One of my neighbours has an enormous apple tree practically dripping with fruit. The apples are apparently tart, and according to my neighbour, aren’t worth much. To me, those are pie apples just waiting to be exploited. I look at that tree and I see rows of pies, waiting to be baked. I asked my neighbour if I could take a few dozen when they were ready, and he practically begged me to. In his words, “that’s less I have to rake up and chuck in the compost”.

Since moving to the downtown area of New Westminster over three years ago, I had toyed with the idea of seed bombing one of the many derelict areas near the tracks or guerilla gardening in the unused parking lot across from our condo. The planter at Burger Heaven, however offered an ideal location given its proximity to our apartment and generous size. Motivated by an interest in urban farming projects in cities across North America and a promise to myself to be more action-oriented, I decided to indulge the itch to grow something and go for it. After a few e-mails to the owner of Burger Heaven and a couple of meetings, I began working on the garden.

Permaculture is a fascinating field of gardening expertise. By trying to replicate the natural systems of a wild environment within the garden, permaculture hopes to reduce or eliminate the need to add water, fertilizer and chemicals. If you’re interested in learning more about this holistic approach to gardening, you might want to check out the New Westminster Community Gardening Society’s upcoming presentation “Permaculture Principles and their Applications in an Urban Environment” with Jodi Peters, this Saturday, February 19 at Mary Mount Garden (121 East Columbia St.).

Welcome planting season by picking up some quality seedlings at the insanely popular New Westminster Horticultural Society Annual Plant Sale this Sunday, then follow with a garden-planning workshop on Thursday, courtesy of the New West Community Garden Society!

As gardeners across Metro Vancouver begin working in their gardens, there are some spring and summer visitors who are very interested in what they are doing. These visitors are the birds. Every summer, thousands of these little migrants fly up from the States and South America to breed in and around Vancouver. But as commercial and residential developments spring up in former bird habitat, some of these visitors will find it increasingly difficult to compete with invasive birds for the last remaining nest sites.

Last year I started the spring growing season by attending an annual meet and greet event for Plant a Row, Grow a Row, an international organization that had local hubs in many communities. In short, gardeners are asked to produce just a bit more than they otherwise would plant, and donate the surplus to the local food bank.

About a year ago, my friend Briana sent me a link to an interesting proposal. She knew I was an active bread baker (and still am, although my production has slowed with the hot summer months) and she felt I would be interested in the Urban Grains Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) for grain. The Vancouver Grain CSA started by Martin and Ayla Twigg is simple – spurned on by the ever-popular 100 Mile Diet, Martin and Ayla researched, found, and planned a way to live in Vancouver and eat local …

The Garden Nerd series will look at gardening issues in New Westminster. Suggestions for topics, guest submissions, and questions are all welcome. We’ll try and address it all! You can find other posts, as they are added, by clicking here.
This past week I popped out to my favourite seed store, West Coast Seeds, and picked up 225,000 mixed seeds in a blend called “Pacific Northwest”. It contains a mix of 17 different annuals and perennials, and all of the plants are indigenious to BC and our zone. They are also …

 
This spring, Will ripped out the ivy covering the front slope of our yard, built a wooden retaining wall to contain the soil, trucked in some compost and rich soil, and together we seeded the whole thing with lettuce, beans, herbs, tomatoes, strawberries, artichokes, brussels sprouts and more. 
It looked terrible for the first month or so, while we waited for the weather to match our gardening ambitions. Impatient, we planted zucchini seedlings that withered in a frustratingly late frost and a border of bug-repelling marigolds that moped (but survived!) until …

The Garden Nerd series will look at gardening issues in New Westminster. Suggestions for topics, guest submissions, and questions are all welcome. We’ll try and address it all! You can find other posts, as they are added, by clicking here.
Today’s post is written by Jennifer Heron, aka The Bug Lady. After graduating from the University of British Columbia’s biology department, Jennifer’s affinity for insect and bugs lead her to pursue a graduate degree in entomology from the UBC department of Zoology. She is also the operator of The Bug Lab, here in New Westminster, and is …

The Garden Nerd series will look at gardening issues in New Westminster. Suggestions for topics, guest submissions, and questions are all welcome. We’ll try and address it all! You can find other posts, as they are added, by clicking here. Today’s post is written by regular contributor Jen Arbo. 
About four months ago, Ross and I murdered a houseplant through neglect, although truth be told the blame should really be placed on me for in our house, it is I who reigns as House Plant Caregiver while Ross rules the outside …

We’re kicking off a new series here at Tenth to the Fraser. The Garden Nerd series will look at gardening issues in New Westminster. Suggestions for topics, guest submissions, and questions are all welcome. We’ll try and address it all!  You can find other posts, as they are added, by clicking here. Today’s post is written by Ross Arbo, CHT. Ross spent 14 years as a landscaper on Vancouver’s West Side. He also happens to be married to Jen Arbo, a regular contributor, and occasionally authors posts over at the Arbolog.  
That Time of …