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Adopting a fruit tree guild

I gave a short presentation on food forests and designing fruit and nut tree guilds during last week’s Virtual Ask a Virtual #YGK Master Gardener. You can register for the series on Eventbrite. Learn more about how to design, plant and care for a food forest fruit tree guild here.

How to design a nut or fruit tree guild. Includes planting palettes for:

  • black walnut guild (we’re planting endangered butternuts in the SW Welcome garden and each corner of the garden & will guild them using species from this palette)
  • native plant guild (we just planted a hybrid mulberry (Illinois Everbearing) in the SW Welcome garden. It’s up for adoption if you’re interested! We’ll be planting native red mulberries in the fall or next year
  • Asian inspired guild
  • medicinal guild (we’re planting a medicinal guild in the NW entrance Welcome garden )
  • medieval guild (we’ll plant a Medlar next year so we can experiment with this guild)
  • ornamental guild
  • apple tree guild (lots of these up for adoption)
  • pear tree guild (all of these have been adopted)

Planting a fruit tree

600Dan & Krista planting hazelnuts, mulberry and persimmons in the SW Welcome Garden

Curious about why you’re seen people who’ve adopted fruit trees digging moats around their trees? It’s to store water!

Read more about moats (mulch basins), planting mounds (to elevate the fruit tree above the heavy clay soil) and woodchips (to shift the soil to fungal dominance) in our article designing a fruit treeĀ guild.

Mulch basins capture and store rainwater or greywater in the soil, reducing Create an Oasis with Greywater, Art Ludwig

Interested in adopting a fruit tree?

600Nate planting the Plumcot he’s adopted

Adopting a fruit tree means being the human caring helping the infant fruit tree establish itself and becoming wonderfully healthy with your love and support, with the help of companion planting and with lots of mulch and water.

  • Mulch heavily with woodchips, keeping them 6″ (15 cm) away from the trunk so rodents don’t nibble on the tasty bark
  • Water 1″ (2.5 cm) per week this summer (around a one gallon bucket of water). If we don’t get any rain and it’s hot, water twice a week. If it rains regularly, you may not need to water.
  • Make a personalized sign that identifies the fruit tree, it’s variety and it’s companions (including you)
  • Plant some guild companions (ideas on species in the presentation above)
  • Ensure the trunk is protected from rodents with a cage, milk carton or white plastic spiral

We still have a few trees up for adoption. Email Joyce or Dan at lakesidegarden70@gmail.com if you’re interested or want to help out with the food forest!

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KASSI Seed Saving Plot Management – Volunteers Needed!

Hello Lakeside gardeners!

I’m sure many of you are familiar with Kingston Area Seed System Initiative (KASSI) http://seedsgrowfood.org/. They manage a collection of local heirloom seeds. They have a partnership with Lakeside Community Garden to grow out and save their seeds. They are also looking for donations because their main fund raising event (Seedy Saturday) was cancelled this year!

KASSI is looking for volunteers who will manage one or two or more of their eight plots at Lakeside. Anyone interested please email lakesidegarden70@gmail.com

Cathy is holding two orientations and planting sessions this weekend: 10am on Saturday May 23rd and 4pm on Sunday May 24th. If these times don’t work for you, we can arrange another time.

This task has been added to the Membership Task List 2020 as item 15, and please add your name to the Task List Sign up Sheet too!

Check out these details from Cathy:

