Update

Dragonfly in a nearby garden

It's been a few years since the last post! Lots has happened in the garden, but I'd rather show you by inviting you to join us on Friday, August 26 at 6:30 pm in the garden. We will swap some seeds from this year's harvest, dig up some of our potatoes and chat about the upcoming winter gardening season. So come with interest and you may leave with a bounty!

Spring potato harvest

About Our Logo

The logo for Esquimalt Community Gardens Society was designed in 2010 by a local artist and resident of Esquimalt, Juan Ramirez. The logo represents diversity, sustainability and unity.

Diversity is illustrated in the logo using different house sizes, while the asymmetry of a house roof highlights the inequality of skills and inequality of access to fresh produce experienced by members of the community. The Society works towards reducing inequality by providing residents with a space to grow food and develop skills through a series of workshops and community events throughout the year.

The different shades of green represent a variety of sustainable practices, such as composting and organic mulching, that are strongly encouraged by the Society. This is important in working towards developing a sustainable and healthy community in Esquimalt.

The stems are central in the logo and they illustrate community growth and unity. They also highlight the important role that community gardens have in developing community relationships. 

This season the ECGS is proud to share 'Gardeners' Tales' written by members of the Anderson Park Community Garden.  This week's feature gardeners are Hulitan Family and Community Services Society:

Many hands made light work during the Anderson Park Work Party this October.

Hulitan Family and Community Services Society provides social and emotional support to Aboriginal children, youth and their families living in the Capital Regional District. Access to healthy, affordable food is a major concern for many of the families we work with, so having a community garden plot is a great opportunity to grow healthy food that the families we work with can have access to. We have partnered with Makola Group and Societies, so that families living in Makola units near Anderson Park can come and take part in the gardening. We manage our own plot as well as a Grow Row Share Row plot where about 15 families so far have been able to enjoy in the harvest.

We had a very successful growing season and an amazingly abundant harvest of lettuce, carrots, beans, peas, potatoes and a ton of tomatoes! Our staff took part in a number of workshops the Esquimalt Community Garden Society offered including square foot gardening and planting raspberry bushes and potatoes. A definite highlight was harvesting the potatoes with the determination and boundless energy of a one and a half year old gardener and his mom. 

Halitan volunteers get their hands dirty at this year's Potato Workshop!

Our next steps and vision for the garden is to be able to use our produce in a community kitchen that we are currently developing for the New Year. We are looking for interest and support from the community in the form of volunteer time and monetary support to start up the kitchen. If you are interested in supporting our community kitchen or learning more about our programs and agency please feel free to visit our website at www.hulitan.net or call us at 250-384-9466 - Contact Colleen or April. Thanks ECGS for the great opportunity!

This season the ECGS is proud to share 'Gardeners' Tales' written by members of the Anderson Park Community Garden.  This week's feature gardeners are Patrick, Sandy and their two children:

"We became members of the Anderson Park Community Garden in May of 2012.  This season we planted a variety of vegetables and were able to harvest lots of produce that made our salads healthy and delicious. Our kids, age 2 and 4, enjoyed watering the plants, eating the strawberries and raspberries, helping with weeding and playing in the nearby playground. It’s a project we all work on together and we were able to teach them the importance of locally grown food while eating yummy fruits and vegetables."

Thank you GOERT!

We would like to thank the Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team (GOERT) for donating the newest version of The Garry Oak Gardener's Handbook to our garden's library! In that book you will find tips on attracting pollinators, removing invasive plants, propagation guidelines for 75 native plants, and a useful list of updated nurseries that sell native plants. Please pick up a copy and, if you enjoy the read, consider making a contribution to the GOERT to cover publication and printings costs at www.goert.ca/donate

Gardeners's Tales

This season the ECGS is proud to share 'Gardeners' Tales' written by members of the Anderson Park Community Garden.  This week's feature gardener is Jennifer Medd:

