Gardening puts you on a continuous learning curve. At Transition Garden, we have been at it for over 25 years, and we still learn something new every year. Some of the new learnings some from nature’s surprises, and some learnings come from new things that we try to grow, or new techniques for growing the old favorites.

This year, nature produced what seemed like a long cool and wet spring. Many nighttime temperatures remained in the single digits (Celsius) and there was frequent rain well into mid-June. Those conditions are not good for plants which are susceptible to fungal diseases. For example, we noticed tomato blight coming on extra early in some of the greenhouse plants. Also, we experienced poor germination in planting outside, and even in our greenhouse seed trays due to the cool, cloudy weather, We had to adapt by using a Bordeaux (copper) mix on our tomatoes, and plant a second seeding of a number of crops after the soil warmed better.

Nevertheless, as we do every year, we tried a few new things. Firstly, we heard that you can 1. cook corn starch in water to make a thin gel, 2. after it cools, put it in a ziplock bag, 3. mix your carrot seeds in, 4. cut the corner off the bag and dispense the gel-seed mixture into a furrow much as you would as if decorating a cake, and 5. cover lightly with soil. The gel offers an easy way to get uniform seed dispersal, and helps the seeds stay hydrated.

We also are experimenting with barley as a small scale grain, using a new 5’x14′ garden bed. We decided on using a short-stalk, 6-row, hulless, cold hardy barley, which is similar to the varieties grown in Nepal, Tibet and similar regions. After doing our homework on seeding (depth, distance between seeds, etc.), we seeded the barley in furrows about 1/2 to 3/4″ deep. We got very poor germination. We did a second seeding – this time by spreading the seed on the surface, and gently raking it in. We got about the same poor results. Even though a germination test showed almost 100% germination rate, we are left scratching our heads, but we will try again next year.

Don’t get discouraged by setbacks of different kinds, be it a pest wiping out a crop, extreme weather or anything else. Take the long view – everything is a chance to learn. We can always adapt and plan for the next time.

We are well into our 2025 growing season at the Transition Gardens. Many of the crops were in the ground by late May, with planning already happening for second crop succession plantings. We’re been harvesting spinach, arugula, spring turnips, radishes, chives, kale, chard and leaf lettuce. The tomatoes and peppers are well on their way in three of our greenhouses.

The Transition Gardens can be described as a ‘Co-operative Teaching Centre Micro-farm.’ Co-operation is the key to our success – the gardens are managed co-operatively. We meet weekly, usually on a Friday morning. There are about twelve people on the active list, and five to eight of us gather each week to get the work done. We share the harvest at the end of the morning. Sometimes, we end with a potluck farm lunch.

The benefits of gardening in a neighbourhood, co-operative manner are many. Most of the Transition Co-op members have been coming regularly for years, as they are very dedicated to the gardens and the community it has built up. You could say that our garden community is as important as the fertile soil – each built up over years of careful nurturing. We learn from each other, with many managing gardens at home as well.

We continue to bring in new people. For example, Anna joined us as a garden intern for about 2 weeks. She is from New Zealand and traveling through Canada. It was important for her to take advantage of the learning opportunity. Later in June, we will have a student joining us from the local Bayview High School. She is interested in continuing her studies in environmental science, and would like to gain a strong knowledge of gardening before she goes to university.

Consider starting your own co-operative garden. It an start simply – invite the neighbours over to help expand or start your garden and share the knowledge and harvest along the way. You will be building community, and it will be a community with a strong sense of where good food comes from and how to grow it.

It is with a heavy heart that I learned that Don Duchene, Nexus Media, passed away in late March of this year at the age of 77.  Don was the inspirational influence and driving force behind the 12 half hour episode film series that created Transition Garden.  Even before his days at the National Film Board of Canada, Don loved doing documentary films.  I was approached by Don in 2017 about the idea of documenting what we were doing in these gardens as a means for others to learn gardening skills.  Together, we managed to find just enough funding to pull it off, and produced the series during the 2018 growing season.  The series aired on Bell Fibe TV1 during the 2019 season.

