Hello Crown Point Gardeners,

I should be planting seeds but this newsletter/email is way overdue. There’s lots of information to share– I’ll try to chunk it into easily digestible pieces.

Pipeline Trail Gardens

For people who are not members of the CP Garden Club Facebook group… deciding on locations for the pollinator gardens is the task at hand. There is a pdf showing a variety of possible sites, and a SurveyMonkey online questionnaire that asks you to rate and rank each site. We want to discuss and (possibly) decide on the best locations at the Pipeline Trail committee meeting on Monday (at Perkins Ctr, 7 pm) so please take a moment to read the document and take the survey. If the weather clears up you could even scope out the sites in person. Here’s the pdf: <a href=”https://www.dropbox.com/s/dbja4277b2zmyew/pt_garden_site_options.pdf?dl=0″ target=”_blank”>site choices</a> (you don’t need an account– just close the pop ups) <br>and here’s the survey: <a href=”https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/862N5DM” target=”display”>open survey in new tab</a>

Important dates

Friday, May 1st @ 6:30 pm – meet behind Dairy Queen on London St for a quick clean-up of the trail, followed by cocktails on Ottawa St.
Saturday, June 6 is <span style=”color: red;”>PLANTING DAY on the Pipeline Trail.</span>

Plant Sale/Swap

You may have read the ad in the last issue of The Point. We’re having a plant swap/sale on Sunday May 17th, from noon to 3 pm. This is same day as Sherman Hub’s plant swap– Candy Venni is okay with us sharing the same day. People can visit both events for double the fun. I’ve volunteered our driveway at 114 Kensington North (just south of Roxborough).

From noon to 1 pm is for swappers only. Anyone who brings plants can come early, at noon, have first dibs and enjoy the best bargains. Here is how the swap works. People bring plants (divisions, tubers, or seedlings) properly potted and labeled. Our pricing team decides what each should sell for, and marks it accordingly. Usually nothing is over five dollars and most are one or two dollars. If you bring plants, though, you get HALF the value of your donations back as a credit for purchase of new plants. The other half goes to the Garden Club, to fund our yet-to-be-determined roster of fun summertime events. At 1 p.m. we open things up to people who didn’t bring plants– these people can shop at “full price”– which is still very inexpensive. Plus you get to talk to the person who grew the plant and get first-hand details on the colour and habit.

There are a few rules about UNwanted plants– no goutweed, for example– but otherwise you can bring your favourite garden extras to share– and bring home what doesn’t sell. Also, please pot your goodies well in advance. Don’t be doing a panic dig at 9 am and showing up with your poor sad divisions in plastic bags. Remember, we are selling these plants and they need to look healthy and cared for. If anyone needs help with potting, or you need pots to put them in, please let me know and we can make the job less daunting.

Followup on Soil Seminar

The March 15 seminar at the ARCH/Perkins was well attended. Ajay did a brisk business giving away soil test kits and everyone enjoyed Jarah’s delicious baking. Okay, her kids did the baking. But it was delicious. Anyway, we collected $100 in “pay what you may” at the door. I forced Ajay to take $20 as a wee honorarium. $60 goes to The Point to pay for the display ad for the sale/swap, and $20 goes to me to pay CopyDog for the printing of our new promo bookmarks.

Soil Amendments

Based on our Facebook discussion a few weeks ago, it appears many of us are interested in purchasing bulk organic soil amendments such as alfalfa pellets, colloidal rock phosphate, greensand, and pelletized manure. I’ve tentatively marked Friday April 24 as Garden Stuff Road Trip Day. First off will be a trip to the farm supply place in Fulton (near Smithville) and then we’re off to the Bio-Ag distributor’s place in Princeton, between Brantford and Woodstock. The Wagleymobile can take one passenger. If more than one person wants to come along, we’ll need a larger vehicle. Any volunteers?

Native Plant Sale

On Saturday April 18 in the parking lot at the Royal Botanical Gardens (Main Centre) at 10 am. There is no charge to attend. Our friends at the Hamilton Naturalists Club and Environment Hamilton are organizing this so please try to get out and support their work to improve pollinator habitat in the city. This would be a fun mini roadtrip. Would anyone like to carpool there?

Garden Book Sharing

Thinking about ways to share gardening book among the group. I have SOOOO many books and I’d like to spread them around. One option is to build a Little Free Library kiosk in the neighbourhood, just for gardening books. Another option would be a book sharing circle, like a lending library except you don’t need to actually return the book. You get to keep it until someone else wants it. There are online systems to run this kind of thing– allows us to see what books are available and who’s got them. Think about these ideas and we can discuss them at our…

NEXT MEETING!

Wednesday April 29. Sorry for the delay on setting this up. Based on the Doodle Poll it looks like Wednesday evenings work best for most people. So, mark your calendars for Wednesday April 29 at 7:30 pm at the Regional Indian Centre (Ottawa north of Main, east side) in the main floor board room. I’ve not confirmed this location yet, but unless you hear otherwise, that’s where we’ll meet.

That’s all for now. Hope to see you at the Pipeline Trail meeting on Monday.

Yours in gardening,

Bev Wagar