Snowing Again - May 23rd

The good news is that most of my plants fared well two days ago when it snowed. It warmed up later in the afternoon and provided a good watering.


The bad news is, it's snowing again! I can't believe it. The flurries started coming down just before supper this evening and I was scrambling around again to get everything covered up. I guess I picked a bad year to test getting a garden in early.

May 21, 2007 - Snowed about 3"

Woke up this morning to heavy wet snow and high winds. Scrambled around with my plastic and old sheets covering things up, and won't be able to assess the damage until tomorrow evening.

I guess that's why everyone says to wait until AFTER May long weekend. Although the lows of 0 (32F) on Thursday and Friday don't look any more promising.

Healthy Yards (Spring 2007)

A large part in starting this blog was to share some of my experiences in participating in the City of Calgary Healthy Yards Program. Please read on for a brief outline of the program and my progress so far.

A new environmentally-friendly approach to yard and garden care. It's good for the environment, easy to do, and can save you money too!

The Healthy Yards program helps homeowners create a more environmentally sustainable yard by combining the practices of composting, water conservation, responsible pest management, and grass cycling.

The Healthy Yards Program is FREE and limited to 200 participants each year with a two year program commitment.

So Here is a brief timeline of the 2007 Healthy Yards Program thus far:

March 9, 2007 - Applied online for the program. I suspect that this was rather late in the year and was quite surprised that I was selected for the 2007 program. So if you are interested, I would apply now.

March 19, 2007 - Introductory email announcing acceptance into the 2007 program, outlining program requirements, commitments, and orientation dates.

April 10 - May 12, 2007 - Orientation Sessions, 2.5 hours. This was an overview of the tools and techniques that you would apply in your effort to create a Healthy Yard. In addition, we picked up our rain barrels and composters. In the event that you take the train (like I did), or don't have the vehicle to drag these things home, the city will deliver. However, the Earth Machine Composter breaks down pretty small. With a little work, the rain barrel seemed to fit in the compact cars as well. The sessions were hosted at The City of Calgary Outdoor Resource Centre at 1111 Memorial Drive NW. That is the old brick firehall building off of the 10th street bridge in Kensington. Many of the information resources, pamphlets, and books that we are using in the program are available for the general public there.

Late April - installed rain barrel and composter.

May 3, 2007 - Got a heads up notice about free mulch at the East Calgary Landfill. This is available to the public, but participants get notified when a fresh load of mulch is available.

May 12, 2007 - Attended City of Calgary's Natural Areas Adopt-A-Park Program 2007 Plant exchange. This exchange is much more casual and laid-back then what I have read about the Calgary Horticultural Society exchange. The folks attending were limited to City of Calgary employees, volunteers, and Healthy Yards participants. The selection was good, I went there with a dozen Tiny Tim tomatoes that i started from seed and came home with a whole tray of established perrenials. Great Deal!

May 16, 2008 - Picked up free recycling bin from the Outdoor Resource Center.


We have only really been at it for a month now, and I am not sure that everyone is diving into it as I am. However, I would say that so far the program has been great. It has helped guide my decisions on how I will care for my established yard, while providing great insight into choices for future development.

Now this is only the beginning. The real challenge will come when my raspberries or cherry trees get attacked by some wee beasties and I need to find organic methods to get rid of them... I am going to test out some mechanical methods to take out weeds. We'll see how that goes. If that doesn't work, I'll take out the propane torch! Who knew that low impact yard care could be so fun?

Aerating

Last night was my first exercise in lawn aeration (I've added a good link from Virginia Tech as to the hows and whys, here is another from Bluebird). As far as I can tell, it was a success, but I guess we'll see later on in the spring.

My neighbor and I rented a unit from the local Rona and split the cost. Not a bad deal at $30 each. The unit we rented was a behemoth called the 742 from Bluebird International.

The rugged design of the 742 aerator provides low maintenance and outstanding durability for profitable operation. A 4HP Honda engine with a synchronized clutching system, allows for smooth starts. The free-wheeling outer tine system provides unparalleled maneuverability and removable side weights offer optimal soil penetration and balance for easier slope aeration.

Probably a little much for what we needed, but with the hard packed lawn, I think the extra weight did some good.

Total time to cover the small urban yard was about 30 mins, so it was not a problem getting it back to the store that evening.

A couple of Lessons Learned:
- Remove the weights before you try to lift the machine in and out out of your van.
- Keep the speed on low, especially in a small space, otherwise, you'll get dragged around and wreck your back and shoulders in the process.
- High speeds can cause collisions with raised beds.
- Aerate up slopes. You'll get deeper, even plugs (versus deeper down slope plugs and shallow up slope if you aerate accross).

Per our "Healthy Yards" education session, I raked the plugs and put them into the composter as my "browns". I will need to follow this up with a quick layer of compost and perhaps a little sand to add some much needed nutrients. The neighbor used chemical fertilizer right after, so I'll let you know how each lawn does...

Early Years - The Deck (Summer 2005)

Project #1: Build a deck.

Lesson One: Trying to dig holes before the fence goes up might be a good idea. Just don't bring a massive bobcat into the yard when it is saturated. This one was especially hard as I just spent many hours digging up the fire pit and re-sodding it.

Lesson Two: Four foot holes bring up a lot of clay. Clay that really packs down the lawn and kills the grass. The clay-Bobcat combination did more damage than Baxter (the dog) has done in three years of peeing.

Lesson 3: That's okay, the lawn wasn't that nice to begin with, so let's get this deck done and we'll worry about the rest later. Not really a good attitude in retrospect, but I wanted to get that deck done!

Here is a glimpse at my plans built in visio. I may throw out a future post on dealing with the City of Calgary for building permits, but for now... The entire process can be a bit tedious, but in the arena of deck building, if you are prepared and have well thought out plans, the city engineers are happy to make suggestions.

The Finished Product

The Beginning (Spring 2005)

As I am really starting out this effort in cataloging my acitivities relating to the City of Calgary Healthy Yards Program, I figure I should give you a bit of background to show you the yardly efforts leading to this point.

We moved back to Calgary in 2004, and bought a year old house in a new development. On the surface, it looked like the yard was in quite good shape, although it needed some work. However, a combination of a very windy micro-climate, very little top soil, and poor quality sod placed on top of hard packed glacial till made it rough going.

To exacerbate the situation, the existing fire pit didn't mesh well with small children, and I ruined any semblance of a smooth lawn surface my bringing a bobcat onto the lawn in June of 2005 during the rainy season.

These were some of the early challenges that I was to overcome...