Monday, October 16, 2017

The Grandview-Woodland Community Seed Library


If you have seeds to spare, consider donating some to the Grandview-Woodland Community Seed Library. Please package your seeds in a clean and dry container, glass or plastic, and label it clearly, including the following information:
  • Your name and contact information
  • Type of seed (e.g., tomato, pea, bean, basil, marigold)
  • Variety (e.g., Black Trim, Alderman, Scarlet Runner)
  • Genus and species (optional)
  • Year the seed was harvested
  • Seed source of parent plant
  • Other plants that the parent plant was grown near and risk of cross-pollination
  • Info on provenance, growing, flavour, etc. (e.g., tomato is determinate or indeterminate)
  • Results of germination testing (if performed; optional but recommended)
  • Other notes

Sunday, October 1, 2017

October Meeting — Janis Matson

Our meeting on Thursday, October 12th, will feature Janis Matson speaking on "Designing with and Growing Herbs".

As Janis says, herbs have been used and enjoyed by people for centuries. They've been harvested for culinary, medicinal, scullery, and craft purposes. As well, they're a wonderful and beneficial part of the landscape. They can be part of your garden, integrated in with ornamentals and vegetables. They can be used as frames, hedges, topiaries, and borders. They can attract beneficial insect, including bees and other pollinators.
Come and learn more about herbs!

Janis is a delightful speaker. She enjoys the challenge of making garden spaces look good and feel good; she worked at Murray Nurseries in the Southlands from 1988–1993; she was owner and operator of Shoreline Landscape Design for over 20 years; she is a faculty instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Langley with the horticultural diploma and apprenticeship programs and a contract faculty instructor with Burnaby Community Education with the Horticultural Hardscape Program, and is an adult education instructor at VanDusen Gardens.

This should be a super event — a good way to spend a fall evening.

As usual, we will meet in the "LRC" — the Britannia Learning Resources Centre, which is under the VPL library. As you're walking west toward the library, veer left, walk alongside it, and you'll come to a ramp entry to the LRC on your right. We start at 7:00 and end before 9:00.

Bring your gardening questions and concerns ... and your ideas for topics or speakers for upcoming meetings.

We always have tea and goodies and a few door prizes. See you there!


Grandview Seed Library!

Christina Mak is a volunteer with the Grandview Woodland Food Connection and she's starting up a seed library. She'll come to give a brief announcement about it at our October meeting and she will be happy to take donations of seeds to get things started. Please, if you bring seeds, label them (what they are, when they were harvested, what sorts of conditions they prefer, etc.).

Xmas Garden Club Potluck?

We're thinking that for our December meeting we won't have a formal speaker, but we will have a potluck supper. Think about that and we'll talk about it at our meeting. We might need to change rooms for that evening so we have running water and a few kitchen amenities.

Membership!

In case you aren't a member of the Garden Club yet and would like to join, we're making a special offer. If you join at the October meeting, we'll give you the rest of 2017 and all of 2018 for $25. Regular membership is $20 for the year. If you're already a member, you're also welcome to renew now or soon for 2018, $20. Meeting drop-ins are still $4.