Don taught me the jargon of the film trade. Every time he would use some film jargon (‘looking at the rushes’, ‘b-roll’, ‘logging’, ‘speed,’ etc.), I would stop him and say ‘wait a minute, what does that mean.’  He was a patient, encouraging and a flexible mentor.  Through this work, Don caused countless folks to be inspired enough to learn to produce some of their own food through gardening.

Don’s energy and enthusiasm will be missed.

Bob Cervelli

 

I have been sorely remiss on posting over the past many months, but back at it.  To catch up, last year was an over the top bumper crop year.  We had great soil nutrition for starting the season, based a number of trailer loads of good compost and other soil amendments.  And the rain seemed to come in the right amounts and at the right time.

The 2024 season also brought us 20 students from the local Bayview high school, joining the regular 6 to 8 cooperative gardeners.  Everyone appreciated their enthusiasm and eagerness to learn.  Even their teachers pitched in to help.

In addition to gardening, we managed to rebuild some infrastructure, such as our pump house.  Repairs to some of the greenhouses were accomplished as well.

 

And of course, there were all the efforts to keep the 4-legged and 6-legged pests at bay.  Here’s a deer in broad daylight which somehow got through the electric fence!

It has been awhile since I posted to this Blog.  All has been well, and importantly the level of gardening in the Transition Garden has increased substantially this growing season.

The gardens are run co-operatively.  This means that 5 to 8 people show up on Friday mornings, which is our usual schedule.  We work all morning, sometimes share a farm lunch and everyone takes a portion of the day’s harvests.  With this level of effort, we are able to expand into new beds, sequentially plant new crops into the existing beds and take better care of the berry crops and fruit trees.  The co-operative model is different from the usual community garden model in which everyone gets their own small plot.  In the Transition Garden case, it is one big garden with everyone co-operatively working it and sharing the harvest.

It takes some effort to bring in people who would like to garden co-operatively.  We gave a talk at the local garden club, and 3 people joined that way.  Others found out through notices posted in some environmental organization newsletters, and others are just good local friends.

This last spring, we have been fortunate to have teams of  5 to 6 grade 10-11 students from the local high school join us each week along with at least one teacher.  They will be coming back again this fall.  A total of 21 students are coming here as part of community service work they need to fulfill prior to going on a school trip to Costa Rica to do mangrove restoration.

It is a true pleasure to see young students who are eager to learn about food production.  They come with different levels of prior experience, but there is always something to learn at any age, and any background.

The co-operative gardening model can work anywhere, even if you are only getting started in your back yard. Invite your friends or neighbours to help out, learn together and share the harvest.  Mutual learning and mutual friendships are the way to go.

 

 

 

 

 

Although it may seem like a lot of work, creating your very own backyard garden doesn’t require hours of backbreaking labor. In fact, it’s relatively easy to get one started, and it can be done by people from all walks of life, regardless of age or race.

However, all of this dedication comes with some health benefits, which you can use to help keep your family—and community—on the right dietary track. Here are some resources from Transition Garden and Transition Bay St Margarets that will help you and your family develop a nutritiously beneficial garden.

How to Start Your Own Backyard Garden

If you’ve never spent time growing plants or vegetables, starting your own garden may seem like an overwhelming, if not impossible, task. However, doing so isn’t nearly as difficult as you may imagine. That said, there are rules you need to follow to ensure your crop is a success.

• If you won’t eat it, don’t grow it. Common Sense Home suggests selecting vegetables your family actually likes. So, make sure everyone is on the same page in terms of what’s on the menu before you commit to growing anything.
• Make sure you have the right tools. As Garden Design explains, important tools to have ready in your shed include gloves, shears, and a hand trowel, though these three merely scratch the surface.
• Protect your garden. A fence surrounding your property could prevent critters from entering and eating from your garden.
• Don’t rule out an herb garden. Don’t have room for a full-blown veggie garden? No worries! Planning a small herb garden will provide plenty of ways to keep your recipes flavorful.