This year ECGS members donated 28 kilos of tomatoes to Victoria's Rainbow Kitchen (http://www.rainbowkitchen.ca)

"Anyone else renting in Esquimalt? With no place to garden where you live? That's been my situation for a while now so I am really pleased to have a plot at the Anderson Park Community Garden. It's a good place to garden because the raised beds have really good soil, there is water and there is a deer fence. The veggies are great to have - I even think that I'm saving on my food bills although the fresh full taste of home-grown veggies probably can't be valued in dollars.  And at first that was it - I went there a couple of times a week and had good food as a result. But gradually I am meeting some of my fellow gardeners, learning from them some better ways to grow food, and enjoying the work bees when we can work together. I'm looking forward to being part of this small community within Esquimalt."

Oh the sunny days of August make you forget that fall is just around the corner...

Join our upcoming workshop "Planning Your Winter Garden" on August 11th 9-12pm at the Esquimalt United Church (500 Admirals Road). Here you will experience hands on leaning on how to prepare your garden for the winter and install row covers over garden beds.
The workshop is rain or shine and we hope to see you all there! Register now, space is limited.

For registration please contact Esquimalt Parks and Recreation.

A big thank you to all those who came out to the BBQ on July 28th and a HUGE thank you to all those who helped with the event! Thank you Laura from Bloom Yoga Victoria for the amazing "gentle fun yoga" session in the park under the sun; Thank you Luz Mary and Vivian from Little Genius Academy for keeping the kids busy; thank you Juan, Jeremy and Corey for playing throughout the event; thank you Shannon from Greater Victoria Compost Ed. Centre for accepting food donations; and thank you Country Grocer Esquimalt for your generous contribution to fund this event!

We are looking forward to see all the old and new faces at our fourth annual summer BBQ next year, in the meantime take a look at some of the photos :) 

For the past two months we have been working on our community based research project with the aim of highlighting the voices and experiences of those living in the margins with access to healthy nutritious food. As our first step in examining food security in the CRD, we engaged in a discussion about food aid programs that are available for single mothers. We would like to thank all the local organizations and businesses that have supported our project and stay tuned for other upcoming discussions and events!

Cheers,
Olga and Jasmine

We Now Have a Garden Library!

We started our "Free Little Library" project and we now have gardening magazines for plot members to borrow. We are hoping that this project will grow and we are looking for volunteers to help us move it forward.. here's the website for more information: http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/

In the meantime, you will find magazines in a blue box that is in the small tool shed with the following blurb: "Welcome to your community garden library! Inside the library you will find gardening magazines for your reading pleasure. The library will run on the honour system, no due dates, just return the magazines when you are done."

Feel free to add magazines (as long as they fit in the blue box).

Enjoy!

BC is one of the last provinces left without a poverty reduction plan. This is concerning especially because poverty in BC is on a rise. This is a great project that is aimed at highlighting the voices of those who experienced poverty. 

A big thank you to all who came out yesterday to help us clean the garden. 

Now is the day we have all been waiting for... our annual BBQ event on July 28th 2-4pm! We hope to see you all there. 

Please help us plan better and confirm your attendance on our facebook event page or email us.

Please confirm your attendance on our facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/340103659405151/

or email us. 

Wondering what to do this summer?

Look no more! 

If anyone is looking for volunteer opportunities, this seems like a good cause and a great way to get involved. 


Speaking of volunteer opportunities, Esquimalt Community Gardens Society is looking for motivated volunteers to run the community garden. Both administrative and garden maintenance positions are available. Contact us for more information!  

Two women, Many projects

Join Olga and Jasmine, two local women passionate about human rights and social justice, for a conversation on local food security. Please see poster attached for more details. 

Join us on July 11th 6:30-8pm (rain or shine) for the pre-BBQ clean up party!

We are gearing up to our annual BBQ event on July 28th 2-4pm and we need your help! 

