What's Going On At The Garden

Grow With Us

Gardeners love the month of May. At this time of the year, we gaze upon our beloved patches of dirt, seeing in them what perhaps no-one else can see, and begin to tend them like pampered children. If you happen to drive by the Mid-Sun Community Garden this month, there you will see us, heads bowed, digging and dreaming, raising up something truly beautiful for our community. Why don’t you join us? Garden plots are only $20 for the year and everyone – rookies, seasoned gardeners, anyone longing to fall in love with a patch of dirt – is welcome. To enquire about available plots, please contact us at midsungarden@gmail.com.

Watch Us Grow

The growth of the Mid-Sun Community Garden over the past few years has been remarkable. Through the efforts of our dedicated volunteers, the garden has become a manicured oasis in the heart of Midnapore. We have a shed, composting bins, a delightful seating area and mulched walkways surrounding our individual plots. And there is more to come, thanks to the wonderful staff at Lowe’s on 130 Avenue SW. 

As part of the Lowe's Canada Heroes employee volunteer program, these community-minded folks raised money all through the month of March for the Mid-Sun Community Association and the community garden. The store was covered with posters promoting Lowe’s support for our community. Customers were asked to donate $2 so that their names could be prominently displayed on paper pagodas in the store. What a great way to raise awareness and support for the community garden program at Mid-Sun!

One of our garden volunteers, Kim Taylor, agreed to be thrown behind bars for the cause on March 20, raising over $600 in bail money. Bravo Kim! Thanks for stepping up for the community garden.

Lowe’s donated over $1,000 to the community garden in 2014, and we look forward to working with them to bring more improvements to the garden in 2015. Thank you to the Lowe’s staff at 130 Avenue SW and to all the customers and supporters who helped make this fundraiser a big success.

Be Beneficial

This is going to be a great year in the garden, but we need lots of help. All our gardeners are asked to be “garden beneficials,” choosing a volunteer role according to their interests and abilities to help make the garden – and the world – a better place.

You can contact any of the volunteers on this list for more information:

GARDEN TEAM 

Secretary/Treasurer – Dave Bisanti
dbisanti@shaw.ca
403-201-2202

Fundraising – Kim Taylor
kimandav@telus.net
403-466-8388

Activities Assistant – Sabine Sellmer
sabine2396@hotmail.com
587-228-3337

Garden Blogger – Brianna Maryon
shoesaremymuse@gmail.com
403-701-8095

Mid-Sun Messages – Katherine Matiko
katherinematiko@gmail.com
403-256-8818

We are currently looking for a volunteer to represent the community garden on the Mid-Sun Community Association Board of Directors. Please email midsungarden@gmail.com for more information.

Learn more about the Mid-Sun Community Garden at mid-suncommunitygarden.blogspot.ca.

The Mid-Sun Community Garden is located beside the Mid-Sun Community Centre at 50 Midpark Rise SE. Admiring visitors are always welcome.

Thank you to Katherine for submitting this post.

The Planning of the Planting

Do you know what you'll be growing in your garden plot this year? It's always a good idea to plan well ahead, especially if you're growing everything from seed and will need to start them indoors. Check out this Vegetable Growing Guide for a timeline on when best to start your seedlings. To follow this timeline you will need an estimate of when the last frost will be for your area from the Canada Frost Dates. Gardener's Web also has some great resources for planting guidelines where you can choose where you're located, the vegetables you want to grow and etc.

For some different vegetable ideas check out Lee Valley's article on trending veggies.

Choosing Tomato Variety Seeds

“Which tomato seed varieties should I start?” is is a very common question, and choosing the wrong varieties in Calgary will mean lots of green tomatoes in the fall. Calgary’s Zone 3a climate is not tomato friendly, so the list of genuine options here is quite a bit shorter than it is in other locations. Tomatoes are tropical vines, so our short season, very dry climate and cool nights are not to their liking! So we have to be selective. Each summer I grow 50 varieties in open beds, and to be quite honest, I can easily provide a short list of varieties which always do well for me. I grow both hybrid and open pollenated varieties, so am not aligned on either side of that debate.

So here are my Calgary stars, where you can most easily find them, and a short blurb about each. I do not have a greenhouse, so my list is directed to gardeners in the same circumstance. Let’s start with cherry tomatoes where the clear winner is SunGold F1. In my community sampling bed last year (11 cherry tomato varieties), not a single person said any of the other 10 varieties were tastier than SunGold. Case closed. Seeds are available in Calgary from Garden Retreat.  My two favourite small earlies are Stupice and Early Treat F1. Stupice seed can be found at Garden Retreat, and Early Treat F1 is a Burpee seed available in their displays at Greengate, SuperStore etc. A bigger early which always does well for me is Moskvitch. Unfortunately I have not seen this seed in Calgary but it can be purchased from EBay seller (and Calgary master gardener), aprilshowers2010. My most successful determinate variety is Arctic Fire, from Alberta based Bow Seeds, available at Sunnyside. Moving to midseason varieties the three I recommend are Big Beef F1, Early Girl F1 and Caspian Pink. Big Beef F1 is sold by McKenzie Seeds and available in their big box displays. I have not seen Early Girl F1 or Caspian Pink seeds in town this year, but aforementioned Calgary master gardener aprilshowers2010 lists both inexpensively on E-Bay. Late season varieties? I don’t have any to recommend since our climate does not reliably support them. Are there others? Of course there are – my list is based on 
what has reliably done well for me. Good luck!