The Many Benefits of a Backyard Garden

Once your garden begins to sprout food, you’re good to go! But what are the benefits of growing your own food? Starting a garden can be a way to not only grow food for yourself and your family, but you can save money at the same time! Plus, growing plants is a form of self-care. You may be surprised what a difference a garden — even a small one — can make in your life.

• A garden improves your home. Your garden can be integrated into your home’s landscape, creating a more appealing home that improves its value. In fact, you might find that it increases your home’s appraisal value, too. Keep your receipts, especially if you invest in a greenhouse or raised garden beds, so you have them when you eventually decide to sell your home.
• Rein in your grocery budget. The more you grow in your garden, the less you’ll have to spend at the grocery store. Nationwide points out that a packet of seeds is less than what you’ll end up paying for a single vegetable—those numbers are definitely hard to ignore when you’re on a budget.
• Help your family develop a healthier diet. If you’ve grown concerned about your family’s eating habits, a backyard garden can help turn things around. What’s more, if you’re used to eating canned vegetables on occasion, you can incorporate those cooking techniques into your fresh inventory!
• Use it to keep everyone in shape. Yes, believe it or not, gardening can help you stay in shape. Although it won’t provide the same benefits as a full-blown workout, gardening can help in many beneficial ways, such as improving your dexterity, building muscle mass, and boosting bone density.

How a Community Benefits from Your Backyard Garden

Sure, your family will definitely benefit from this new garden. But did you know that growing vegetables can help the people in your community and neighborhood as well? Instead of trashing what your family doesn’t eat, consider spreading the love around.  Consider donating your extra harvests to your local food bank. And if you’re looking for inspiration, this article discusses four excellent community gardens that may help you discover your own passion for gardening. Here are some of the ways your new garden can benefit your community and those with food insecurity.

• Churches and food banks need support. These organizations help those less fortunate provide food for their families and loved ones. So, look into donating your surplus so you can assist those in need. You may even decide to start your own non-for-profit corporation to maximize your outreach. Research what it takes to form a nonprofit and make sure all the requirements are met and all the paperwork is filed properly.
• Cook some dishes for a senior in your community. Sadly, many seniors struggle to meet their nutritional needs on a daily basis. So, cook some healthy dishes for your homebound neighbors to provide them with a healthy balance of great food.
• Children can learn invaluable lessons. In addition to getting them out of the house, involving your children in your gardening and donating your surplus can be a great educational tool. To actually see how your backyard bounty helps a food-insecure family can instill in your children a sense of generosity and compassion.
• Grow your reach. If you hope to expand your reach, look beyond your current group of peers, friends, and family. Reach out to local restaurants, coffee shops and grocers.
• Start a community garden. If you are comfortable with having people on your property, consider starting a community or co-op garden where other people can plant their own foods and share their harvest.

Dig into Gardening!

While it may take some time to find your footing, you’ll soon discover that the hard work you put into your garden will produce many benefits, for both your family and the community. So, dig through these resources, gather your seeds and supplies, and jump in! You’ll soon experience the fruits (or vegetables!) of your labor.

Meet Dave, our local ring-necked pheasant.  He are his partner, Betti-Ann, roam the areas around Transition Garden looking for bugs and seeds.  Their diet is 100% local and provided to them courtesy of their local habitat.  You can say that they have a ‘zero-mile diet.’

In 2007, Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon published the book called “The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating,” describing their journey of one year eating only from food produced within 100 miles of their Vancouver home.

We are coming into a time when we need to get serious about where are food comes from – how far away.  Most big box stores provide little or no information on the source of food.  At best, you can ascertain the country of origin by the labels on some of the produce.  We have lost track of who grows our food.

