September - Back to School

In May and June of this year, the grade ones and twos from the Perth Public school came to visit our garden and plant things. The children graduated at the end of June. The grade ones would stay on in the class as the new grade twos, and we now have new grade ones. At the end of September the teachers came back with the new classes.

It started to drizzle and the children had to go back to school, but there was enough excitement for the teachers to decided that they wanted to have their classes join the community garden!

October Excitment

We gave the Perth public School one of the pumpkins that came off our giant pumpkin vine. We didn't expect how many things the teachers cooked with our pumpkin. They made Pumpkin Soup, Pumpkin cake, Spicy Pumpkin Sauce, and they saved the seeds. They also had a Guessing Challange about how many seeds there were from that one pumpkin.

Bulb Planting Project

Every year we are offered a donation of flower bulbs for the beautification of our park. This year is no exception. the organization is called the Toronto Parks and Trees Foundation. They offer BULBS to community organizations for beautification of public spaces. (Better Urban Landscapes through Bulbs)

We ordered 100 each of the

• Thalia - An ‘heirloom’ daffodil dating back to 1930. White petals and trumpet. 2-3 fragrant blooms per stem. 14” tall.

• Hawera - 12 – 15” tall with many lemon yellow blooms. A good naturalizer.

• Chionodoxa luciliae - Gentian blue flowers with white centers on 8” stems. A super naturalizer, great layered with daffodils.

At the same time, we were contacted by an organization called GreenHere in the Davenport West neighbourhood. They are focused on collaborating with communities to enhance green infrastructure and local stewardship of the urban forest, increasing canopy coverage to improve the quality of the environment and thereby the health of all residents. One of their initiatives is to work with the City of Toronto and local residents to reforest our parks, and create stewardship teams to water and care for the newly planted and existing trees in the park. And they also said that they are interested in partnering in events.

That was just perfect. I decided to contact the Perth Ave. Public School, and this time, to invite the grade five and six class to help plant these bulbs!