New Plants in the Garden

Folks from Riverside Residence planted up their raised bed with lots of colourful annuals including trailing snapdragons and begonias. Strawflower seeds were included in the garden design as well. Strawflowers make great flowers for floral craft arrangements as their petals feel like straw and it doesn't take anytime at all for the flowers to dry. Parsley was planted in the corners of the bed so that the gardeners can enjoy a fresh supply of this herb when their recipes call for it. Some of it is dried so that it is preserved and can be enjoyed during the winter months as well.
Community Living (Flaherty Home) was also in the Garden last week planting up their bed with verbena, marigolds, sweet smelling alyssum, and some lemon balm. Throughout the season we will be using these plants in Horticultural Therapy activites. Check back often to see what we use them for!

Norfolk Manor Visits

A very eventful day in the Garden today. Norfolk Manor residents came and planted their seedlings that were carefully looked after over the spring. We planted Texas Sage, Cornflower, Borage, and Calendula - the last three are edible flowers.


In the KidzCreate garden, we are practicing companion planting techniques. Tomatoes and carrots grow well together, so we planted them side by side. The white ring around the tomatoes are crushed egg shells, which will deter slugs and cutworms from getting to the young tender plant. The soft-bodied creatures find the sharp edges of the egg shells unpleasant and will stay away.

Full of beans! And other great plants :)

What a great planting team! Pictured here are Nathan, Jenna, Kristina, and Monica. Nathan's KidzCreate garden is coming along nicely. The chamomile from last year re-seeded itself and so did a lot of dill! We left a patch of chamomile and a wee bit of dill (though we harvested most of the young dill leaves to add to our evening dinners). Today we planted flower seeds such as cosmos, strawflower, nasturtium and veggies like dwarf corn and beans.
A special note on the beans; they are Tendergreen Beans that were donated to the Garden by the 'Plant a Row, Grow a Row' program. So we planted two rows - one that we will harvest for ourselves, and one that we will harvest for the local food bank. Visit www.growarow.org for more details on this wonderful community initiative.

Thanks Rotary Club of Guelph - Trillium!

I had the opportunity to have an inspiring breakfast with the Rotary Club - Trillium on Wednesday morning as they shared their wealth raised from their Annual RibFest fundraising event. Cheques were presented to 26 community groups to help them with their important community projects. How lucky we are to live in a place full of so many caring and generous people. The Enabling Garden is so grateful to be chosen as one of the recipients, which will allow us to reach out to many more community members and have them participate in our Horticultural Therapy programming. Above is a picture of Peter Moore, Chair of the Funding Allocations Committee with myself.

Beavers Visit the Garden

The Young Scouts/Beavers visited the Enabling Garden yesterday to explore the creatures in it and to help with a bit of planting. These Beavers were very sharp and keen to learn about what goes on in the Garden. What a great group of kids and leaders!

Research is showing that contact with nature is very important for the psychological health of kids (and adults for that matter). There is concern that children are not bonding with nature as well or as often as they used to. Richard Louv's book Last Child in the Woods is a book about the consequences of what he calls "nature-deficit disorder" and what we can do about it. The Guelph Public Library has a couple of copies of this book for those interested in learning more.

The kids' workshops in the Garden are meant to get the kids up close and personal with the natural world and to encourage them to create an intimate relationship with nature. Outdoors in the natural environment, kids can feel a sense of peace and confidence because they are surrounded by beauty and abundance that belongs to everyone.

Caring for Seedlings

Earlier on in the spring, residents of Norfolk Manor started seedlings that are now ready to be 'hardened off'. This means that the carefully cared for seedlings are ready to brave a bit of outdoor weather to toughen them. Lorna (on the right) loves gardening and will make sure that the young Texas Sage flowers will be exposed to more and more sunlight each day. She'll bring them in if the weather gets a bit too chilly during the day and especially at night. Next week residents will be planting them in the Enabling Garden!

Plant Sale

Our perennial plant sale was a great success! Some of the plants for sale came from within the Enabling Garden itself, but many supporters also divided perennials in their own gardens to help with our fundraiser. The money we raised will be used to help fund our garden programming. Thank you so much to all of those who donated their time, plants, and money this past Sunday!

Nathan's Garden

In April, Nathan and others worked on the KidzCreate ground bed in the Enabling Garden. We planted kale, carrots and some peas. Green things are starting to sprout out of the ground now! We will finish planting the bed at the end of May after danger of frost has passed. Come visit the Enabling Garden throughout the summer to check out what's growing Nathan's Garden! The KidzCreate garden is sponsored by Spark of Brilliance.