When you produce food from your own garden, you not only know who grew it (you and your family), but also how it was grown and under what conditions.  You can have confidence in eating it and in knowing what it takes to grow more.  It’s also good to know your area farmers and buy products from them, whether through a CSA weekly box subscription or visits to them during harvest season to stock up on storage items for colder seasons.

At Transition Garden, we plan for production so that not only is there always something coming fresh out of the garden for salads and many recipes, but also for larger quantities of produce that can be frozen, canned, fermented or cold-stored.

I read an article recently about how farmers with large tractors and machinery are having trouble due the global shortage of computer chips.  Farm equipment manufacturers have halted shipments to dealers because they don’t have the chips to put in the equipment.  Almost every piece of farm equipment, like most everything else in our lives, needs a computer chips to operate.  The shortage could last for two years.

This is an example of the Achilles heel of the big-ag model practiced mostly in developed countries. The big-ag model is designed to require high levels of inputs – everything from hybrid or GMO seed, fertilizer, pesticides and of course diesel fuel to keep the machines running.  One kink in the supply chain for any one input and the whole system starts to fail – even something as simple as a computer chip.  The big-ad model, like many complex systems, is an inherently fragile system; but quite profitable for the companies controlling and selling the inputs to the farmers.  It was designed that way.

By contrast, local food production methods require few non-local inputs.  Even Prince Charles, in a recent Guardian article describes small scale family farms as the way to a sustainable regenerative future.  Local compost, green or animal manures, seed saving, organic pest control all require few inputs from outside commercial sources.  It was how agriculture got started in the early history of humanity and practiced for millennia.

There has been a lot of activity in the Transition Garden this week transplanting tomatoes and peppers into the greenhouses.  We build a poly-tunnel dedicated to the low determinate tomato variety Scotia, which is a time honoured heirloom.  Straw mulch will keep the tomatoes off the soil as they ripen to improve quality.

Lots of cherry tomatoes – the varieties Sweet Million and Golden Cherry – were planted out into one of the domes.  And, we put several types of sweet peppers (Ace and Fat ‘n Sassy) into the big lower greenhouse, where the red onions are coming along very well.

The orchard is in full bloom, making the bees very happy.  They have 3 apples, 2 pear and 1 cherry to chose from.

Finally, we are now harvesting chard, lettuce, arugula, radish, collards and rhubarb.

 

 

 

 

 

Last week Health Canada quietly announced its intent to cancel all remaining registrations of the neuro-toxic insecticide chlorpyrifos.  It is a broad spectrum insecticide in the organophosphate class. It is one of the most widely used insecticides in the world, and has been shown to cause brain damage to insects (the ‘target’), to birds, to mammals and is suspected to in humans.

It is our hope at Transition Garden that imidacloprid, a neonicotanoid, will be next on the banned list for Health Canada.  This is also one of the most widely used insecticides in the world and more toxic than chlorpyrifos.  Because of their known toxicity to bees, most pollinators, and pretty well all insects, birds and mammals, the ‘neonics’ has been banned in the EU since 2018.  The ‘neonics’ have been accused of causing the Silent Spring of our age (referring back to Rachel Carson’s famous book published in 1962 about DDT).

We added a second bee hive to our apiary last week, purchased from a local beekeeping and queen breeder.  They quickly got down to business in their new location after scouting the terrain for everything in bloom.  They caught the last of the peach blossoms and many other flowers, and are now starting in on the pear blossoms, which just bloomed yesterday.  We have two pear trees, an Anjou and a Bosc, which cross pollinate.  They are just starting to produce a serious harvest after taking 15 years to fully mature.

In addition, we are noticing lots of activity from bumble bees and several kinds of solitary bees. Each seems to prefer certain kinds of flowers depending on the length of their tongues and the depth of the nectar within the flower – pointing out to us how different species of flowers and pollinators co-evolved specific relationships with each other.

Organic growing creates a need for close observation of insect and plant interactions, and a need to add in book-learning about certain insect life cycles.  This helps us stay ahead of some of the insect and other kinds of pests.

