It’s been a while since our last guided work party blog post - so let us show you what we’ve been up to!
To begin, the UBC UEFS students spent some time working on the vertical garden. They emptied the vertical pouches and planted ornamentals.
During that time, other volunteers prepared the garden beds with drip lines and mulch. Once those were ready, we planted different types of summer squash. Some varieties we planted include the total eclipse squash and lemon squash. Master Gardener Alex explained to volunteers why we can plant our summer squashes and zucchini now but have to wait until the summer months to plant our winter squashes (pumpkin, butternut, etc.). It all has to do with one thing: soil temperature!
For summer squashes, we, ideally, want the temperature at night to be 10 C or warmer to keep the plant growing. Right now, in Vancouver, our current low is 7 C so we are able to get away with slightly below ideal temperatures. However, for winter squashes, we cannot get away with any temperature below 10 C!
Moreover, the mulch does not allow for the soil to warm up quickly. The mulch keeps the soil wetter and cooler because it acts as an insulator. Some recommend taking off the mulch in the spring to let the soil warm up.
We have also planted amaranth and strawflowers in the bed closest to the plaza.
When planting our vegetables, we use a variety of fertilizers depending on the plant. Recently, we have been using blood meal and compost as fertilizers. When we use our own compost, we bury it with worm castings and then add soil on top, so that weeds won’t be able to germinate.
Aside from the planting, we have also been harvesting plenty of greens lately. Below are images of some of the harvests, which include lots of kale, bok choy, and stem lettuce, also known as celtuce.
Lastly, we can’t forget about weeding! We have been removing many weeds during the past few work parties. We have removed some of our fireweed, morning glory and forget-me-nots.
Thank you to everyone who has joined us the past few work parties, sign up to join the next one!
