2019 AGM Saturday – September 21st

Please join the Colwood Gardening Society in celebrating their second year of community gardening at our 2019 AGM (Annual General Meeting) at 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM on Saturday, September 21st at the Westside Bible Church. All are welcome.

If you aren’t a member yet, come and find out what we are all about!  Memberships will be available at the meeting. You must be a member to vote.

Learn about our exciting new plans for 2020. Find out about volunteer opportunities.

We are looking for the following board members:

  • Secretary (1)
  • Member at large (2)
  • Volunteer Coordinator (1)
  • Membership Secretary
  • Dunsmuir School Liason

Contact the Barb Sibbald, President at colwoodgardensociety@gmail.com if you would like to put your name forward.

View the 2019 AGM agenda. See you there!

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The Colwood Garden Society was created in 2014 and operates with the full support of the City of Colwood under a lease agreement. They graciously donated the land at Colwood City Hall. We are a not-for-profit, registered under the Societies Act of British Columbia

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Celebrate Garden Days BC with Us

Join us at the Colwood Community Gardens on Wednesday, June 19, 2019 for Garden Days BC!

Canada’s National Garden Day, celebrated June 15th this year, marks the launch of Garden Days B.C. 2019. Events take place across British Columbia from Saturday, June 15 to Sunday, June 23, 2019. Colwood Garden Society invites you to celebrate with us at the Colwood Community Garden, 3300 Wishart Road, in Colwood. Please join us and find out what community gardening is all about!


Garden Days BC - Colwood Community Garden Open House

And just in, the City of Colwood has graciously proclaimed Wednesday, June 19, 2019 as Official Colwood Community Garden Day in recognition of Garden Days British Columbia. Thank you Colwood and Mayor Rob Martin!

Garden Days BC - City of Colwood Proclamation - Wednesday, June 19, 2019 is designated Colwood Community Garden Day!

Garden Days BC is sponsored and organized by Gardens BC, and provincial spokesperson is Brian Minter. Find out about other 2019 Garden Days British Columbia events.

This is a kid-friendly, free event for both members and non-members. Interested in becoming a member of the Colwood Garden Society? Check out our membership page. Feel free to take photos or video, and if you are on social media, share widely, using the hashtag #GardenDaysBC.

Come out and see what your Community Gardens are up to, and all about!

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Garden Days is Canada’s coast to coast to coast, nine-day celebration of our National Garden Day, created by the Canadian Garden Council over 5 years ago, which is held annually on the Saturday before Father’s Day. This nine-day program of activities and events is for gardening enthusiasts, families, schools and tourists alike. Garden Days is an opportunity for Canadians to enjoy their own garden, visit or take part in their favourite garden experience, get inspired at their local garden centre or travel to a nearby destination to enjoy their favourite garden.

Read — Brian Minter: Garden Days should be celebrated all year in Canada

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Summer Bottle Drive

Hey Westshore, can you help us out?

Donate your used beverage containers and bottles to the Colwood Garden Society’s Summer Bottle Drive — every Saturday June 15 – August 3, 2019.

Our 4 annual bottle drives helps cover the basic operating costs of the garden society, donate produce to Living Edge Community, and build new garden plots — thus turning your used beverage containers into vegetables!

We’ll be glad to pick your used drink containers and bottles, simply email us with subject line: bottle drive, and one of our volunteers will arrange to pick them up at your door! 

Or, drop them off at 3186 Wishart Road on the 3rd SATURDAY of June or July 9:00 AM to noon only.

Thank you for your help!

Summer Bottle Drive

Discover others ways to help the Garden Society.

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New Sponsor – Island Junk Removal Solutions Ltd

We are pleased to announce Island Junk Removal Solutions Ltd has become an official sponsor of the Garden Society!

Hauling soil into the community garden and removing non-compostable waste, pots, pallets and other materials for recycling is a huge job for the Society — and it’s time consuming and costly. So, when Wes Roberts, owner of Island Junk Removal Solutions, Ltd approached us, wanting to help out, we were overwhelmed with gratitude.

Wes’ philosophy, as a new and growing Colwood business, is to pay it forward where he can, as others did for him. Working hard to donate, recycle, and otherwise divert waste from the landfill stream where possible, his goals of protecting the environment aligned with our organic vegetable garden creation, where none existed before.

Island Junk Solutions sponsorship details: Wes and his team have generously offered to pick up, at no cost to the society, garden waste, unused pots, and wooden items at the end of the growing season. These items will be composted and returned to the soil system and/or recycled. Furthermore, they will also haul soil or gravel for us, twice per year at the beginning of the growing season. Up to now, we have been hauling soil in plastic tubs or the back of a pickup truck when available.
Island Junk Solutions replaces our old method of soil hauling
Wes, thank you very much! We really appreciated your meaningful and valuable gesture. Be sure to stop by the gardens some time, we are sure we can spare a tomato or five!