  • The Kingston Area Seed System (KASSI) has eight beds at Lakeside that we grow out for seeds. We plan to grow out one crop in each bed so that we have enough plants to ensure genetic preservation. One variety of tomatoes will take two beds.
  • Attached please find the instruction sheet that Cathy made to help anyone who is growing seed in the KASSI beds at Community Gardens and the varieties that we hope volunteers will grow out this year.
  • It might be easiest if people volunteered to take care of a bed or two or three or more šŸ™‚
  • With the exception of the tomatoes, we grow all of the other crops out for seeds so there wouldn’t be any food to share. But we are always willing to share KASSI seeds with KASSI volunteers without asking for the usual sliding scale donation as long as they are willing to grow them out for seeds and food. And we can coach them about that too!
  • Volunteers tending the tomatoes can harvest them for food and seed. I’m hoping that we can share the tomatoes with everyone in the garden as long as they are willing to collect seeds to give back to us! Or to keep and share with others!
  • Of course KASSI is willing to provide support and coaching to anyone who needs it!
  • And it would be good to get other gardeners at Lakeside growing open-pollinated seeds that they can save. I would be happy to do a workshop to help people learn how easy it is to save seeds. KASSI could provide seeds for those gardeners without requiring a donation for anyone who is helping out with the KASSI seed gardens.
  • For anyone else- KASSI really needs donations this year because Seedy Saturday -our major fundraiser- was cancelled as you know!

-Dan

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adopt a fruit tree guild | planting | virtual workshop | COVID-19 requirements

As you all probably already know, the community garden is now officially open &Ā it’s time to start tending our food forest!!!


COVID-19 requirements Given the current state of emergency, we aren’t allowed to operate as we normally do and must comply with restrictions and preventative measures developed in consultation with the Kingston Community Gardens Network, local garden representatives and KFL&A Public Health.Ā BEFOREĀ entering the garden, youĀ MUSTĀ read andĀ ANSWERĀ THE QUESTIONSĀ in theĀ Lakeside COVID-19 Safe Operating Guidelines & Agreement.Ā 

What do you think about adopting a fruit tree to care for this summer? 
Reply to this email if you’re interested in adopting a fruit tree. We have 11 apples, 3 plums, 3 pears, 3 sour cherries we need to care for, along with berry bushes. Adopting the tree would mean:

  • Ensuring it gets 1″ of water every week. We’ll have buckets by each fruit tree, you’d need to fill the bucket a couple of times (you can use a hose) so it slowly drains to water the tree. We’d keep an eye on the weather, if it rains enough during the week the tree won’t need water.
  • Make sure the tree has enough woodchip mulch to help retain moisture. You can top it up from the large woodchip piles. 
  • Weed the tree. There are some aggressive weeds like pasture grass that need to be eliminated. Once the weeds are eliminated, we can plant perennial vegetables & flowers. 
  • Planning for the flowers & the perennial vegetables you’d like to grow with the tree. I’ll do a workshop to introduce some of the possibilities. You could source & donate the plants yourself or you could make a list and send a request for us to purchase the plants from the budget. To learn more about planting a fruit tree guild, join the the virtual workshop (see the next item). 

Fruit tree guild virtual workshopLearn more about permaculture fruit tree guilds. On Thursday May 28th at 1:00 pm I’ll be giving an introduction to fruit tree guilds during the weekly Virtual Ask a Master Garden Q&A.Ā Register on Eventbrite.Ā 


Planting the welcome garden We have 3 persimmons, two hazelnuts, two mulberries arriving from Whiffletree. They are going to be delivered right after the long weekend. We are going to plant them along with a few donated endangered butternuts near the SW entrance. If you’d like to help, let us know. With social distancing, we could probably have 5 people preparing & planting at the same time. Reply to this email if you’re interested in planting.

Volunteer sign up If you’re super keen, in addition to adopting a fruit tree, there are a lot of other jobs you can help out with. Dan has put together a wonderful list of volunteer tasks. PleaseĀ READ the task listĀ andĀ SIGN UP hereĀ for tasks you’re interested in helping out with. If you have any problems with the sign up sheet, just reply to this email.

Hand washing station:Ā Tom built a hands-free hand washing station for you to use when you enter and before you leave the garden. You can find the station next to the shed.

Bathroom facilities:Ā With COVID-19 restrictions, Sharing Centre is closed and so we have no bathroom facilities this year.Ā 
Joyce

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COVID Requirements | Garden Opening | Plot Assignments

Hi gardeners!
Welcome to the 2020 gardening season!


