›› Kayla Siefried
If you’re the gardening type, it’s likely you’ve already laid your garden beds to rest for the fall covering them with a deep mulch of deciduous leaves or straw. This protects the soil from wind and rain erosion, from dramatic temperature swings, and keeps microbes thriving. Perhaps you also have some overwintering vegetables in your garden – purple sprouting broccoli, cauliflower, kales. If that’s the case, keep your eyes on the weather for any deep sub-zero dips in temperature. If you see it on the forecast, give your veggie plants an extra chance at survival by putting some extra leaf mulch on the soil, and cover them in a tarp, sheets, or towels to increase the temperature and keep precious plants growth cells from dying off in the cold.
On a completely different note, if you’ve been by the Compost Education Centre (CEC) at 1216 North Park Street in the past couple months, you’ve likely noticed some change!
For the past 4 years since the Caledonia Housing Development was in its consultation phase, the CEC has known that our site footprint would be impacted, beyond our control. Vining Street needed to be widened into the gardens and expanded out into North Park Street. In the process, some precious old apple and eucalyptus trees were taken down, as well as some garden beds and our greenhouse. We’ll be re-planting some fruit trees at the south end of the site (sadly, not a replacement for the ecosystem services that large mature trees provide) and building a new greenhouse. New allotment plots have been created, and much of the eucalyptus was chipped and we’ve spread those chips around the site, and they will continue their life as they decompose and build soil. Additionally, larger, straight logs from the eucalyptus were milled up beautifully, and we are now selling them as a fundraiser for the CEC! Please consider purchasing a memento from the eucalyptus tree for your next project. Check out socials or give us a call to hear more (250) 386-WORM. Enjoy these pre-solstice dark days Fernwood!