Got some garden or yard waste that needs hauling away, contact Wes, he and his team will have it removed ensuring the bulk of the materials are eventually turned back into soil.

Have you considered donating or sponsoring the Garden Society? Check out our garden sponsorship page to find out how you can help us grow!

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Garden Update: May 2019

I love the month of May.  I love watching new life poke its head through the dirt and reach for the sun. Seeds and seedlings planted in April have now grown above the boxes in our community garden, and high stalks with so many shades of tasty green leaves have emerged.  Diversity abounds here, as members have planted their favourite fruits, vegetables, and even flowers.  Mmm, nothing tastes as good as fresh from the garden.

Here a list of some edible garden flowers:

Do you have a favourite recipe using flower blossoms?  Share it in the comments section below!

If you need another excuse for eating fresh from your own garden, according to Harvard University, fruits and vegetables start losing their nutrition right after picking.  Makes me wonder how much nutrition that spinach from California actually has left after a 3-day truck ride!  Or that garlic from China.  Who knows how long it takes to get that here.

Mason Bees

Have you seen our little black bees gathering pollen from the blossoms in the garden?  We have about 100 of them pollinating our plants.  Please treat them gently.  They are very benign.  Thanks to Graham Hickling for the donation of the bees and setting up their little houses.

Having Trouble Harvesting?

May 2019 has been cool, but I still I noticed some plots that haven’t been harvested in time, and, sadly, going to seed.  If you are having trouble getting to the garden, please let me know.   We donate produce weekly to the Living Edge Market, a free market-style food distribution centre in Langford that helps feed our marginalized neighbours.  I will gladly harvest some of your produce to take with me!  

Volunteer Opportunity

On that topic, are you interested in helping me out?  The task involves going to the garden to pick the fresh produce around 9:30 Friday morning, and dropping it off at the market at Langford.  Done in an hour!  I will be away some Fridays, and need someone to fill in.  (To instead help through sponsorship or to make a donation, see our donate and sponsor page.)

Upcoming Events

***NEW Join us at the community garden Wednesday, June 19, 2019 to celebrate Garden Days BC from 6-8:30 PM. Get a tour, learn about how we give back, and try some fresh lemongrass tea!  

Bottle Drive: ongoing – email us to collect your bottles.  Or bring them to the garden June 19 from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm! May 2019 was our best month yet, let’s see if we can beat it in June!

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Garden Update: April 10, 2019

It’s April and spring its coming, right?

So much to be thankful for this month!!  As I write this, the weather is dark and gloomy, with much-needed intermittent rain.  No complaints!  The sun has been so warm that many of us have been gardening in shorts and t-shirts.  But don’t get too excited!  Those tomato plants don’t go into the garden until late May, no matter what the sun says to you!

Here are some plants that can be planted now:

  • Lettuce
  • Beets
  • Cabbage
  • Corn salad (not corn stalks!  Corn Salad is a salad green)
  • Garlic (for fall harvest)
  • Kale and Collards
  • Leeks
  • Onions
  • Pac choi and choi sum
  • Parsnips
  • Peas – both snap and shelling
  • Radish 
  • Spinach

Plenty of yummy veggies to satisfy you planting urges!!

If you have room indoors, this is the time to start:

  • Asparagus
  • Broccoli
  • Cabbage
  • Cauliflower
  • Celery
  • Eggplant
  • Leeks
  • Peppers
  • Tomatoes

Be sure they have plenty of direct sunlight, or a grow lamp.

Note – this information came from West Coast Seeds Planting Chart, and can be found in their seed catalogue, free at GardenWorks.  And while you are at GardenWorks, don’t forget to tell them you are a Colwood Garden Society Member, (you may have to show them your card) and get 10% off!  Email meif you don’t have a card yet.  

Speaking of seeds, I have many, many seeds left over from the Plant and Seed Exchange.  If you are planning on planting any of the following, please let me know, and I will put them in a plastic bag and leave them for you at your garden plot.

  • Bush Beans
  • Snap Peas
  • Lattuga Lettuce
  • Borage
  • Carrots
  • Corn
  • Zucchini
  • Black Turtle drying beans

The Plant and Seed Exchange was a success, in spite of the last minute change of venue.  We were unable to put the tents up in the wild winds, so we held the plant and seed exchange in our garage, and Lynda Dowling kept us quite captivated with her easy, conversation-styled talk about starting gardens, soil enhancers, and best practices for planting seeds and plants.  I think someone took notes, so I will transcribe and add them to my next blog.

One last thing to add — our bottle drive brought in $69!!!!   Let’s keep saving those bottles!  We will have another one soon!  In the meantime, if you end up with too many, email me and we will arrange something.

Big news!  Watch for our new and improved website coming soon!!

All the Best

Barbara Sibbald                                                                 

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