We are officially opening the garden Saturday May 9th. However, given the current state of emergency in the province, we won’t be allowed to operate as we normally do and must comply with restrictions and preventative measures developed in consultation with the Kingston Community Gardens Network, local garden representatives and KFL&A Public Health.Ā 


BEFOREĀ entering the garden, youĀ MUSTĀ read andĀ ANSWERĀ THE QUESTIONSĀ in theĀ Lakeside COVID-19 Safe Operating Guidelines & Agreement.Ā 

New Members:Ā Welcome to the garden! A board member would be happy to meet you on site to give you a tour, show you your plot andĀ show you where everything is. Just email lakesidegarden70@gmail.com we’ll set up a time to meet.

Plot Assignments:Ā Here is a map of the garden with plot assignments. If you have any questions about your plot assignment just email lakesidegarden70@gmail.com.

Volunteer sign up:Ā We won’t be able to hold work bees this year due to COVID-19, but Dan has put together a wonderful list of volunteer tasks. PleaseĀ READ the task listĀ andĀ SIGN UP hereĀ for tasks you’re interested in helping out with. If you have any problems with the sign up sheet, just email lakesidegarden70@gmail.com.

Hand washing station:Ā Tom built a hands-free hand washing station for you to use when you enter and before you leave the garden. You can find the station next to the shed.Ā 

Bathroom facilities:Ā With COVID-19 restrictions, Sharing Centre is closed and so we have no bathroom facilities this year.Ā 

A few reminders

  • Compost is available at the North end of the garden. Please limit compost use to 4 wheelbarrows/plot/season. A new load is being delivered Monday.
  • NO personal vehicle access or deliveries are allowed. Occasionally delivery vehicles access the site. If there are any vehicles on site, please ensure you & your children stay safely away.
  • Lots of woodchips available at the North end of the garden. You can use these on the pathways or to mulch your plot.
  • If there are any broken or missing tools/hoses/nozzles, please email the board. 
  • All motorized devices (ie lawn mower, rototiller) requires a waiver. Email the board for more information.

Happy gardening!
LCG Board

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Community gardens essential | Donation garden | Learning

Loving Spoonful, KASSI and Rideau 1000 Islands Master Gardeners are launching Gardens for Good campaign to get people producing fresh food. Meghan Balogh/The Whig-Standard/Postmedia Network

Community gardens recognized as essential source of local food

On Saturday the provincial government announced that ā€œ[community] gardens are an essential source of fresh food for some individuals and families, including those who face food insecurity.ā€

However, in order to reopen, we must wait for local public health guidance and agree to adhere to their public health and safety measures.Ā  ā€œLocal medical officers of health will provide advice, recommendation and instructions that the gardens must meet in order to operate, such as physical distancing, and cleaning and disinfecting commonly used equipment and surfaces.ā€ Stay tuned!

St. Mary’s Cathedral adopting the donation garden

St Mary’s hot meal program is expanding their free meal programming and will be growing food in the plot formerly managed by Lunch by George. They have a team of 10-12 volunteers, all experienced gardeners (including some experts) who will be working on this project.

Food forest planting Welcome Garden this spring

Continuing with our Phase I food forest plan, this spring we’ll be planting the Welcome Garden in the SW corner. We’re expecting an order from Whiffletree to be delivered after the May long weekend. If you’re not yet a member of the garden, you can get involved in the food forest by emailing lakesidefoodforest@gmail.com.

We also received a grant from Tree Mobile/Orchard People. We’ve postponed delivery of the fruit trees until Spring 2021, but one of the food forest volunteers will be taking the Orchard People fruit tree masterclass and sharing what they learn here on this blog.

Gardening for good (#Garden4Good)

Loving Spoonful, KASSI and Rideau 1000 Islands Master Gardeners are launching a Garden for Good campaign. On their new Facebook page you can make a pledge to #Garden4Good, sign up as an ambassador to support novice gardeners or share your your #MyGarden4Good story on social media.

Lots of learning opportunities

To support Gardening for Good, the master gardeners have created a vegetable gardening resource page and a list of local gardening resources on where you can get seeds, soil, plants, cover crops and soil testing.

Janette Haase, local organic gardener and author of Seed to Table, is hosting small group coaching on vegetable gardening every Monday. Register on Eventbrite.

