Tuesday’s workday and Tomorrow

Thanks to Ian, Maria, Janet, Thomas, Jonathan, Sija, Jim, Abhi, Tom C., Shannon, Joe and Katie for an incredible workday on Tuesday. Since we amended so many plots, Maloca is starting to look like a real garden. We have to continue fighting bind weed tomorrow and amending the rest of the plots. We will meet at 4pm, since the Weather Network says from 4pm on there will only be cloudy skies. Hope to see most of you there. –eric

Saturday’s Workday

Saturday, we went to the Pardale and Toronto Horticultural Society’s Plant Sale and bought a good many plants. Then, we accomplished a lot at the garden. Thanks to Tom, Susan, Monika, Katie, Jim, Natalie, Thomas, Ashley, Jacquie, Karlee, Tabassum, and Ana, we were able to: replace our wheel barrel tires, bury the compost bin in the middle of the garden, pull out lots of bindweed, plant dill, make and put compost tea around our peas (pictured above), cover several plots with plastic, and we amended a plot and planted cabbages. However, we have lots to do on Tuesday, and we’ll need to start around 3. Please don’t forget to start hardening off your tomatoes (see Katie’s post following), and three or four posts down, are the sign-up sheets for plants and sub-committees. These will be updated soon and they are also in the shed. One final note, I will make two wording changes to the proposed amendments (one is a spelling mistake) and post them to the original post dealing with constitutional issues. Remember, we need to have a meeting next Tuesday (20/05) to have a vote, and if you cannot come, please use the comment section here to let us know. Otherwise, it is very important that everyone who is a paid, student member of Maloca be at the meeting to vote (can take all of 5 min.). See you Tuesday. –eric.

Time to Harden-Off Tomato Seedlings

It is approaching time for everyone who has tomatoes growing in their windows to start “hardening-off” the plants. Basically this is a process of gradually toughening up the plants and introducing them to outside. The tomatoes have been growing in the protected environment of your windows and the outside is going to introduce a whole new set of growing conditions including direct sunlight, wind, lower temperatures, and air pollution. If you were to take the plants directly from your window and just plant them outside, their growth would be significantly slowed or they may even die.

Tuesday’s Workday

We had another busy day at the garden on Tuesday. Thanks to Carolyn, Monika, Karlee, Jim, Jonathan, Abhi, Maria, Luke (x2), Maurizio, Bikrum, Ross, Jacquie, Tom P., Mary Beth, Helena, Joe, Kevin, Sija and Katie. We were able to accomplish most of the items on my list. We planted potatoes, beets, parsley, spinach, turnips, wild flowers, and some carrots. We also constructed a trellis for the peas, and put a new compost bin in place.

Thank you also to those who signed up for plants and subcommittees. It is really important that the rest of you do so as well. The sign-up sheets are posted on the inside of the doors to the shed. Or, you can reply to my earlier post here–using the comments function–and sign up that way. We got our worm castings delivered today, and that means lots of things to do on Saturday. ALSO, we need to find someone with a car who is free Saturday morning. The Parkdale plant sale is happening from 11 and this is where we need to get a lot of our seedlings, plus we need to go to Canadian Tire to get our wheel barrel tire(s) fixed. Please reply a.s.a.p. if you can help us out on Saturday. I’ll post more information about that and another gardening event that at least one of our members should attend. Since we will be going to the plant sale, we will meet at the garden earlier on Saturday. I’ll post an exact time, soon.

–eric

Proposed Constitutional Amendments

Please review these proposed amendments alongside Katie’s earlier posts here and the current constitution. Our secret ballot vote for these proposed amendments is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, May 20.

Tuesday From 1 until…

Hello Gardeners!

The proposed constitutional amendments and draft minutes from our meeting Tuesday should be up here and on the listserv by Monday evening. There is one important item to mention about that now. One of the proposed amendments is for a Secretary/Archivist and if this amendment passes on the secret ballot, then we need to have nominations and a vote for someone to step into this position this year. Ideally, as with the other steering committee members, the member will have gardened with us for at least one year and according to the constitution, be a student. The roles and responsibilities of the Secretary/Archivist are a part of the proposed amendment, and so you can look at them to decide if you or another Maloca member you know would be good for the position.

NOW,

We have a huge day on Tuesday, and I will be there starting from 1pm. So, come whenever you can. We may have our truck load of worm castings delivered and if we are really lucky, and have our tank set properly, then perhaps Tim can get our tank filled. If some of us have not already done so, we’ll need to set the patio stones for our foundation. Then, we’ll need to weed the two remaining strawberry patches, add compost and plant items in between. We need to clean out the shed. We can start measuring the red fencing Tim (York Univ. Grounds Management) brought us. We need to finish building the fourth cold frame (provided we have a drill!); fix the chicken-wire fence/trellis with peas, turn over this plot, mix in sand and compost, and plant cabbages. We’ll need to plant a spring crop of carrots in the garlic bed. We need to plant dill, beets, parsley, Swiss chard, more arugula, spinach, and turnips.

Instructions for Transplanting Tomatoes into Larger Pots

My tomato seedlings have developed quickly and now have multiple true leaves. When your seedlings have reached this stage, it is time to transplant them into a larger pot. Read on for detailed instructions on how to do this and pictures I took as I did it yesterday.

Rain Delay

Hello Gardeners!

First of thank you all for coming out last Tuesday! What an incredible turn-out! The steering committee is working on the proposed amendments, and I will post more on that soon.

While a TTC strike may not keep all of us away from the garden, Mother Nature can.  If the rain continues and the thunder storms come tomorrow afternoon as predicted, I’m afraid we will have to have an earlier work day on Tuesday.  Soon, I will post more on what needs to be done as soon as the weather permits.

stay dry,

eric

Tomorrow’s GMM and Work Day

Hello Gardeners!
We have a very important meeting tomorrow, the GMM we were to have Saturday.
I will be at the garden between 3:30 and 4 tomorrow. We will have a regular
work day from 4 to about 5:30, when we will have the GMM. If you haven’t
completed the survey, please take two minutes and do so before tomorrow
morning. Also, please continue to bring food scraps (veggies and fruits) and
coffee grounds to compost, as well as a liter or two of water. We have lots of
stuff to plant tomorrow, and we’ll use the GMM to break up the work day. If you
can’t come before the meeting, please come FOR THE MEETING at 5:30.

Here is the TENTATIVE agenda for tomorrow.

GMM 29 April 5:30 pm
1. Blog and survey (preliminary results)
2. vision for the garden [groups and promoting a high level of collective
ownership through wider opportunities for participation]
3. constitutional issues [change membership wording and fees, Articles III and
IV]
4. purchasing and planting update [list will be posted today and I will
circulate list at GMM]
5. soil testing update
6. water tank update
7. major projects and new GM committees:
–mapping the garden
–social event coordinating
–communications/outreach
–landscaping
–construction/labour
–signs/printing
–composting
8. listserv [should it be limited to Maloca members?]
9. individual plots [interest]
10. joining the garden officially [signing people up]

N.B. Please review KAtie’s blog post of 2 april “Our Old Constitution” and be sure to
read her comment. This is very important for voting tomorrow.

For those that could not come last Saturday, I will post the etiquette here
on the blog and on the listserv, later today.

See you all tomorrow!

eric

Toronto Community Garden Network Newsletter

The Toronto Community Garden Network is a great resource for Maloca. Read on for a copy of their most recent newsletter or visit their site at http://www.tcgn.ca/wiki/wiki.php