Hooray for Boulevard Gardening!
September 4, 2014
Continue reading “Hooray for Boulevard Gardening!”
Posted in Blog, Boulevard Gardening, Civic Engagement, Featured, News, Organic GardeningLeave a Comment on Hooray for Boulevard Gardening!Category: Featured
Miss Mullein’s Herbals are here!
July 30, 2014
We are SO excited to announce the arrival of Ravenhill Herb Farm’s line of herbal healing products: Miss Mullein’s Herbals. We will be carrying a selection of their locally made, all-organic, herbal-infused honeys, tinctures and salves. Perfect gifts, treats for the self and additions to the medicine cabinet!
Salves
- Baby’s Bum – Calendula (C. officinalis), self-heal (P. vulgaris), lavender (L. angustifolia), balsam poplar (P. balsamifera), extra virgin olive oil, castor oil, cocoa butter, beeswax, vitamin E.
- Cuts & Scrapes – Mahonia (M. aquifolium), usnea (U. longissima), yarrow (A. millifolium), western red cedar (T. plicata), calendula (C. officinalis), balsam poplar (P. balsamifera), extra virgin olive oil, castor oil, coca butter, beeswax, vitamin E.
- Aches & Pains – Sword fern (P. munitum), arnica (A. montana & A. chamissonis), balsam poplar (P. balsamifera), comfrey (S. officinalis), cayenne (C. annuum), extra virgin olive oil, castor oil, cocoa butter, beeswax, vitamin E.
Tinctures
- Immune Booster – Echinacea (E. purpurea & E. angustifolia), reshi (Ganoderma Lucidum), american ginseng (Panax quinquefolius), siberian ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus), tumeric (Curcuma longa), pure vegetable glycerine, cane alcohol.
- Allergy Easer – Nettle (Urtica dioica), ambrosia (A. chamissonis), goldenrod (Solidego canadensis), anaphalis (A. margaritacea), alcohol, pure vegetable glyerine.
- Tummy Calmer – Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla), hops (Humulus lupulus), pure vegetable glycerine, cane alcohol.
Herbal Infused Honeys
- Herbs de Provence – Unpasteurized Cowichan BC honey, wildcrafted Grindelia flowers (Grindelia integrifolia), organically grown Lemon balm herb (Melissa officinalis), and organically grown Sage herb (Salvia officinalis).
- Wild Rose – Unpasteurized Cowichan BC honey, fresh wildcrafted Wild Rose petals (Rosa nutkana).
- Sore Throat & Cough – Unpasteurized Cowichan BC honey, organically grown Lemon Thyme (Thymus citriodorus), Rosemary herb (Rosmarinus officinalis), Lavender flowers (Lavendula angustifolia), Fennel Seed (Foeniculum vulgare), Sweet Basil herb (Ocimum basilicum).
* All images from Miss Mullein’s Herbals website
Posted in Announcement, Blog, Featured, News, RetailLeave a Comment on Miss Mullein’s Herbals are here!DIY rain barrel kits now in stock!
July 26, 2014
Buy your Compost Club Membership online!
July 10, 2014
Solstice Beauty
June 23, 2014
June is the month where things settle into their boots (or roots, if you will) and start to show off everything they’ve got. I recently took a walk around the garden on the Summer Solstice to capture some of the sweet moments that are currently happening. Think nasturtiums, calendula, borage, phacelia, arugula flowers, Johnny Jump Ups and a king-size mullein! (Click on the photos for larger, more glorious images)
Many of the flowers pictured here are deliberately planted as companions for the vegetables nearby. Calendual and nasturtiums act as pest traps, attracting aphids away from squash and brassicas. Borage and phacelia attract pollinators (like the bumble bee doing the splits above!) to squash, tomato, and cucumber flowers. And Johnny Jump Ups and roses bring joy to pretty much anyone who stops to spy or sniff them. Welcome to summer everyone!
Posted in Blog, Featured, Organic Gardening, Pollinators, ReflectionsLeave a Comment on Solstice Beauty
Compost Ed goes to Mayne Island
June 21, 2014
This past week the Compost Ed Centre took a little day trip to Mayne Island to teach the folks there all about some advanced composting methods. We gathered in the old Ag Hall and had a wondrous two hours of composting queries, information exchange, homemade lemon cake and strong cups of tea! Vicki of the Mayne Island Recycling Society showed me the Mayne Island community garden, and I thought we could all take a page or two from their book. Scroll on down to learn more (click on the pictures to enlarge)!
A huge thanks to Mayne Island for hosting and inspiring us, we look forward to more trips around the southern Gulf Islands, spreading the compost word!
Posted in Announcement, Blog, Civic Engagement, Composting, Featured, Organic GardeningLeave a Comment on Compost Ed goes to Mayne IslandNew Beneficial Insect Garden!
June 11, 2014
We’ve recently planted a garden to provide food and habitat for pollinators and other beneficial insects here at the Centre. The goal of this garden is to provide forage for these little helpers throughout the growing season. Plant varieties were selected based on flowering time (spring/summer/fall), colour, flower shape, and species they attract.
Scroll on down to check them out and don’t forget to drop by the Centre on June 14th for Pollination Education Day!
Bergamont (Monarda spp.) – Also called “Beebalm”, these plants flower late in the summer and on into fall. Wild Bergamont (Monarda fistulosa) has light purple flowers, whereas its ornamental cultivar (Monarda didyma) come in spectacular reds and pinks. The leaves of this plant are very fragrant and can be used as a tea.
Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) – Known for its calming effect on the nervous system, not only is this herb great as a tea, but its flowers also attract a host of beneficial insects. Flowers in the summer; ladybugs are attracted to it.
Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) – this native species is often seen in woodlands. It flowers earlier than many others and so is wonderful to have in a pollinator garden to extend the forage season. It attracts butterflies, bumblebees and humming birds.
Comfrey (Symphytum spp.) – We can’t get enough of this multi-functional plant at the Compost Education Centre! Comfrey is not only a powerful medicinal, its flowers make the bees go crazy! Flowers in the spring through to early summer.
Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) – Another medicinal that’s good for us and the good for bees! Any lavender will do, the fragrant purple flowers attract bees, hoverflies and butterflies.
Lungwort (Pulmonaria spp.) – This spotty-leaved, violet-flowered plant was chosen because of its early spring bloom time. Most flowers we are familiar with bloom in the summer, and beneficial insects need food before then. Lungwort flowers in early spring and provides food for bees.
Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata) – We were lucky to have this gorgeous, useful flower volunteer in our pollinator garden! Sweet Cicely flowers are a perfect example of the “umbel” shape that is so critical for many beneficial insects. This shape provides a landing pad and easy access to lots of nectar inside each of the tiny individual flowers. Not only this, but Sweet Cicely’s anise-flavoured seeds and leaves can be used as an alternative sweetner, as a tea or just to snack on. Please make sure you have a positive ID for this plant if you come across something that looks similar in the wild, there are poisonous look alikes!
Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) – Tansy’s flowers are also easy to land upon and their brilliant yellow is beautiful in the garden. Tansy flwoers in the summer and attracts lacewings.
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) – Once again, we see the umbel flower shape here. Yarrow flowers in the summer and attracts ladybugs, hoverflies and parasitic mini-wasps who will munch on damaging caterpillars. Yarrow leaves and flowers can also be used as a tea to ease menstrual cramps and ease digestion.
Posted in Blog, Featured, News, Organic Gardening, PollinatorsLeave a Comment on New Beneficial Insect Garden!
Thoughts on classroom worm bins
April 3, 2014
The list to the left has been living on my bulletin board for a few months and seeing it makes me smile every day. It’s from a student in a grade 3 class at St Patrick’s Elementary who was excited to help harvest his classroom worm compost bin but who wasn’t completely enthusiastic about touching the worms and finished compost. He put himself in charge of documenting all the organisms found in the worm bin and thoughtfully made me a copy of his list to take with me.
There are lots of reasons I get nerdily excited about worm composting (such as the beautiful finished product and how little time it takes for the worms to make it), but the most compelling one has to be what a great experience a classroom worm bin is for kids. It is a little ecosystem tucked away in the class, it lets kids see and participate in the entire compost cycle, and it gets them into the habit of integrating positive environmental change into their daily routine. Plus, it gives them an excuse to dig around in the dirt!
Posted in Blog, Child and Youth Education, Composting, Featured, News, RetailLeave a Comment on Thoughts on classroom worm binsNew Greenhouse: Lessons, Budget, Design
March 31, 2014
It’s a sad truth: greenhouses don’t last forever. At least not the common poly-and-PVC DIY kind. Our plastic was tearing and I could stand the blaring red Tuck-Tape no longer, so it was time to tear down and build back up.
My dream: to be able to enter and exit the greenhouse without bumping my forehead, spin around inside it with my arms spread wide, and have it be roomy enough to grow some blue-ribbon tomatoes and peppers. That last one will likely remain a dream, but the other two were accomplished!
I enlisted the expertise of Jesse Brown from Victoria Aquaponics to help me with the design and installation, as well as the muscles of a couple dear volunteers to help with the demolition of the old greenhouse.
Vital stats:
- Dimenions: 12’x12’x8′
- Length of hoops: 22ft
- Dimensions of plastic: 2 pieces at 12’x14′, 1 piece at 12’x16′
- Time to raise the frame and put roof plastic on: 7 hours (1 day)
- Time to wrap and tighten plastic on ends and roof: 4 hours
- Cost of materials: ~$600 (I bought everything new, and we get a discount at Castle Building, so true cost may be slightly higher. This could definitely be off-set by scavenging for used/free materials. Try UsedVictoria or Craigslist).
Here we go! (click the photos to enlarge)
What I learned:
Ask for help! Wrapping the greenhouse in plastic and then tightening is something that can be done by one person, but you will never want to build another greenhouse again and your plastic will likely end up with holes/mis-cuts in it (either from you making a mistake or literally just loosing it and taking the scissors to it to release some frustration). I could not have done this project as fast or with as much enjoyment without the help of Jess of Victoria Aquaponics, the always friendly and knowledgeable folks at Cook St. Castle and Louis, one of our long-standing (long-suffering?) volunteers.
Spray-paint the PVC before installing. The PVC and the plastic react with each other in sunlight, making the plastic break down and split over time (note where the red Tuck-Tape is in the first picture). Having a protective layer between the plastic and the PVC extends the life of your plastic.
PVC stands for polyvinyl chloride.”Poly” refers to the polyethylene plastic you will cover your greenhouse in. There are lots of different kinds of poly. You want 6mm with a UV barrier, possibly a condensation barrier too. Integrity Sales stocks this and sells it by the square foot. BW Greenhouse in Abbostford has the UV + condensation barrier kind.
Always check that things are level, measure twice and take your time!
Open source
I wanted this to be a free and easily accessible project. So: a rough budget for this greenhouse is below, you can click on the photos above to enlarge them and get a better view of how it’s put together and you can call the Centre if anything is unclear. May the future bring you many, many completely ripe tomatoes!
Posted in Blog, Featured1 Comment on New Greenhouse: Lessons, Budget, Design