Rideau 1000 Islands is hosting a weekly Ask a virtual master gardener. Each week master gardeners and their guests will answer questions on different topics. You can also ask questions on their Facebook page. This week Harris Ivens, a composting expert who gardens at Oak Street, is answering all composting for healthy soil questions. Watch his video to learn two great ways to compost right in your plot!

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Garden is CLOSED due to COVOID-19 – help us get it reopened

Yesterday the province of Ontario announced that all community gardens are closed due to COVOID-19. We are asking that Community Gardens be declared exempt as they are essential services for food production. Here is what you can do:

  1. Please DO NOT VISIT THE GARDEN, it is closed until further notice. 
  2. Sign the Open Letter asking the government to identify Community Gardens as essential community food services which must be exempt from the recently announced closure of recreational spaces by the Province of Ontario.
  3. Email, call, write or tweet your MP, MPP, City Councillor & Mayor (contact information included below). Just Food in Ottawa has a suggested template.

The Board met last night and we are still planning for the gardening season. In fact, we will be opening up 10 new permanent plots. We will be reaching out to people on the waiting list. 

Mark Gerretson, MP

Ian Arthur, MPP: 

Wayne Hill, City Councillor for Lakeside:  (if you’re in a different district, you can find your councillors contact information here)

Bryan Patterson, Mayor

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Starting your own seeds

Seeds are living beings. When you buy seeds, you are not buying a thing. You are buying the services of the person who cared for, cleaned and packaged the seeds.

Cate Henderson, KASSI
Cathy, from the Kingston Area Seed System Initiative (KASSI) introduces the locally adapted, open-pollinated seeds in their living Seed Commons

We had a great turnout for Seeds, Soil, Supper – the first workshop in our Think Like a Forest workshop series.

The workshop was facilitated by Cate Henderson, who has been growing and saving seeds for many years. We learned how to buy seeds, how to successfully start seeds, how to care for them and how to make your own seed starting mix.

Starting your own seeds is a wonderful, rewarding experience and allows you to grow an incredible variety of vegetables, flowers and herbs you can’t buy at the garden centre or grocery store.

How to buy seeds

If possible, buy local seeds or buy from seed companies who lovingly grow, care for and package their own seeds. Most seed companies purchase their seeds from overseas and then simply repackage them, which means they aren’t adapted to our local growing conditions. For example, 90% of broccoli seeds come from a single farm in Mexico. You can get locally adapted seeds from:

  • KASSI (Kingston Area Seed System Initiative): With the cancellation of Seedy Saturday KASSI is exploring ways of making their seeds available to gardeners. Watch their website.
  • Bear Root Gardens: All seeds are $3.00, with free shipping on seed orders over $30. Potato seed is $5 a pound. Free pick up in Verona or West end Kingston. Check their website for their catalog. Message, email or call to order.
  • Kitchen Table Seed House: “We strongly believe that planting seeds is an act of hope, resistance and resilience. Growing plants, tending a garden and sharing food with neighbours and loved ones can be healing and is just one of the reasons we do this work and share these seeds.” Free seed delivery in Kingston Sunday March 22nd and Sunday March 29th. Pick-up between 10am-1pm, at the Kingston Memorial Market parking lot. Go to their website to place your order and enter the promo code Kingston Memorial Market to forgo shipping fees and choose the date you want to pick up your order in the notes section.

What to look for on a seed packet

open pollinated or OP: Seeds from open pollinated plants grow like their parents. Pollen flows freely between plants. They retain their genetic diversity, adapt to changing growing conditions and are the foundation of our seed system.

hybrids or F1: hybrid seeds are created from open pollinated varieties. There are some great hybrid varieties, but their seeds are unstable and won’t grow like their parents. You must buy seeds each year to grow hybrids.

patented (PVP/UP/bag tag): A patent grants exclusive rights to the patent owner. Four multinational chemical companies control 60% of the seed market and they use patents to restrict seed saving and sharing in order to increase profits. It’s illegal to save patented seeds.

