Engagement in our Community Garden

Welcome to the Rooftop Gardening Community!

16 plots, a green space, and a patio!  It is ours to enjoy and to take care of!

Personal Engagement

Everyone has different levels of engagement and that is how it should be!  So long as you meet the minimum requirements of involvement which include tending your plot and helping to keep the wilderness weeded, you decide how involved you want to be.

The Minimalist just wants a quiet, solitary experience, tending their garden and being at peace.  This member comes to the one mandatory meeting at the opening of the garden.  He or she fulfills the minimum common area maintenance tasks.

The Newbie has never grown food before and maybe even kills houseplants.  This gardener wants to experiment and learn about gardening by seeing what is happening in other gardens, asking questions of the garden coordinator or just other gardeners.  He or she comes to meetings where the topics are of particular interest.  He or she fulfills the minimum common area maintenance tasks.

The Socializer enjoys the balcony as an extension of his or her home.  This member enjoys relaxing on the lawn chairs, reading, chatting, or having a picnic dinner by the plot.  Notice how this person’s plot does so well, simply because it naturally gets seen to daily.  The socializer is also a good conduit of information.

The Environmentalist is particularly interested in biodiversity and enjoys fostering plants that help each other and help the pollinators.  This member is also interested in bee hotels, organic practices, and composting.  The Environmentalist attends meetings of interest and brings us lots of interesting and useful information.

The Wild One and the Environmentalist have a lot in common.  This gardener is interested in permaculture -- keeping lots of native plants and gently managing them in a natural organization.  

The Artist enjoys creating beauty in the garden or writing for our blog.  He or she comes to meetings of interest and often enjoys tending the flowers on the green roof wilderness.

The Compost Guru is completely smitten with the concept of composting and enjoys helping along the process of creating our own compost.

The Coordinator enjoys serving the group by facilitating the flow of information and finding answers to members’ questions.  The Coordinator attends almost all of the meetings and makes sure there is a meeting lead when she is away.  She communicates through one weekly email update and lots of blog posts.

First Donations Planted

We had our first donation of plants, today -- a whole cartful!  Marta and I gave our donor, Ann,  a tour of all the Beaver Barracks' gardens and enjoyed an iced tea, together. 

Since the plants arrived at noon on the hottest day of the summer, we waited until 5 pm to put them in the ground.   We decided to plant only where we could work in the shade, which meant that the compost "field" got planted.   There is a plantain path behind the planters, in front of the composter, and to the composter.  The rest is mainly wild violets!

Compost Field

The Wilderness

We had some plants left.  The plantain path behind the planters in the wilderness behind plots 6-9 was started, with a voilet patch and some oregano in the rest.  

I drew out a keyhole pattern in the wilderness that stretches around the roof anchor, figuring that maintenance should have easy access to it.  The keyhole itself will be a plantain patch;  it will also be much easier to tend to the plants around it.

Sharing Economy!

How amazing Ottawa is when it comes to green projects!  

We weeded the roof. 

Weeded Wilderness Behind the Communal Plot

We did research on plant selection and came up with a vision. 

We contacted gardening groups where we knew there were Transition Ottawa members -- and people who think like them.  

And now we are organizing road trips to actually get the plants -- for free!  We even have a donation of red wiggler worms for the compost!

Watch us transform this unkempt roof into an oasis for the pollinators and residents while being safe for the roof structure!

Compost Corner in Need of Trampable Plants!

Evelyn's Native Plants -- which has inspired us to make the whole darned thing native plants!

Succession Planting

Mother Nature really knows how to optimize the growing season.  Some plants start poking through even before the snow melts.  Others love to start off in the cold and die back in the heat.  Then, there is a whole new crop of plants starting off mid-summer and growing right through the fall.  Some plants even love the early frost. 

The most common myth about gardening is that we plant on the 24th of May and put the garden to bed on Labour Day.  By doing this, we miss out on about four months of growing and harvesting!  Succession planting -- sowing seeds every couple of weeks from April to September -- follows Mother Nature's example and allows us to increase the amount of food we get from our little gardens. 

Lettuce, a cold-weather crop, gets bitter once the heat of the summer hits.  It is July 7th, today and I just pulled out and composted the last of the lettuce.  It was a good run.  We had salad every day for six weeks without making trips to the grocery store or the farmer's market.  

Now, I am planting new crops.  Basil, for one.  The first basil plants started flowering, so I yanked them out, harvested the leaves, and composted the rest.  

To get ideas on what and when to plant, check out the links below.


Canadian Organic Gardeners

Johnny Seeds

Food Share

Rennee's Garden

Roots and Roofs

Having done the research on root depth and rooftops, it seems that a root depth has to be four inches or less in order to protect the rooftop membrane. 

I would love to have a temper tantrum and stomp my feet in protest, but alas, that wouldn't change the fact that two of my favourite plants have to go. 

Sunflower roots can potentially go from 2-9 feet.  I hope to transplant the volunteers we have growing on the roof to a ground level spot.   

Rhubarb roots can also go to 10 feet.   I plan on experimenting with putting the rhubarb in a container and seeing if it flourishes and even lasts through the harsh, Ottawa winter.  I am also scouting out some space on the ground.

Cucumber Beetles

I found one on a cucumber flower on my balcony!  I squished in and looked for more.

Cucumber Beetle.  There are also spotted ones with the same colours.  Striped beetles are more common in Ottawa. 

The good news:  There was only one.

The bad news:  There is no magic potion to organically get rid of them.

All insects have life cycles.  The adult won't be a problem all summer long, but if you don't deal with them now (late June, early July), their offspring are going to wreak havoc later in the season and be ready to rise up and attack next year's crop.

Why Cucumber Beetles are a Problem

• Adults eat the cucumber blossoms.
• The adults carry diseases to the plant.
• They lay eggs at the base of the stem.
• The larvae will severely weaken the plant by eating the roots. 

Solution

• Go out in the evening and inspect.  
• Squish the adults.
• Look for the red eggs at the base of the plant and under the leaves.  Remove the infected leaves and wipe off eggs from the stem. 
• Encourage spiders, a natural predator.
• Sprinkle chopped onion at the base of the plant. 
• Cucumber beetle traps are available, but not many sources seem to think they work. 
• Trellis them -- my plant is trellised, so maybe that is why I only saw one beetle.  

Cucumber beetles also like:  eggplants, any kind of melon, squash, corn. 

Resources: The Little Garden that Could

                  Gloucester Garden

Grasshoppers

There are LOTS of young grasshoppers in our garden and on the balconies.  If you have holes in your leaves, chances are it is the grasshoppers.

Grasshopper

Problem

• They have huge appetites and travel in large groups. 
• They are difficult to get rid of, the older they get. 
• They will lay eggs that will hatch in our gardens next spring. 

Solution

Prevention

Grow plants that repel the grasshoppers.  If everyone plants ONE of the following in his or her plot, they may just get the hint.

Calendula

Dill

Daisy

Cilantro

Peas

Killing Them!

In the early morning, when there is dew on the leaves: 

• Shake the bugs off your plants
• Dust the plants and grasshoppers with plain (not self-rising) white flour
• Gently rinse off the flour after two days

For more details, go to Pest Control Options: Grasshoppers.

In the Garden Room Apothecary, there is a shaker made from an old plastic peanut butter container for the flour.