Ladner Community Garden

Laughing Swan Farm Ladner Seedy Saturday and Garden Expo 2015 was an outstanding success! Thanks goes to all our  customers, vendors, volunteers, speakers and sponsors. Without you this event would not have become the magical day that it did. A big thanks goes to our partner the Corporation of Delta and the parks department for helping us with all the logistics and trusting us to bring the community the very best of Seedy Saturdays Y-Grip Tools  From seeds to plants and garden tools, we had vendors selling everything for your garden. I was amazed that we fit everyone into the Harris barn but it worked out perfectly.We noticed areas we will be improving on next year. We certainly did not expect to have almost 900 people come through the doors so parking wasn't easy. We have already come up with a solution for next year. The Harris barn was definitely a wonderful venue. The weather was bright and sunny but cool but that didn't stop the eager gardeners from coming. ...

We are getting down to crunch time with Ladner Seedy Saturday and Garden Expo 2015. The vendor spaces have filled up nicely and we are working on making this the best event ever. The event is just a month away and we are excited to be kicking off the garden season with so many great presentations. Lets take a look at our speakers on Sunday. The ladies from Botanus are coming to speak about summer bulbs for your garden. Bulbs are worth every cent. They come back for years on end and provide so much colour to the garden. Elke Wehinger is the  co-f ounder and c o -owner of Botanus Inc. She was b orn in the heart of the Blackforest in Rheinfelden , Germany. Elke has a Master’s Degree in floral design and owned a very successful flower shop in Munich. She immigrated to Canada in 1996 and soon thereafter co-founded Botanus . Elke is very passionate about the business and along with her many hands-on skills and marketing genius, she is responsible for most of our wonderfu...

Its January and the team behind Ladner Seedy Saturday and Garden Expo 2015 is busy organizing everything from volunteers to seed swaps. It's time to gather your old seeds that you don't want and package them up for the seed swap. If you bring in a sealed and labelled package of seeds you will be able to exchange it for something different. Perhaps you didn't like the beans you grew last year. Try something different this year. I like to use paper coin envelopes as they are recyclable. Be sure to label your package of seeds with the name of your plant, number of seeds, year saved and if they are open pollinated or hybrid. Most seed packages you buy let you know if the seeds are hybrids. Somewhere it should say F1 or hybrid on the package. If not, a little internet sleuthing will have the answer. Open pollinated seeds will have the symbol OP on the package. Whats the difference? Open pollinated seeds can be collected and most of them will grow true from collected seed....

2014 was a good year at the Ladner Community Garden. Crops were abundant and with the extended warmth of summer some gardeners were able to harvest two successive crops. We have been spoiled by two hot summers in a row. It makes me rethink my garden plantings for 2015. Will we have the nice weather again? You just never know. Planting to harvest in late September and even October has changed our views on when to plant seeds here on the west coast. Lets take a look at a few of the highlights at the garden in 2014.  We started our year hosting Ladner Seedy Saturday and Garden Expo 2014 and it drew a bigger crowd than ever. Watch for us again on February 21 and 22 in 2015. Seedy Saturday will be held in a new venue this year. It will be held at the historic Harris barn at Kirkland House , 4140 Arthur Drive in Ladner. For more information on this event click here for the story.  Our gardeners grow all sorts of crops but this planting of Amaranth took my breath awa...

The Ladner Seedy Saturday and Garden Expo 2015 is pleased to present our speaker schedule for the event. If you haven't been to Seedy Saturday you won't want to miss it. I am still waiting on topics from some of my speakers and will update as we get closer to the event. Brian Minter spoke at the event last year and brought us up to speed on where the gardening industry was going. Thomas Hobbs needs no introduction. He is well known for his garden design and we are hoping to get a peek into his new garden in the Fraser Valley. His private gardens have been featured in many magazines such as House Beautiful, Better Homes and Gardens and Horticulture. Tom will have us inspired to think out of the box when it comes to designing our gardens. Tom is also the author of Shocking Beauty and the Jewel Box Garden.  If you live locally, you will have met Robyn Leake at our Ladner Village Market in the summer. She is an amazing designer when it comes to containers. Robyn will be spea...

Ladner Seedy Saturday and Garden Expo 2015 is starting to shape up. I have been working on the speaker schedule for this two day event. I am please to say that Thomas Hobbs will be speaking at our event as well as Brian Minter. How could you not want to come to our event? As I complete the speakers schedule I will be sending out vendor registration forms. I already have vendors booked but there are still spaces left. I hope to get a revised poster done near the end of November with a schedule so you can plan your weekend. Tatiana of Tatiana's Tomatobase will be returning with her seeds this year. She says she has lots of new seeds to show everyone. Its time to start planning next years garden. Before we know it the seed catalogues will be arriving. We are very happy to announce that West Coast Seeds will be attending as well with a huge selection of organic seeds for your garden. If you are interesting in learning more about this event, contact me at therivercrest@gmail...

The committee for Ladner Seedy Saturday and Garden Expo 2015 has been working hard to bring you one of the best events to date. Its been pretty quiet over here on the blog as I tackle new projects so I apologize for my absence. So what can we expect at Ladner Seedy Saturday? As you can see we are now partnering with the Corporation of Delta to host the event. They have been kind enough to let us use the historic Harris barn at Kirkland House on Arthur drive. It couldn't be a better venue. Okay, many don't know this but I lived on this property as a child. I remember running through the hay fields and helping to pick potatoes by hand. Going back to this old homestead makes it surreal for me and full of memories. Yes, I am excited. Lets get back to the event. We have Brian Minter as one of our keynote speakers. He is the guru of gardening and last year he was met with a room of eager gardeners young and old as he talked about how gardening is changing. I have a...