The month of the SLUG

April is the official "month of the slug" and the SLUGS program has been busy celebrating! Here are some photos of what we have been up to and a list of workshops and fieldtrips coming up.

During a workshop on greenhouses we rapidly constructed a small hoop greenhouse called a "cloche". The cloche will be used to start seedlings and later grow heat-loving veggies such peppers and eggplants. Building a cloche is incredibly easy and we had the whole thing built in under 15 mins!

Here we are at Spring Ridge Commons going for a tour of an urban food forest. The commons grows everything from mulberries to cherries, figs to seabuckthorn, willow for weaving and herbs for healing. It is an amazing place to learn from, eat from, and relax in. Check it out at the corner of Gladstone and Chambers in the heart of Fernwood.

After our tour of Spring Ridge, April Mallet and Ben Geselbracht of the Boys and Girls Club Metchosin farm led us in a workshop on Planning a Food Forest. Here we are trying out our garden designing skills as we plan out part of a food forest! On April 24th we will head out their site in Metchosin to plant the food forest we designed! 

 UPCOMING WORKSHOPS AND FIELDTRIPS...

Fieldtrip: Planting a Food Forest - Saturday, April 24^th

Last week we had the chance to research and design part of a food forest for the Metchosin Boys and Girls Club Farm. On this fieldtrip we’ll be heading out to Metchosin to plant the food forest we designed! It will be a super fun day of planning, planting, and potlucking. Bring your gumboots and a vegetarian dish to share.

Chickens in the City - Thursday, April 29^th

Ever wanted a pet that can give you food, eat your food scraps, pull your weeds, fertilize your soil, and hunt slugs in your garden? Well, chickens aren’t exactly pets but they are a great addition to an urban back yard! Come to the centre to meet local chicken expert Marilyn Soames and a few of her guest chickens for this introduction to keeping chickens in the city.

Gardening in Small Spaces - Thursday, May 6^th

Not everyone has a big yard to grow food in. For those of us with apartment balconies and small garden plots, making use of tiny areas can be tricky. In this workshop we’ll explore how to use small areas in the most effective way. We’ll cover indoor worm composting, growing food in pots, and making use of vertical space.

Food Forests and Tasty Trees  - Thursday, May 13^th

Geoff Johnson will be taking us on a tour of Spring Ridge Common to check out this amazing urban food forest. We’ll then wander down to his garden a few blocks away to learn about trees and shrubs that provide food, shelter, tools, mulch, and so much more.

Gardening for Market - Thursday, May 20^th

We’ll be taking a walk down to City Farm to join Angela Moran in her urban garden. She runs a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box program in the heart of the city and supplies our neighbourhood with delicious organic produce. Come on down to learn about ways to market produce and help Angela harvest produce for market.

Winter Veggie Gardening – Thursday, May 27^th

Did you know that we live in one of the few areas in Canada where we can grow food all year round? In this workshop we’ll look at how to plan and grow a winter vegetable garden.  We’ll sow some seeds and dream of the delicious food we’ll be eating next January.

Fieldtrip: Community Supported Agriculture Farm Tour – Saturday, May 29^th

Join us for a tour of a Saanich Organics farm to see a market garden in action! We’ll learn about the large box program they run that supplies dozens of households with healthy organic produce every week. We might even have the chance to help out and get our hands dirty!