Welcome to Fort Calgary’s Community Garden 2008
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The Community Garden at Fort
Calgary The Historic Garden That Was Once Here: From 1883 to 1914 the North West Mounted Police grew a large vegetable garden at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow Rivers. This garden provided much needed produce after long winters and for many months of the year it produced all types of root crops, peas, cucumbers, lettuce, beans etc. Today, our modern garden represents the type of garden that would have been grown here many years ago. We continue to use only hand tools to cultivate, have on display a functioning historic windmill, grow produce that is greatly needed, and practice growing vegetables straight rows! In addition, many types of heirloom vegetable seeds are grown on site, with attempts being made to isolate, “grow out”, and collect seed from some of these old varieties. The What and How Now: This year we are attempting to grow all manner of fruits and vegetables including; cucumbers, squashes, many varieties of root vegetables, tomatoes, herbs, numerous types of greens, onions, garlic, edible flowers, broad beans, bush beans, pole beans, peas, cover crops including buckwheat, red clover and phacelia, millet, flax, and three different types of wheat. Although not certified, we are exercising as many rules of organic gardening as possible. Our gardening techniques include; composting all garden refuse, mulching with locally and biodynamically grown wheat straw, feeding the soil with slow release fertilizers like kelp, rock dust, and alfalfa meal, feeding plants with teas, and growing plants that can attract beneficial insects and deter problematic pests. We are utilizing companion planting methods, for example planting Brassicas with a mix of radish, tagetes, sage, and thyme, and are experimenting with row covers and plastic cloches. This year we are growing plants in guilds. A guild in our case is defined as a related group of plants that have similar growth habits and may be of benefit to each other. This planting method is useful to us because it facilitates annual crop rotation. Our guild names include; Goosefoot, Brassica, Squash, Roots and Greens, Nitrogen fixing, Tomato, and Wheat Field. The Local People and the Garden: Another very important aspect of the community garden is our weekly donations of good quality produce to charitable organizations in downtown Calgary. Once a week we donate fresh produce to The Alexandra Community Health Centre’s Spinz Around Program, which in turn donates it, through a bag program, to people in need who live in the neighborhood. Our produce is also taken to the Salvation Army – Centre of Hope once or twice a week for use in their kitchen, and we donate food to the Club House – a drop in centre for people with mental health issues. Over the years, Fort Calgary’s garden has donated thousands of pounds of nutritious food to communities in the immediate area – we believe this is regional food production and distribution at its best! In addition, Fort Calgary provides weekly garden work experience to people with barriers to employment and for those who are trying to reintegrate themselves into the workforce. People can volunteer their time to the Fort Calgary Community Garden and the site is open to the general public during hours of operation (usually daytime, Mon. to Fri.). Please come for a visit and see how the garden is growing. * In the Calgary Horticultural Society’s annual garden competition Fort Calgary Community Garden has won Best Community Garden 2004, 2005, and 2006 as well as Best Vegetable Garden in 2007
Vegetable and
Fruit Varieties Planted at Fort Calgary 2008
** indicates use in Calgary circa 1910 |
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