There's a lot of maintenance work to be done at the garden and we will be meeting on WednesdayJuly 11th at the garden from 6:30-8pm (rain or shine) to clean up all the weeds and composters. There are a number of overgrown beds and if one of those beds is yours please make sure to come clean up your bed.  

Please stop by to give us a hand.

We will be doing the following things: 

*cleaning the 3 high school beds 

*turning and rebuilding the composters 

*harvesting garlic from the garlic bed- everyone gets one (this is a small thank you for coming)

*cleaning around the blueberry bushes 

*train raspberries (tying them against the fence)

*fixing the gate 

We have enough tools on site but you are welcome to bring your own hand tools, or any tools you prefer to use.

Please click "attending" on our facebook page so we know how many people are coming.

Sprucing up the Commons

Last weekend's "Fruits and Berries workshop" was a tonne of fun, and what a great turnout!  With help from the Royal Bank Esquimalt volunteer group and members of the community, we planted about 40 blueberry and raspberry plants around the perimeter of the fence at Anderson Park Community Gardens.  With a little love, attention and a healthy dose of fish entrails (thanks Mark!), the plants are off to a great start.  Who likes jam?! Mmmmm....

The workshop was also a great chance to try out or new compost tea maker; every plant was soaked root-first in the compost tea before planting, in order to provide it with some healthy start-up food.  If you would like to learn more about compost tea and how it can help your garden grow big and strong, send us an email and we will be happy to tell you about it and set up an opportunity to try testing some tea.
Our next exciting workshop is on May 26th where we will be learning about companion planting: how planting certain plants together can reduce predation and pests and help ensure a low-maintenance, bountiful harvest.  Check it out on our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ESQGardens) or speak with the helpful staff at the Esquimalt Recreation Centre for more details!  Hope to see you there!

Join us on April 21st!

Get the Most out of your Garden with Square Foot Gardening!

Participants will learn a variety of time-honoured tips and tricks that will transform a small plot of land into a produce producing powerhouse! As our opening workshop for 2012, we will also be co-hosting a spring garden party with Victoria Grow a Row after the workshop from 12:00:30pm-3:00pm. Snacks and Drinks will be available!

To register, contact Esquimalt Parks and Recreation and be sure to 'Join' us on our Facebook event page. Hope to see you there!

photo credit

Join our work party on April 11th 4-9pm!

On Wednesday April 11, we will be hosting a garden work party from 4-8pm to plant all our new berry bushes along the parameters of the garden (rain or shine). We thank the Esquimalt Centennial volunteers from Royal Bank for helping us out but we will need more help and we would love to see everyone come out and help. Snacks will be provided!

Upcoming public meeting

Please join our upcoming public meeting on Friday March 23rd 4:30-6pm at Serious coffee (in Esquimalt Plaza). This meeting is open to the public and mandatory for all plot members. We will be discussing upcoming events, determining plot membership responsibilities and assigning plot members with maintenance tasks. We will also be debriefing about our new irrigation system and going over any suggestions, concerns and recommendations for the community garden. Please arrange a proxy if you cannot attend the meeting.

Upcoming events

Join Esquimalt Community Garden for our upcoming events!

All events are free and are open to the public. To learn more about our events, dates and times please visit our blog at esquimaltcommunitygardens.blogspot.com or “like” our facebook page.

Grow a Row Launch Party

Come learn about Grow a Row, sign up for the program, and meet with other growers in your area Snacks and drinks will be available, along with seeds for participants.

Sat Apr 21st from 12:30pm-2:30pm

Annual BBQ Party

Join our annual BBQ party at the Community Garden.

Sat Jul 28 (exact time to be announced)

Garlic Planting Workshop

Are you a garlic lover? Mark your calendars for this hands-on workshop. In this workshop you will learn everything you need to know about garlic.

Wed Sep 26 (exact time to be announced)

Garden Closing Party and Clean-up

Join us for our last gathering of the season. We will be cleaning up the garden and preparing for the next season.

Sat Oct 20 (exact time to be announced)