How to start seeds

  • Wet the seedling mix well
  • Fill your tray with seedling pots made from sustainably harvested peat or coconut coir (reusable) or use a soil blocker that eliminates the need for pots
  • Plant seeds to the depth listed on the seed packet (good rule of thumb is twice as deep as the size of the seed)
  • Label the pots (popsicle sticks make great labels!)
  • Cover the tray
  • Place the tray in a warm place
  • Uncover the seedlings once they germinate

How to make seedling mix

Using a soil block mold eliminates the need for pots. You can buy soil block molds from Lee Valley.

You can easily make your own seedling mix! Rideau 1000 Islands Master Gardeners shared recipes that work well for seedlings and transplants.

Container and seedling mix recipesDownload

Kingston Food Forest Networkā€™s Think Like a Forest workshop series explores our relationship with food, soil, and the wild beings with whom we share this land. If we learn from the wisdom of wild forests, from each other and from our experiences on the land, we can become wise Earth stewards.

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Seeds, Soil, Supper: Think like a forest workshop series

Get ready for the 2020 gardening season & for Seedy Saturday by learning why seeds matter & how to be successful starting your own seeds.

Starting seeds using soil blocks. Image source: GrowJourney

Every garden, every wildscape, every forest starts with a seed. Starting your own plants from seed is a lot of fun and allows you to grow a wonderful variety of heirloom, unusual or locally adapted seedlings for your vegetable garden or wildscape. And itā€™s a great way to save money!

Learn how to:

  • Read a seed packet (and why it matters)
  • Start vegetables, herbs, edible flowers and fruit
  • Save and share seeds
  • Create your own soil mix
  • Start seeds in soil blocks

Hands on:

  • Making soil blocks

Handouts/resources:

  • 5 quick takeaways on sourcing & starting seeds
  • Make your own soil recipe
  • Seeds from KASSI to plant and share

Facilitator:Ā Cate Henderson from Kingston Area Seed System Initiative (KASSI)

Bring a supper dish to share!

Register on eventbrite to let us know you’re coming (we have a limited number of spots).

Think Like a Forest workshop series

“Sometimes, if you just look to the trees, you can see that there are also quiet ways of communicating, and of resisting.ā€ ~“Mari Keski-Korsu, Transdisciplinary arti

What does our food system taste like? Why should we empathize with earthworms? How does a forest think? Forests are dynamic, resilient living beings connected in community.

During this time of climate chaos, become part of the solution. Forests can become our teachers for new ways of seeing and interacting with the world. As we learn how to think like a forest, we can awaken our senses, reshape our food system and discover new ways of sustainable being and doing that support the long term flourishing of Earth.

This workshop series explores our relationship with food, soil, and the wild beings with whom we share this land. If we learn from the wisdom of wild forests, from each other and from our experiences on the land, we can become wise Earth stewards.

Think Like a Forest workshop series sponsored by Rideau 1000 Islands Master Gardeners and Kingston’s Food Forest Network, including:

Follow up this workshop by visiting our local seed growers and celebrating local seeds atĀ Kingston’s Seedy Saturday. Saturday March 14 from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm at LCVI.

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Planting a permaculture food forest at Lakeside

ā€œI wanted to do something to benefit climate change. Everyone says the best thing you can do is vote, but I donā€™t think thatā€™s enough. I want to do more. I figured, having something where youā€™re planting trees and things that are absorbing carbon is a great way to do it.ā€

Dan Robinson, Volunteer Food Forest Steward

On Saturday November 9th around 20 volunteers, Queen’s students and community members gathered at Lakeside to plant, mulch and water 11 new apple trees, 2 chestnuts, 1 shagbark hickory, 30 berry bushes and 2 grape vines. These joined the 3 sour cherry trees, 3 pear trees and 2 plum trees donated earlier this the fall.

Wondering why we planted in November? Trees and shrubs growĀ most of their new roots (some studies say 80%)Ā in the fall. Because trees and shrubs no longer have to make leaves, berries, shoots or flowers, all their energy can go into developing their roots until the ground freezes. And in spring, once the soil thaws, they can also put their energy into roots before it’s time to leaf out at which time their energy shifts to developing their leaves.