 Sun Gold F1 - Season: Early, Type: Cherry, Size: ⅖oz, Colour: Orange, Taste: Intense, Origin: Japan, Plant: Indeterminate, Breed: Hybrid, Leaf: Regular, Height: 60-72". It has become the most popular cherry tomato of all time. The sweet-tart intense fruity flavour is amazing, developing early, so it is great a week before full maturity, when it becomes very sweet and delicious.

Stupice - Type: Salad, Season: Early, Size: 1-3oz, Colour: Red, Plant: Indeterminate, Breed: Open pollinated, Leaf: Potato, Height: 48-60". This Czech tomato from the 1950s is valued for its early maturity and sweet taste. The yield per plant is extraordinarily high. This potato-leaf heirloom is a very cold-tolerant tomato that bears an abundance of deep red fruit.

Early Treat F1 - Type: Salad, Season: Early, Size: 2-4oz, Colour: Red, Plant: Indeterminate, Breed: Hybrid, Leaf: Regular, Height: 48-60". An early Burpee hybrid similar to, but not identical to Fourth of July. The germplasm for these two varieties is different, but the resulting flavour of Early Treat is very much like the Fourth of July variety – which is average, but very reasonable for an early variety.

Moskvich - Type: Beefsteak, Season: Early, Size: 6-9oz, Colour: Red, Plant: Indeterminate, Breed: Open pollinated, Leaf: Regular, Height: 48-60". An appealing extra-early tomato with fruit which are smooth, deep red with a fine rich flavour. Moskvich is a cold tolerant heirloom variety from Russia which produces good yields.

Arctic Fire - Season: Midseason , Type: Slicer (Medium), Size: 4-6oz, Colour: Red, Taste: Mild, Origin: Canada, Plant: Determinate, Breed: Open pollinated, Leaf: Regular, Height: 30-36". Arctic Fire is a large, early tomato. Almost seedless, having solid red flesh with fine flavour. They do not need pollination, therefore can set fruit well through cold weather.  Plants stay compact and fit well within a tomato cage.

Big Beef F1 - Season: Midseason, Type: Slicer (Large), Size: 10-12oz, Colour: Red, Taste: Balanced, Origin: USA, Plant: Indeterminate, Breed: Hybrid, Leaf: Regular, Height: 40-48". One of the finest hybrids for home gardeners. Impressive yields of extra-large, smooth tomatoes with real old-time flavour. Its virtues include great disease resistance, early midseason harvests and enormous fruit until the end of the season.

Early Girl F1 - Type: Slicer, Season: Midseason, Size: 4-6oz, Colour: Red, Plant: Indeterminate, Breed: Hybrid, Leaf: Regular, Height: 48-60". Early Girl produces bright red, meaty tomatoes with good flavour and aroma. Its globe-shaped fruit are perfect for slicing on sandwiches and for salads. This variety starts bearing fruit earlier and produces for longer than other medium-sized tomatoes.

Caspian Pink - Type: Beefsteak, Season: Midseason, Size: 6-16oz, Colour: Pink, Plant: Indeterminate, Breed: Open pollinated, Leaf: Regular, Height: 40-48". An heirloom tomato that originated in Russia's Black Sea region, this variety yields large, finely flavoured pink tomatoes on vigorous vines. One of the best tasting tomatoes on the market.

From 2014 Season:

1. Big Beef F1

2. Steak Sandwich F1 (not discussed)

3. Moskvich

4. Early Girl F1

5. Early Treat F1

6. Stupice

7. Arctic Fire

Thank you to Richard for submitting this post.

Simply The Best Edibles

Open House Drop-In

http://www.calhort.org/

Starting your 2015 tomato seeds

Starting your 2015 tomato seeds“When is the right time to plant my tomato seeds?” The basic rule is 6-8 weeks before you want to plant them out in your garden. So when is this? In Calgary our average last frost date (ALFD) is May 23^rd, but don’t consider this our planting date since on average, there is a 50% chance of a frost after that. I like to set my tomatoes out a week or two after the ALFD, most typically the first week in June. So, if we want to plant our tomatoes this year on June 6^th, our seed starting date should fall somewhere between April 11^th and 25^th. Can you start them sooner? Sure, but there is limited benefit in setting out plants just a bit older than the recommended age. Hang in there, there are still a few weeks to go for tomatoes! If you just have to plant something right now then consider pepper, gazania, impatiens or snapdragons. These all take 8 to 10+ weeks so now is the right time to get them started.

Spring Research

The new year has me looking ahead to spring and that means gardening! 

As a novice gardener admittedly I've pretty much winged it every year since joining the community garden, but no more. Companion planting is something I'd like to learn more about and I've heard great things about Carrots Love Tomatoes. Grow Cook Eat was recommended to me and has been quite interesting so far with the author talking about all the usable parts of the vegetable, the flower and tops included. 

Do you have any go to gardening books?

Be sure to check out The Calgary Horticultural Society's Calendar for all their upcoming workshops on everything from Garden Planning, Preparation, and Spring Sowing.