Tag Archive for: Gardening

Gardening: Integrating Native Plants Into Your Garden

Josh Thompson, owner of Plan Bee Native Plants, will talk about how to incorporate native plants into your existing garden. Native plants offer so many ecological benefits and are the wonderfully unique in every part of the world, including ours! Learn how best to incorporate native plants into your garden. You’ll help native pollinators and insects, and grow a beautiful garden that will thrive in our climate. Josh shares practical tips and ideas for increasing the native diversity in your own yard (or balcony!).

 

This presentation will be in person at the Main Branch or can be viewed online via Zoom. All registered participants will receive the Zoom link. Please note, the presentation will not be recorded.

Gardening: Balcony Gardening

Are you new to gardening? Have a small outdoor space and want to maximize your container garden? Join Winson Leung for terrific practical advice in setting up and growing an amazing balcony vegetable garden!

This workshop will be offered in-person at the Main Branch and livestreamed via Zoom. All registered attendees will receive the Zoom link. Please note that it will not be recorded.

Gardening: Seed Cleaning & Bulky Seed Exchange

If you grew seeds in your garden this summer, join us for a hands-on seed cleaning event to get your newly harvested seeds ready for storage (or donation to our seed library). We will be threshing, winnowing, screening and sorting seeds of all types. Bring your seed material from your garden to clean together and consider donating your extras to the seed library!

If you have large quantities of bulky seeds or have divided some bulbs and have some to share, bring them to the event in an informal sharing of your crops.

Meet outdoors in the parking lot at the Main Branch – weather dependent. If it’s pouring rain we’ll be inside in the Auditorium, but it may not be possible to do such messy work inside!

Bring seeds to clean, seeds and bulbs to share, and some small bags or envelopes to take new seeds home again.

Gardening: Seed Saving

Learn how to save seeds from your garden (to keep for next year or to donate to the NWPL Seed Library!) with gardening educator, Siri van Gruen. Learn the basics of the science of isolation, plant selection, ripening and harvesting techniques and save a bountiful crop of seeds for vegetables, herbs and flowers!

Bring your questions.

Program will be offered in person and will be streamed online via Zoom. All registrants will receive the Zoom link prior to the workshop.

Gardening: Plant Selection for Seed Savers

How do you select the plants you will save seeds from? How do you enhance positive traits and not inadvertently choose the worst ones? How do you keep track of all this information?

Join self-proclaimed dirt nerd, Freya Cirulis to figure out which plants you should save seeds from, how to track your garden from germination to harvest, and how to keep track of all this information year to year! You will even learn what you need to track to develop your own plant varieties! This will be a combination of talk and practical worksheets for you to use as you plan your own seed saving in the garden.

This event will be offered in person and online via Zoom, but will not be recorded.

All registrants will receive the Zoom link, as well as any distributed materials at the session.

Gardening: Pulses in the Urban Garden

Beans are a workhorse in the urban garden. Although balcony gardeners might be hard pressed to grow a winter’s worth of dried beans, beans’ nitrogen-fixing abilities mean they are an important addition to any garden, including pollinator gardens or container gardens! Learn about different varieties that will work in your setup, growing tips, and how to get the most out of your legumes with pulse and bean expert, Loki Wallace.

This program will be offered in person and be broadcast online via Zoom. All registered participants will receive the Zoom link a few days before the program. The program will not be recorded.

Gardening: GMO Seeds

Ever wonder what GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) really means? Are GMO seeds safe? How can we identify them? What do they mean for our food supply? What about the future of seeds? Siri van Gruen will tell us all about GMO seeds and what they mean for our home gardens and our systems of seed supply.

This event is offered in person and online via Zoom. All registrants will receive a Zoom link a few days before the session. The session will not be recorded.

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Gardening: Seedy Saturday

Calling all gardeners!

Indoor, outdoor, container, backyard – wherever you grow things, whatever your level of expertise, you’ll find something of interest at the New Westminster Seedy Saturday!

Join us for a morning of garden-focused activities:

  • Let kids get their hands in the dirt and Plant Some Seeds with Gardens4Kids
  • Stock up on seeds from our seed cabinet or check out the Seed Swap Tables (bring seeds you’d like to share with others!)
  • Bring your burning garden questions to the Ask a Gardener Booth
  • Get some pots to plant your seedlings in or clean out a garden shed and donate to the Garden Tool Swap
  • Learn about local gardening organizations at our information tables
  • Connect with other New West garden enthusiasts

Big thank you to our special partners: FarmFolk CityFolk, Gardens4Kids, BC Eco Seed Coop

The event will be in various locations at the Main Branch. Seeds are available at the seed cabinet on the main floor, kids’ activities in the kids’ area, Ask a Gardener will be upstairs in the iConnect Lab, and seed and tool swap in the Ash Street Room (also upstairs).

Gardening: Native Bees of BC

Did you know that there are over 400 species of native bees in BC and that none of them make honey? Most of them are small, gentle insects that spend most of their life cycle in the ground. These superstar pollinators make your blueberries and tomatoes ripe and juicy and pollinate most of the flowers that beautify our wilderness, farms, and gardens.

Lori Weidenhammer, an artist, educator and a founding member of the Native Bee Society of British Columbia will present this workshop about native bees in BC and how you can help create a healthy ecosystem for them.

The event will be in person and streamed live via Zoom. All registered participants will receive the Zoom link.

Please note, the event will not be recorded.