Bob and I are rookie gardeners.  We’re only in our third year of having a veggie garden so we have lots to learn. 

A garden of green.

Powell River’s gardening community is very supportive and eager to offer tips and answer questions. One of the best ways to connect with Powell River gardeners is the Powell River Food Security Project’s annual Edible Garden Tour. 

It’s self-guided and it’s FREE!  Typically, there are five gardens in the morning, and five in the afternoon. 

One of my favourite tips from previous tours is to plant squash surrounded by rocks.  The idea is that the rocks will keep the squash off the soil (to prevent rot from uneven soil moisture) and retain solar heat which the squash absolutely go crazy for.  Bob and I implemented this tip last year and along with some super-duper goat manure, we now have a frightening amount of squash.  Happily, they keep.

Bounty from our wee garden.

What I gathered from this year’s Edible Garden Tour was really about optimizing space and resources.  One of my favourite gardens from this year’s tour was actually a first-year garden in a mobile home park.  With such limited space, a little creativity goes a long way and voilà! Where once there was not much of anything, now there are vegetables and fruit.  Even the small plot at the front of the home has been converted into an attractive West Coast-style herb garden.

Herbs, West Coast style, under the watchful eye of the Edible Garden Tour’s mascot.

Turf out, veggies in!

and again in a more mature garden in Westview where the entire front yard was bursting with shrubs and pollinators.  It gave us some great inspiration as our front yard could use a makeover.

Why just have a lawn when you can have this?

This is Nina’s garden and the back yard is also park-like, as the Edible Garden Tour guide states, “Among the cornucopia of food growing here are very large blueberry bushes, haskaps, and a multi-graft fruit tree with several varieties of plums and peach.” 

This peach tree pressed up against the house was a little outta control 21 years ago when Nina and her husband first moved here. Now it’s lush and bursting with fruit.

And then there’s her veggies!  For example, within the greenhouse resides several varieties of tomato, and some are a mystery as Nina likes to get her plants from different sources and it isn’t always certain what she’s getting.  Isn’t that part of the fun?!

Among many other crops, the Powell River Brain Injury Society’s urban garden boasted an impressive array of peppers in raised beds. The garden is part of the society’s “Innovative Outreach Through Nutrition, Cooking, and Gardening” project for people with acquired brain injuries.  It’s newly established and offers practical therapy for society members with a little whimsey thrown in for fun.

Fantasy among the strawberries.

A brick library with all your favourite titles.

Where chickens reign.

At a garden south of town, we learned more about espalier techniques.  We started applying this practice to our peach tree a couple years ago with excellent results.

Espalier to bear more fruit!

At the same garden, we learned how copper is kryptonite for slugs.

Copper barrier to keep the precious greens from the slugs.

Larger, working farms in Powell River Regional District were featured later in the tour and we witnessed how everything has a purpose in the larger scheme of things. Pigs, chickens, and especially bees, all have jobs.

Happy pigs!

Chickens are so cute! And considering Powell River city bylaws allow residents to keep a limited number of chickens and other livestock within city limits, anything’s possible!  Whaddya say, Bob?

Working hard at being chickens.