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Spring is Almost Here!

Spring is just around the corner at the Ladner Community Garden. I hope everyone is ready for a busy spring. Just think, its only 12 days away!
I was at the garden today and its still a bit soggy but with more sun each day it will dry up quickly. There is lots to do and our first spring work party is on Saturday, March 16 from 10am-12pm. We are going to clean up the garden, do some weeding and add some height to some of the raised beds. So if you are handy with tools or can help out with weeding and general tidying, you are welcome to come and help. You know what they say, many hands make light work. If it rains we will postpone our work party to the Sunday, March 17 at the same time. On March 23, we will be ordering new soil for the children's garden and getting the beds filled and ready to plant. The grade three class from Southpointe Academy will return on April 8 for their first garden class. It may be good to leave a bit of soil to shovel to keep them busy. They love digging!


This is the kind of mess we don't want to see at the garden. I know we all love growing Sunflowers but those stems are a pain to cut down. What we need from our gardeners is if your debris is unsuitable for the compost, please take it home and leave it out for curb side pickup. If you don't have this service, there are many of us that wouldn't mind an extra bag of garden greens at the end of our driveways. We always have a few leaf bags in the shed for this purpose. I would say that if the stems on your plant are thicker than your thumb it shouldn't go into our garden compost bins. They need to be chopped up small in order to decompose quickly. Its always a good idea to bring your pruners to the garden for this purpose.


Spring is definitely around the corner. Blooms are out in the front rock garden and I found these wallflowers ready to open in the children's garden. The children grew these from seed. Won't they be surprised in April to see them blooming?


The seating area in the children's garden is looking bare. I can't wait to have the children come for a class once again. They have been asking to come for over a month. This year they are growing food for the food bank in their raised beds.
The water is not turned on at the garden yet but we don't need to water anything yet. The soil is moist enough for all your seeds. If you haven't planted yet, peas, broad beans, onion sets and lettuce can be sown now. Be sure to get seed potatoes in the next week as they have just arrived at West Coast Seeds and the garden centers have a good selection as well. You will be able to plant some early potatoes towards the end of the month.
We may have a couple of plots left in the garden so if you know someone who may be interested , email me at deltagardener at dccnet.com.
Our next general meeting will be held on April 2, 2013 from 7-9pm at the Ladner Pioneer Library. Lets get together and plan our community meals and talk gardening.

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