Eight students from Queens, from Engineers Without Borders, came to help, bringing with them coffee grounds from the Tea Room, inner tubes from bicycles and milk cartons to help plant the forest.

Councillor Jim Neill helped plant

Councillor Jim Neill brought his own shovel to help dig holes

Councillor Jim Neill, who put forward the original motion that made community orchards possible, joined us with his shovel to dig holes.Ā 

We warmed up afterwards over a feast

Feasting on baked treats donated by Bread & Butter Bakery, home made pizzas, vegetarian chili!

The press came to see what we were up to

Read the Whig’s article here:Ā Food forest project puts down new roots

Listen to Joyce Hostyn’s interview with Wei Chen on Ontario morning:Ā Ontario Morning – Friday November 8, 2019 – Part 3 | Ontario Morning from CBC Radio with Wei Chen | Live Radio | CBC ListenĀ starts at 3:45 minutes

Global News also covered planting day… they aired it on Saturday evening. I’ve heard it was a great piece, but didn’t see it.

Thank you so much to our wonderful sponsors

Our sponsors, with their incredible generosity and community spirit, made planting day possible. Thank you so much to each of you:

  • Burtā€™s GreenhousesĀ for strawberries and herbs
  • Canadian Tire for 10 fruit trees (3 sour cherry, 3 pear, 2 plum, 2 sweet cherry) and 30 berry bushes (blackcurrant, haskap, goji berry, aronia berry and gooseberry)
  • Rideau 1000 Islands Master GardenersĀ for 11 heritage and disease resistant early, mid and late season apple trees (Redfield, Freedom, Greensleeves, Liberty, Norkent, Pristine, Rebella, Sweet Sixteen, September Ruby, Wolf River, Wynoochee Early
  • City of Kingston for a $250 donation
  • Rileyā€™s Garden Centre for two grape vines (concord and muskat) and a red gooseberry
  • Ontario Hydro for keeping us supplied with load after load of soil healing wood chips
  • Bread & Butter Bakery for keeping our energy up with a delicious selection of baked treats
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Food forest planting day Saturday November 9th

We had a great turnout at the workable on Saturday November 2nd. Can you spot Joanne in the meadow marking out the centre of our nut tree orchard? And Dan discovered a woodland jumping mouse. He thought this one was a baby, but it lived up to its name & jumped out of his hand and did a series of jumps to cover.

Planting day at Lakeside Food Forest

Join us Saturday November 9th at 10:00 am to help plant a food forest at Lakeside Community Garden.

If you’ll be joining us afterwards for a hot lunch, please fill in this poll so we know how much food to have on hand.

What we’re planting

  • 11 apple trees: Redfield, Freedom, Greensleeves, Liberty, Norkent, Pristine, Rebella, Sweet Sixteen, September Ruby, Wolf River, Wynoochee Early (we tried to choose a variety of heritage or disease resistant early, mid and late season apples)
  • 20-30 berry bushes: blackcurrant, haskap berry, goji berry, aronia berry and gooseberry
  • 2 grape vines: concord and muskat
  • 4 nut trees: chestnut, shagbark hickory and maybe a black walnut or bur oak

What else we’ll be doing

  • protecting our new apple trees (foam insulation or mounding sand to protect the graft then tree guards)
  • protecting the larger pear and sour cherry (bring wire snippers as I’ve salved some old wire hardware cloth)
  • staking our bare root trees
  • working a bit more on the paths into the nut orchard, fruit orchard and the south west welcome garden

Dress warm, the high is zero degrees!

Thank you to our supporters!

Thank you to our supporters:

  • Rideau 1000 Islands Master Gardeners for 11 apple trees
  • Canadian Tire for 10 fruit trees (pear, plum and sour cherry) and 30 berry bushes
  • City of Kingston
  • Rileyā€™s Garden Centre for two grape vines and a gooseberry
  • Burtā€™s GreenhousesĀ for strawberries and herbs
  • Ontario Hydro for keeping us supplied with soil healing wood chips