and to prevent them from being crushed, is to place them in a small container with rubbing alcohol or vinegar,” the ministry says. “Good quality digital photos, showing key features such as the two white bands on each antenna, can also be useful for identifying [them].”

Things you Need to Know about the NAGA Garden Waiting List

This post is to explain the general process in dealing with the waiting list for garden plots at the NAGA garden. Even given the large size of the NAGA garden, there is more demand for plots than available supply. Each spring the waiting list for an Annual Plot (20 ft by 30 ft, 600 sq. ft.) is approximately 80 persons. Each year anywhere from about 10-20 Annual Plots become available, so unfortunately it can take several years to get into the garden. Of the 80 people on the list one year, some people move away, or are no longer interested in a plot when offered, so a person's position on the waiting list may occasionally improve quickly.

For non-members: To get on the waiting list, any Ottawa resident who is interested should notify the Chairperson of the desire to obtain a new membership in NAGA (i.e. to get a plot). The best way to do this is to email nagagardens@gmail.com, with your name, address and phone number(s) and state whether you are only interested in a raised bed (large box), a perennial plot or an annual plot. From this email the person’s name and the date their request was made are recorded on the waiting list in chronological order. If you do not specify which type, you will be offered, when your turn comes up, whatever is available at that time. Keep in mind that waiting time for perennial plots is much longer than that for the other two types.

For existing NAGA members: People who are already NAGA members are sent renewal notices each spring (usually in late March). They are offered the same plots they had the previous year. If the member is renewing their license to garden in NAGA, they must return their renewal form with any requested changes (for example, add a plot if eligible, reduce the number of plots, swap one type for another, or move to or from a raised garden bed, etc.). However, not all requests can be met. A specific plot that a member wants may not be available, and another person may be higher up on the waiting list. Priorities are given to current members in good standing to obtain more plots as specified in NAGA’s Bylaw (Maximum of 1,200 Sq. Ft.). Once all the renewal forms with payments are received by the Registrar, and the data is entered into the current member database, the Registrar determines which plots become available for new members. Some members may reduce the number of plots in their care, or decide to retire from the garden for any number of reasons. Final tally doesn’t normally occur until after the Annual General Meeting (AGM) date, which is the deadline for paying membership fees and that usually happens around mid-April.

In early May, and after the gardens have been ploughed and staked for numbering purposes, the Registrar contacts people from the waiting list to see if they are still interested in a plot being offered to them by NAGA. People are contacted in chronological order from the date the name was added to the waiting list (members requests, who are in good standing, are filled first, and then new members requests are handled).

For existing NAGA members who requested a change in plots (number or location), they may not get the exact plot they would prefer. There are many other gardeners to consider, who have also made requests, possibly before your request was made.

Please be patient and wait for your turn. Please be respectful when dealing with the Registrar and all Directors of NAGA Board who are volunteers and are trying their best to provide fair access to the garden for all current and future gardeners.
 

Gardens that grow more than food - Article from Ottawa Citizen

On March 30 there was a great article about allotment gardening in the Ottawa Citizen by Shannon Moneo. Shannon lives and gardens on Vancouver Island and grows on a 250 sq ft plot, almost the size of a NAGA perennial. Read and enjoy the article.
 

Notice: Nepean Allotement Garden Association, Annual General Meeting for 2014

The Annual General Meeting will be held on the afternoon of Saturday April 12, at 13:00 (1:00 PM in the afternoon). The location will be as for the previous two years, and the Tanglewood Community Centre on Woodfield Avenue (very near Merivale Rd). There is free parking. Basic refreshments will be served.

for Mike Chebbo
Chair

Sunrise and Sunset in Ottawa

Here is an interesting tool to tuck into your web browser Favourites menu for the garden season. Select the year, month, and location, and it tells you when the sun rises, sets, how long the day is, and how high the sun will reach in the sky.

Link:
Sunrise and Sunset in Ottawa

 

Garden Song

More than a month has passed since the last posting. We are enjoying the preserves made in the autumn, and maybe some frozen produce from our hard work in the garden.

The snow is on the ground. It is cold outside. The chill is in the air. To warm you up, here is a song, sung by folk legend Pete Seeger, a warm reminder of our hobby and passion which unites us with the soil.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u90qRE2F7CM

(some good gardening tips in there, too!)