The UNA Youth Activity Leader, EtanaTam, developed and led the Summer Youth Gardening Program

Thank you to Etana and the youth participants. Etana and the youth share their thoughts about the value and significance of community gardening.

This summer, a small group of youth had the privilege to learn and contribute to the Old Barn Children’s garden. Though just a team of 4 including myself, we spent an hour each week taking care of this space and learning about ways we can be better stewards of the earth. Our time consisted of a short lesson surrounding sustainable agriculture, then watering, weeding, and if we’re lucky, harvesting. 

The youth had the unique opportunity to see where their food comes from and contribute to its production. Although gardening can be laborious at times, they often described their work in the garden as therapeutic, an escape from the busyness of their lives. There’s a stillness to gardens that cannot be fully described; something special about just sitting in the sun on grass still slightly damp from the morning dew. It’s as if everything slows down, and you begin to notice small details, like an ant making their way around your ankle or a bee pollinating the nearby nasturtium. Although the youth came to be a part of the Summer Youth Gardening program as a way to receive volunteer hours for graduation, they left with a newfound appreciation for gardens and the work needed to keep the space beautiful. The goal of the program was to simply get youth excited about nature and agriculture, and we did just that. Through their work in harvesting garlic and potatoes, pruning tomatoes, staking, and weeding, they were able to simply enjoy creation and experience the beauty of being a part of the children’s garden. 

I enjoyed gardening alongside my team at the Old Barn community center because it was very educational, and I learned a lot about gardening and plants. The experience was both fun and useful. 

• Shirin Bazofti, 17 years old

I really enjoyed staking the plants because it really cleaned up the area. I love when the plants are depending on the stick, and it clears all the mess away. It was so satisfying to see. 

• Paul Lee, 16 years old

Tomato Harvesting Time

Several new kinds of tomatoes have been growing in the children’s garden. The end of summer means tomato harvesting time. The warm end of summer weather results in perfectly ripe and flavourful tomatoes. Gardeners appreciate the smell of ripening tomatoes as much as the fruit itself. The challenge for a gardener is to preserve the flavour as well as the quality of the fruit. This means leaving tomatoes on the counter to maintain flavour. This strategy comes at the expense of maintaining the shelf life of the fruit. Compound Interest – food chemistry has shared the following infographic that explains how cool temperatures disrupt the enzyme activity that creates the smell and flavour of tomatoes.

In short, the verdict seems to be that you can get away with storing fully ripe tomatoes in the fridge for up to a week to prevent them going off, before then leaving them out for a short time to recover their volatile compound producing ability. Leave them in for longer than a week, and you’re going to be enjoying a less flavoursome tomato!

Garden Plan 2022 Summer

Here is a constantly updated list:

Planting Plan

Planning for 2022

May 20, 2022

Brainstorming ideas on the whiteboard

Emphasized Suggestions Include:

1. Purchasing a metal planter to be placed near the fountain
2. Returning to garden sales if there is enough produce or donating excess produce
3. Increasing community involvement and activities, especially for children and youth
4. Focusing on planting more vegetables as opposed to fruit trees or shrubs
5. Having scheduled meetings regularly (for example the first Saturday of each month)

Soil Mulching Time in the Children’s Garden

Mulch is available to be added beneath the blueberry plants and plum tree.

All community gardeners are welcome to help mulch the garden beds beneath the blueberry plants and plum tree.

Mulching protects soil by providing a cover from strong sunshine. Mulch protects soil from becoming too compacted.

Crop Watch for May

The Children’s garden is growing and maturing. The trees in the garden are much larger than when the garden was planted over 15 years ago. This means more shade and a shift to the types of crops that will grow in a shady environment. In spite of the shade the fruit crops look promising.

The dwarf raspberries have lots of blossoms and bees.

The kiwi has lots of little fruitlets.

The gooseberries are starting to ripen.

The blueberries are cropping well. The mason bees have done an excellent job pollinating the crop.

The plum tree has set fruit. Last season very little fruit was produced.

The red currants have a bumper crop on the stalks.

How to Volunteer in the UNA Childrens ​Garden?

Volunteers in the garden help to maintain the garden. The garden welcomes all skill and enthusiam levels.

Volunteers in the garden participate in a wide range of activities. The youth volunteers are helping the children learn about fertilizing strawberry plants to increase crop yield.

Youth volunteers learn about the three ways to maintain the shape and form of apple trees.

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  Apple harvesting

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  Learn how to plant crops

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  Generate energy

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  Keep the birds from eating the blueberries

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  Keep the garden supples organized

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  Keep the garden organic

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  Maintain the fruit shrubs

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  Maintain soil quality

The first volunteer planning session occured this past Saturday. Volunteers are working on making signs for the garden, organizing the garden shed and making a butterfly and hummingbird garden.

Spring Gardening time means soil preparation time and many opportunities to particpate in your community.

Mulch was added to the garden beds to protect the soil from moisture loss and to prevent weeds from growing.

Mulch waiting to be spread onto the garden beds in the garden.

The red currants have flowered along the fruiting spurs.

The blueberry plants have started to flower.

Blueberry plants prefer slightly acidic soil and lots of moisture to produce a good crop of fruit. Local children volunteers will pick and sell the berries in early summer. Stay tuned for Crop Watch.

The soil in the containers has been refreshed by having the depleted soil removed and having new soil and mulch added. These containers have been planted with parsley and radish seeds.

Coffee grounds from the local coffee shop is donated to the Children’s garden. The grounds are spread under the blueberry plants during the growing season. The coffee grounds make an ideal top dressing for the plants.

Apple Picking Time at the Children’s Garden.

Two of the apple trees were picked this past Saturday, Saturday 29, 2018.  Pleas

The Children’s Garden has over a dozen fruit trees, mostly apples.  The apples are ripe and ready for picking.  Please join the garden volunteers next Saturday, October 6, 2018, at 10:00 am to help with the harvest. 

The youth volunteers picked the late fall ripening apples on Saturday.

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The Children’s Garden has received several significant donations of fruit trees this past year.  We are looking forward to renewing the apple orchard with the 2018 fruit tree donations.

A Critter hotel – learn more about how to create a suitable habitat for garden creatures (bugs, snakes etc).

Come and learn how to design and build critter habitats using a variety of material.

Small garden creatures do best when provided with a suitable habitat to

A variety of bug habitats made with found garden debris.

A Free workshop on building critter and bug winter habitats is being organized for Saturday, September 29, 2018, at 10:00 am on the Garden Patio, next to the Old Barn Community Centre.

The patio planters are showing their age and are in need of being refurbished.

The old wood from the planters will be repurposed into suitable winter housing for some of the garden critters such as sow bugs, ants, and millipedes.

This is a free event.  Registration is not required.  Hope to see you there.