One month closer or further away?

Funny how different the blue of the sky is in summer than in winter, eh? I'm eating crab apple jelly that reminds me of last fall - a perfect day with a long walk in the Arboretum sampling endless varieties of quasi-edible fruit. Some almost fermented and sweet, others bitter that I secretly thought were poisonous. The weather changing from warm to chilly and back. Sweater on, sweater off. All in Cinemascope colour.

Nice daydream. Back to the dead of winter.

Harvesting the beetles

Most of the gardeners at Sweet Willow live within close walking distance of the garden, so they can stop by often to see what's ripe. It's also convenient for keeping an eye on pests. Japanese beetles have been a problem for the last couple of years. They show up en masse in mid summer and start munching the leaves off of the bean plants - they'll take out a whole plant in a day! Since we garden organically, we've discovered that the best way to deal with these beetles is to hand pick them off of the plants in the cool early morning and drop them into a bucket of soapy water. In one day, we've harvested more than 100 beetles. After a few days, they seem to get the message and the stragglers move on. Here's a picture of the pesky critters, that I snapped on a wild rose bush next to the Corkstown Bridge. (I think it says something about my age that I have to correct the spelling of beetles every time I type it... beatles looks better).



Another huge problem is squirrels. The best tactic we've worked out is to cover the whole plot with netting in the spring and then carefully peel it off once the plants have grown sufficiently. They still get at the cherry tomatoes of course, and it's super annoying when they take bites out of the cucumbers. But I suppose we've got it easier than our suburban gardening friends who have to deal with all manners of creatures - raccoons, skunks, deer and rabbits for starters.

Micro gardening in a micro climate

Maybe it's why I like growing cherry tomatoes... tiny fruit in a tiny space. With the largest plot in the garden only 87 square feet, the Sweet Willow Garden's got nothing on the allotment gardens in Orleans or Kilborn. This is kitchen gardening for easy to hand tomatoes, herbs and salad greens. Not for us the rows of peppers, squash or strawberries, and forget about growing enough to preserve for the winter. Here's a map of the garden, just in case you don't believe me when I tell you how small the plots are.


The one special feature that gives this garden an extra edge is the extended growing season. There are two reasons for this. First, the planter boxes are only 18 inches deep, so there's less dirt to freeze over the winter. And since they're on the roof of a heated building, the thaw comes a lot sooner for us than for in-ground gardens. Second, the heating plant has a vent that blows warm air over the garden. Even if there's a snap freeze in late spring or fall, our plants tend to be safe from frost until the end of October or longer.

So we can plant a bit earlier and harvest longer. The lettuce tends to bolt in the front plots due to the excess heat, but the small plots at the back are great for a second crop. And chard, which is hardier and better for you, grows like a weed until the end of November!

The Where Of It

Trying to explain where to find the garden can be confusing. Where's the garden? On top of the heating plant. Where's the heating plant? Under the garden... and so on. So here's a google street view map from early last spring, before anything was planted.



The official address is 31 Rochester Street. It's between Primrose and Albert on the east side of the street. Most plots on the western side get some pretty good sunlight, but the small plots on the east side are shaded by buildings and trees. The front lawn is also fairly shady (blame the tree!!!!).

Here's a pic of my plot from mid-summer. What a difference, eh?



This block of Rochester is part of the Lebreton Flats. It's the southern edge of the area that was razed by the NCC in the 60's, and has some older buildings that were retained (like the buildings on either side of the garden) while others were torn down. In the late 70's, the NCC developed a plan for what was then called Phase 1 of the Lebreton Flats renewal.

A call went out asking for groups to develop small parcels of land. The offer was in large part taken up by co-ops and non-profit housing providers, who all built groups of rental townhomes or low rise multi-residential buildings for low and moderate income tenants/ co-op members. The community heating plant was built as a demonstration project by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Originally intended to provide heat and hot water to the whole area, it now heats 150 units from Tompkins Coop on Preston Street to CCOC's 5 storey apartment building at 170 Booth Street.

Dreaming of spring...

I'm whiling away the winter hours by working on gardening projects, such as this new-fangled blog. The intention is to provide a space to record the history of the garden, to help answer questions and show pretty pictures, and to distract me from the mounds of snow and minus 30 windchill.

Thinking about the garlic buds tucked in underground that I planted from this fall's crop helps too.