Golden

Goldenrod is unlikely to be the cause of allergy symptoms. Since this plant's blooming period coincides with the less conspicuous Ragweed, many wrongly thought that the former, rather than the latter, caused their sneezing and runny noses. As seen here, Goldenrod is bee pollinated. Ragweed is wind pollinated, so allergy sufferers are more likely to get worse symptoms on windy days. For more information on Goldenrod and other cool plants in the GEG, please look under the page to the right labeled "Therapeutic Plants in the Garden".

Strawflowers Reveal Salvia

Riverside Residence folks came to the GEG late this afternoon to harvest their strawflowers which loomed high. The smaller plants, such as salvia, that were hidden from view can now be admired. The strawflowers are being dried in our shed and will be used in dried floral arrangements.
In the bare spots, the group planted some Red Clover seeds, a green manure that can 'fix' nitrogen. In the spring we will dig the plant under, providing nourishment for future plants. Oooooh, can't wait to see what the bed will look like next year and what plants will be chosen to benefit from today's activity. Throughout the summer, Riverside Residence participants have been enjoying cilantro and parsley from their bed to flavour their dips and dressings.

Night Knitters

Fall has arrived and it's getting darker, sooner. Our last Knit Knite of the season was nice. The gulls and the geese played in the sky as we chatted and practiced our knitting skills. The moon looks just about full. Sweet dreams, everyone. See you soon.

Seed Saving for A Healthy Community

It's that time of year to start paying attention to which plants are ready to have their seeds saved in your garden. We are starting to save seeds in the GEG, particularly native North American species, which are going to the 'Plant An Old Growth Forest Project', a community endeavor to preserve our natural and ecological heritage: www.oldgrowthforest.ca

The Guelph Enabling Garden also grew some Yugoslavian Red Butterhead lettuce seed that we adopted from Seeds of Diversity (www.seeds.ca), made possible by monetary donations at our last community seed exchange event. This lettuce variety is endangered, so we are very keen to save and distribute these seeds in our community.

Decorate Your Meal Gatherings

Lovely day last Friday when Community Living (Flaherty Home) folks came to admire their bed and harvest some flowers to take home with them. Their bouquet will be adorning their kitchen table, adding some colour to their meal gatherings. What a great symbol to celebrate and be thankful for the food and friends that nourish us. The flowers featured are marigolds (yellow and orange), geranium (red) and verbena (purple).

Sale Still On!

Ha ha, it's raining on our rain date! I'll have things set up in our garden shed for those who would like to purchase organic tomatoes, celery, carrots, greeting cards, potpourri sachets, fresh herbs and bouquets. 2-5 pm today.

Cute As Buttons!

Here we are making button flowers to accompany our bouquet of fresh flowers from Nathan's garden. If you have a lot of colourful buttons that you don't know what to do with, I suggest you try this activity! It's fantastically addictive! Just layer different coloured buttons together and loop them onto a wire. We made a whole bunch for Thursday's sale.
In Nathan's bouquet is Cosmos, Dill, and Black Eyed Susan. Dill is a great herb to include in bouquets as it adds interesting form and colour and has a great scent!

Garden Work Bees

Here are wonderful Enabling Garden supporters helping to make various things for our sale like notepads and dried floral arrangements. The evenings are cool in temperature, but comfortable. Next time I should make some fresh herbal tea for all of our dedicated volunteers :)
Melissa harvested a basketful of green organic tomatoes. We will ripen them and have them for sale this Thursday. We will also have celery, green peppers, and carrots available :) Hope you can make it!

Pictures From Our First Harvest Sale

Our first garden harvest sale was a great success. Even though it was spitting rain all day, folks still came out to support the event. Thanks to all those who came out and helped to make the day great! Proceeds from our sale will go toward free accessible Horticultural Therapy programming in our community.

Volunteers helped to harvest beautiful fresh bouquets and herbs. Garden participants generously donated their flowers and herbs for the sale. The herbs are great in flavouring salads and pasta dishes or teas.
The chocolate mint, lemon thyme, and sage can also be dried and then stored in jars for later. Lemon basil and balm can be preserved by freezing them in ice cube trays until they are ready to be used (you can even freeze them in soup broth!) Lemon basil is great in pesto too.
Garden participants made potpourri sachets filled with lavender that we dry in our garden shed; and these beautiful postcards designed from real flower dyes using a technique called flower pounding.
GEG friend, Marilyn Swaby, made cute button flowers and ornamental garden creatures to contribute to the sale.
Throughout the season, we pressed and dried flowers. We used them to make nature notebooks, greeting cards and dried floral arrangements.
All garden participants did a wonderful job helping to make these unique gifts. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Our first sale was very special, and we will be holding another one this Thursday September 16th from 2-5 pm.

Community Gardening

Paul harvested a yummy carrot today when he visited the GEG with friends. The vegetable looks very much like a beet because of it's purple red colour, but is actually a carrot, called 'Cosmic Purple'
Community Living folks also found beans to harvest, as well as spinach, kale and some cherry tomatoes. Having vegetables growing in a community garden in a city park is very special. I wonder, do the vegetables taste better because they have been admired by so many people passing through?
Dr. Masaru Emoto has studied how thoughts can affect the structure of water molecules. Vegetables have lots of water in them. Hmmmmm........
Here, the group shows off the lavender potpourri sachets that they made for another upcoming GEG harvest sale. The sachets are simple to make; just place dried scented herbs on a piece of light fabric and tie with your favourite coloured ribbon. Raffia looks nice as a natural ribbon too. To make your own raffia; just dry the husk of corn on the cob in the sun for a few days and cut it in strips to your desired width and length.
The sachets can be placed in linen drawers, closets, or under your pillow (especially great if you are using lavender, which is known to combat insomnia).

Today: Our First Harvest Sale!

Over the past few weeks, your fellow community members have been preparing for the GEG's first harvest sale. We will have fresh bouquets of flowers and herbs, a few vegetables like green peppers and tomatoes, as well as hand made nature notebooks (from recycled paper) and parchment greeting cards decorated from flowers that we pressed ourselves.

Drop by today from 2-5 pm! All proceeds go toward our free, accessible community Horticultural Therapy programming. Hope to see you there!

A Big Harvest

Here are folks from Riverside Glen harvesting tomatoes, celery, and flowers from their raised bed. I am grateful that residents will be contributing their plants to our harvest sale happening September 9th (2-5 pm). Their lovely purple salvia, pink snapdragons, and orange marigolds will make beautiful bouquets!