Speeches/Agenda for Sept 30, 2006

Talk about the success of the garden

Well this spring got off to a rough start. People didn’t know when they could start gardening, if they were going to get their original plot back; some people found out that someone had already planted stuff in their garden. The weeds were pretty wild, and it seemed for a while, as if the weeds were going to win! But with the guidance of Chris Martin we got ourselves organized as a Community Garden, and with all your hard work we got this garden (and the weeds) tamed. Most of you have kept up with the jobs on the maintenance schedule and that has helped with the beauty and neatness of the garden. You have all done a great job and you should all be commended. As the co-ordinator I have to be here to meet with repair personal, the delivery people for the compost and other things, as well, I was here when Solomon Boye and his work crew, delivered our sign. All the time these people were saying this is the nicest garden they have seen, how well weeded it is, and how attractive the flowers with vegetable are. Many of you have also had the experience of talking with people in the neighbourhood coming by to see the garden. This park is a much nicer place now thanks to all of you. Another success of our garden was the Sharing plot. It started out as a severe weed patch! No one wanted to take plot 19. I started to weed it and others came to help me fight the weeds, after a week or two it was finally ready. I received some plant donations from the Food Fair, and other gardeners donated extra plants and potatoes to fill in the plot, many of you had been taking turns to make sure that it was watered regularly and weeded. I have been delivering the produce to the Food Stop up at Davenport and Perth. They have been very grateful, and have used our donations in the meals that they provide as well as sharing it with the food bank.

Plans for next year ---questions and answers

I am hoping to make connections with people and organizations to get some seeds and plants for you for next year; I will keep you up to date if I have any success. I have started a waiting list of people that have approached me here in the garden looking for a plot for next year. If you have friends that are interested in the garden please let me know. I would like to ask those of you that have more than one plot, to relinquish the extra ones so that we can accommodate people on the waiting list. I would like to restore plots 13-16 to their original design of 10 'X 10' and put another garden behind it to accommodate the seniors in the co-op at 120 Perth. The path in front of plots 12, 21&22 need to be modified. Chris Martin would like us to cut an angle on either side of the path so delivery trucks can manoeuvre around to drop off compost and wood chips. He will be providing hard surface materials to accomplish this. This is where it gets tricky being the co-ordinator, I have grandiose plans, but what you want and what is practical is a different story. So what I am going to do is list off some issues and let you vote/ comment on them so that they are satisfied.

Issues to discuss:

1. The Job list; the city wants every one to participate in the maintenance of the garden, but, are the jobs distributed fairly are you happy with what there is to choose from, do you see a need for things to be taken care of that should be on the list? I know that I have been stuck doing a lot of things myself because no one volunteered for it. Do you want the same jobs or would you like to do something different?

2. The Charity plot. Should we have one next year, should we leave it there or move it to a different location? If we keep it, how should we decide what should be planted and who will provide seeds and plants for it? Can there be a group of you that would like to take it on?

3. The standard size of the plots in this garden is 10' X 20', with the exception of 13-16 that are 10' X 10'. The plots on the north side of the path are all different sizes. 17, and 18 are about 11' X 30', plot 19 is 13' X 25', plots 20&21 are about 15' X 20', and poor Evettas’ plot is going to get even smaller when we put in the modification for the truck turning. My plan is either -to make 19 & 20 more narrow and have an extra plot, or to put in 2' wide paths between every other plot so there is easier access to the back of the plots, or a combination of that would be to equalize 19 & 20 and divide them in half east & west, resulting in 2 extra plots. I’m wondering if plot 21 can give 1' - 2' allowance to plot 22.

4. Does any one want to take a turn being the co-ordinator? And the same for the core group, Does any one want to help out the co-ordinator with meetings and events, or do any of the core group need to leave?

5. When do you want the next Community Garden meeting (day of the week, time of day)? How often do you want meetings next year?

Discuss preparations of the garden for the winter close down

In November, Parks and Rec. Will be taking back the garden. So far we will be allowed to leave our perennials in, but we have to remove the spent plants and get those weeds that have been hiding in our gardens, and of course, our sticks and strings etc. They will turn off the water and put their own lock on the shed. And based on the review of our garden, we hopefully will receive our community gardening permit for next year.

With the gardening getting off on such rough start, the grass around the edges has really moved into some of your gardens. So I have arranged for high school students to come to the garden and volunteer in October, on the 14, & 21, 2006 they would be digging trenches around the outer edges of the gardens and on the north side to straighten out that line and it would expand those plots back to their original size. What I would like to see is as many of you that can, come around between 10 am and 3 pm and work with the students. I think that I would like to have some food available, if any of you can help with that. The other thing that they would be working is the Symington fence. Chris Martin wants a few inches of space under the chain link fence, so we can keep the tree problem under control. I would like to make this a fun event, and depending of the response of the students, take pictures and interviews, and make a news letter that we can share with the people in the neighbourhood. I know that this is a lot of work, but if we get recognition as a community garden it will be easier to work on getting support from organizations like Food Share, or Evergreen. Things like the butterfly garden had some local donations but the cost was mostly out of pocket, if we get some funding, then running this garden will be much easier and not so expensive.