Category: Blog

Join us for Rainy Days on Sat April 12th!

April 4, 2014

If the rainy days of early spring are getting you down, try thinking about rainwater as your friend and ally in the garden! In Victoria, we receive an average of 2 feet of rainfall each year. Most of the rain that hits our properties and streets is flushed away through a complex stormwater collection infrastructure and pours into harbours, lakes and river systems, often taking harmful pollutants and heavy metals with it.  By collecting and storing rainwater in your property, you can help prevent these pollutants from entering our waterways and treat rainwater as the precious resource it is.

Rainwater collected from a rooftop can be a high quality water source, as it contains none of the chlorine found in centralized water supplies and is the perfect temperature for plants, which makes it ideal for use in the garden.  Stored rainwater provides an ideal source of readily available water, particularly during long dry summers or in locations facing declining groundwater levels. Rain gardens, permeable paving, green roofs, rain barrels, cisterns and infiltration chambers are all examples of rainwater management methods. They can create natural, beautiful landscapes and public spaces.

Join us in our fabulous demonstration gardens to learn more about rainwater harvesting systems and practices in your community. In partnership with the CRD, we’ll be bringing together community and municipal groups involved in rainwater management, as well as hosting two free workshops about stormwater education, rainwater harvesting, and choosing the right systems. You will be entered to win a free rain barrel too!

Register for a FREE rainwater harvesting workshop here!

Rainy Days has received generous support from RBC and is proudly supported by the CRD.

Subsidized rain cisterns will be available on a first come first serve basis, with 10 of each size available for purchase. Limit one per household, payment options include credit card, debit, cash or cheque. Pick-up of the cisterns will be at Van Isle Water Systems with proof of purchase – 461 Dupplin Road, Victoria Store Hours: 7.30am-5.00pm Weekdays, 8.00am-Noon Saturdays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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!

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New 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 you 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! 

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Earth Repair: An Introduction to Bioremediation on March 29th

March 14, 2014

We are excited to announce a full day bioremediation course taught by Leila Darwish, the author of Earth Repair and a general grassroots bioremediation all-star! Join us on Saturday March 29th from 10:00am to 3:00 pm for this informational and inspiring event. Continue reading “Earth Repair: An Introduction to Bioremediation on March 29th”

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Randolf The Red Wriggler Needs You!

March 8, 2014

Our friends at Reynolds Secondary are working on an amazing gardening project and could use your support!  They are entered in the BC Green Games, a province-wide competition for students in Kindergarten to Grade 12, designed to motivate action, enable sharing and reward and celebrate the green efforts of schools throughout BC. Continue reading “Randolf The Red Wriggler Needs You!”

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November 2, 2013

Welcome to a new website, a new logo and a new year!

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