Friends of the Garden

Our garden is still empty but we're hoping to see some sprouts soon! While we are patiently waiting for our garden to turn from dirt and seeds into lusciously green edibles, we spent the day learning about garden pests vs garden helpers. As both the Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Garden and the Silver Springs Edible Garden both operate on a strictly organic basis, pests become a major concern; digging up and eating our crops, nipping holes in the leaves of our greens and stealing nutrients our plants require to survive. The children and parents learned a lot about which bugs and creatures we want to attract to our garden and which ones might be inhibiting the growth or overall health of our plants. Did you know that spiders are good for your garden? Spiders eat mosquitoes, wasps and other pesky bugs that we want to keep away from our garden as well as our gardeners. For an introduction to the critters that we often find in our garden for our little friends, click here to watch Ernie from Sesame street exploring nature in his neighbourhood. For our more advanced readers, learn about how you can keep those pesky mosquitoes out of your garden with the power of plants from an article in Canadian gardening: 'Six Plants that Repel Mosquitos' by Anja Sonnenberg. 

Together, we had a discussion about how to naturally attract helpers and deter pests so that we are not harming wildlife and our greater ecosystem. Our delicious snack for the day was a combination of the sweet undertones and crunchy textures of green peppers and cucumbers. Yum Yum! We featured a story entitled 'Monarch and Milkweed' by author Helen Frost which describes the symbiotic relationship of plants and butterflies, each helping each other to survive and thrive in nature. We ended the day with some exercise and fresh air with a Kids Grow favourite, 'The Farmer Game'. One person plays the Farmer who plants their crop in the field and then they must be on the lookout for garden pests that sneak into the field and steal the delicious fruits and veggies. From this game, we learned that planting more than you require is a good technique to ensure that there is enough to feed the farmer and his or her family even when pests come along and steal some of the crop.

If you missed out on the fun this week, don't worry because Kids Grow will be running throughout the summer months until August 31st. Drop by this Saturday, June 28th for some more fun games, activities and crafts geared toward gardening. 

Where?

Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Garden/ Orchard
10am-12pm

OR

Silver Springs Edible Garden
2pm-4pm

What to bring? Water, sunscreen and your enthusiasm for gardening!

*Kids Grow Cancellation Policy* If it lighting raining or drizzling outside, Kids Grow events will still run! However, in case of heavy rainfall, thundershowers, hail and other extremely unpleasant weather conditions, we will cancel the day's events. Make sure you check our Facebook/Twitter feed before you leave in case you are unsure

Planting Our Garden!

What at  first looked to be a rainy day turned around and was bright, beautiful and sunny. Our first day back in the garden was a huge success! We had a great turnout of children and their families both old and new to our program. We started with a general introduction to the Kids Grow program, an overview of community gardening in Calgary and gave participants a sneak peak of our event plans for the summer of 2014. This was followed by our theme of the day: Planting our garden. The children worked together to choose what kinds of vegetables, greens and flowers they wanted to grow and then we decorated popsicle stick garden stakes to label our plot. After all the hard work planting, we wouldn't want to forget what we have grown! We talked about how to plant seeds, the germination process and figured out what plants require to grow and thrive. Each location enjoyed a delicious snack of bush green beans and grape tomatoes generously donated to us by Sunnyside Natural Market.The kids raved over the snack and there wasn't a single bean or tomato left by the end of the day!

We began at Sunnyside with some hard work weeding and preparing the soil for planting. Each child took a rake or a shovel and began breaking down the tough soil before we mixed in a bag of compost to revitalize the nutrients. Under all the weeds, we found our hardy mint plant from last year, boasting with large and fragrant mint leaves. Working as a team, the children and their families planted our beloved garden plot with many different types of vegetables and greens; Swiss Chard, Peas, Beans, Radish, Carrots, Kale, Chives, Spinach, Squash and Mesculin. Our plot might look empty now but we sure are hoping for a bountiful harvest at the end of the season! 

Over at Silver Springs, the lovely community garden members had started some potatoes and pumpkins for us! The potatoes are growing really well already! We planted our other bed with beans, kale, peas, two different types of squash, and cucumber.

To end the day at both Sunnyside and Silver Springs, we got some fresh air, exercise and our intake of Vitamin D for the day by playing games of Caterpillar tag, Cucumber tag and Magic Garden. To recap our favourite parts of the day we finished with a sharing circle where all participants got to share their experiences with planting our garden.

                             
If you missed out on the fun last week be sure to join us this Saturday, June 28th to learn about garden pests and garden helpers, have a delicious healthy snack, story time and play some fun games!

Where?

Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Garden/ Orchard
10am-12pm

OR

Silver Springs Edible Garden
2pm-4pm

What to bring? Water, sunscreen and your enthusiasm for gardening!

*Kids Grow Cancellation Policy* If it lighting raining or drizzling outside, Kids Grow events will still run! However, in case of heavy rainfall, thundershowers, hail and other extremely unpleasant weather conditions, we will cancel the day's events. Make sure you check our Facebook/Twitter feed before you leave in case you are unsure