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Post by Sammyqc on May 8, 2008 20:47:45 GMT -5
A gardening message board, with anything else to do with living in our town.
Please join in. We gotta start somewhere.
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orion
New Member
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Post by orion on May 16, 2008 8:36:49 GMT -5
Hi Sammy, I found your blog and then found this link in it and thought I'd join in. I'm pretty new to both Aylmer (2 years) and gardening, but jumped right in with both feet last summer and intend to just keep on going. I'm trying to plant mostly native plants, with the ultimate goal of having my yard certified as backyard habitat by the Canadian Wildlife Federation (take that Mr. Golf Green lawn neighbour!) and I'm hoping to get into veggie gardening this summer as well.
I'm up in the Jardins Lavigne area, so we don't have nearly as much in the way of established trees and gardens as you in Wychwood, but I'm working on it!
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Post by Sammyqc on May 17, 2008 13:54:45 GMT -5
Hi Orion!
That's a really neat idea, to have your yard certified like that. Native plants are often overlooked in favor of flashier perennials and annuals, but there is a reason why they are native!
One of the things I like about Wychwood is all the trees. It's a very distinct area, and most of the streets are named after trees too. All the new developments seem so barren! It's really too bad the developers can't leave more mature trees up. I don't blame people for wanting to live in Aylmer, but I do blame the developers for destroying so much in their quest for the all mighty dollar.
Veggie gardening, jump right in! There's nothing like growing and eating your own food. A lot of plants are very easy and forgiving and you know where your food has been. We've got a ton of lettuce seed started, as we love salad and it doesn't take long from seed to salad bowl. Slugs can be a pain, but eggshells or diatomaceous earth can really deter them, as can a little bowl of beer. Slugs love to party, as long as there is beer!!
Anyway, glad to have you join in!
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beanz
New Member
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Post by beanz on Jun 30, 2008 13:26:15 GMT -5
Hi Sammy and Orion! I realize this post is older, however I figured since I just stumbled upon this today, that I'd go ahead and say hello anyway, can't hurt! I've lived in Aylmer for exactly one year now, and came across Sammy's blog several times over the last year (due to the total lack of websites for our area, everything I search on for Aylmer comes up in your blog, ha ha!) and I remember posting a comment about the surprising lack of gardening groups around here. I actually became a volunteer of a heritage garden in Ottawa, just so I could 'exercise' my newfound greenthumb. It's a shame we don't have something similar in our own city. (or if we do, that it's so hard to find out about!) Anyway, I started to get into gardening when we bought our first home in Hull. At the time (this was three years ago), I had never grown anything and could kill a houseplant just be looking at it. However, as I started reading, and planting and growing, I got totally hooked and now there's no going back! When we bought our home in Aylmer, I had hoped it'd be a bit sunnier than it is (turns out that pretty much everywhere I put a garden is shady). Orion, I love your idea about growing native plants in your garden!! I had also been looking at the CWF website in the winter and had resolved to try the same, but I fell prey to the flashy seed displays in the stores in February and bought all sorts of seeds from there instead (though few have survived all this rain/hail). There is a supplier of native plants/seeds in Gatineau - are you aware of it? I forget the name but could find it. Anyway, guess I'll stop talking for now, as I'm not sure if anyone is still even using this, but thanks Sammy for starting this up, it's nice to know there are others in my area with similar interests!
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Post by Sammyqc on Jul 3, 2008 15:31:48 GMT -5
Glad to have you join in!! I try to check the boards a few times a week, just in case there is anyone on! It's slow, but maybe eventually we'll get some more people on board! There are lots of perennials that will tolerate quite a fair amount of shade, but unfortunately not too many veggies! I thinks it's pretty funny how people find my blog! You'd think a city like Aylmer/Gatineau would be a bit more efficient getting info out to their citizens, but unfortunately not! I tried several times emailing, and actually called the city 311, to find out about community gardens, but no luck.
Apparently the food bank is the only community garden, and it is not open to the public, only to users of the food bank. I offered plants, volunteered to help out with advice and/or time, demonstrations/just general help, but no reply to any emails. So I figured they obviously didn't need it.
Kinda strange though, cause if you look at the city budget, there is supposed to be something like $100 000.00 for community gardens. Wonder where all that cash went?
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orion
New Member
Posts: 2
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Post by orion on Jul 21, 2008 15:40:14 GMT -5
Oy, this summer has been so much busier than I had intended and I never actually got around to planting much this year, veggie or not. We've been away so much and we spent the last weekend building a deck. I have been doing lots of weeding in our lawn though - we're in year 2 of an invasion of sow thistle. If we let it go, the whole lawn would be taken over. While I'm not a huge fan of lawns in general, this is not the stuff I want to have a yard full of - tall and prickly = yuck! I leave the clover and violets, but out comes the thistle!
Beanz, I didn't know there was a native plant supplier in the area - I would be interested in knowing the name, if you can remember it.
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Post by crystal on Nov 30, 2010 8:14:36 GMT -5
Hello everyone, Sammy Im going over a year now since I've moved to Aylmer from Nova Scotia and like the others when researching the area your blog inevitably came up :0).
Im not much of af flower/bush plant gardener but I do love to plant veggies and fruit bearing bushes. We moved to the Victer Beaudry area and unfortunately do not have much of a yard but Im making the most of it. It's amazing what you can plant in a 3 x 8 area as well as containers and little corners here and there. Ill be looking forward to all tips regarding growing as Im an impatient gardener (I know the worst kind) ...I lucked out last year even though I planted the first week in May and my garden turned out well. Well except the Carrots...i CAN never seem to get those darn things to grow well. I would like to get into early spring/late fall planting....But Ill need to figure out what to do to, build, i norder to accomplish this.
Im surprised at FEED Aylmer..I would think Volunteers would be greatly appreciated!
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