For example, we planted bok choy in the wrong place this year, as the flea beetles quickly found it and ate holes in all the leaves.  They will be laying their eggs under the plants.  We will be moving plants that they love well away from the area of infestation for this year.

The same thing can happen with potatoes and the potato beetle, which lay bright orange eggs on the underside of potato leaves.  If they show up on potatoes one year, we move the location of the potatoes for the next year.  We have the advantage of two gardens (the ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ gardens) which are separated by 60 feet of forest.  Moving potatoes from one garden to the other usually evades those beetles.

We transplanted out three kinds of spring kale – Red Russian, Borecole (curly leaf) and Italian – next to the lower greenhouse.  We will need to keep an eye out for slugs!!  One of our favorite sayings is that “something wants everything,” and in Transition Garden we work to understand these relationships and work in ways that keep plants healthy and one step ahead of most of the predators.

 

 

When we started Transition Garden some 19 years ago, we asked the question:  what does it take to produce more than 50% of the food required to feed one or more families for the whole year?  What does it take experientially, not just estimating it on paper?  What is the work effort required?  What does it feel like in your bones?

Over those years, we’ve answered the question.  We built the garden one bed at a time, and slowly added things.  Once you have proper infrastructure in place, like a few small greenhouses, good soil in garden beds, a small orchard, vineyard, beehives, berry patches and compost bins, the work load is not as much as you would think.  It takes 15-20 hours per week – but it has to be consistent each week from March until October – with perhaps a bit more in the Spring and a bit more in the Fall to preserve the harvests.  That work can feed quite a number of people.

Consider your garden to be one of your grocery stores.  That’s an important thing to keep in mind.  After all – it’s YOUR grocery store, and you control what goes through your check out counter by deciding what to grow.  You can even add up the dollar value each time you come into the house with a basket of harvested goodies – it will be worth more than you realize!

Feeding ourselves works even better when we expand it into a community effort.  That’s the work in recent years with Transition Garden, as we broaden the gardens into a cooperative community effort.  Andre here is building a poly tunnel for tomatoes.  The tomato plants were started in the greenhouse back in early March, and will be set out into the poly tunnel in late May, providing them with continuous extra heat for good growth.  We hope to get at least 100 pounds of tomatoes out of this bed alone.

Eleanor and Justin have been busy cleaning and prepping other beds, and transplanting starters into those beds – onions, leeks, chard, kale, bok choy and radicchio – all cold hardy crops. We are also direct seeding radish, arugula, dill and cilantro at this time.

 

 

Early May – we are past the equinox and heading quickly to June 21st summer solstice.  the days are getting longer, with first daylight beginning at 5:30am.  The plants know it – transplants still in the greenhouse, transplants recently planted into the garden, newly emerging seedings, fruit trees, berry bushes and others.  It is time to get on with the business of growing!  Even though its still cool at night, with a risk of frost, the gathering day length and warmth signals an urgency of the season.

At Transition Garden, we are putting out cold hardy transplants, like peas, lettuce, chard, radicchio, spring turnips, onions, collards, kale, bok choy and others.  We are seeding radish, cilantro, dill, arugula, beets, parsnips and carrots into freshly prepared beds.  Potatoes went in almost 3 weeks ago, with more to follow.  Some of the earliest lettuce transplants, cold hardy leaf lettuces, will be ready to pick in another 1-2 weeks.  Our first radishes are only 2 weeks away as well.

The garlic is going gang-busters after pushing through the straw when there was still snow on the ground.  We will be foliar feeding it with a spray of sea weed emulsion for an extra boost, which will pay off with larger bulbs at harvest time.

And we are keeping an eye on the peach tree, trusting that the blossoms will make it through any late threats of frost.  I think the bees may be concerned as well, since they are all over them for the nectar and pollen.

An important aspect of gardening and farming is the need to stay intimately tuned to the cycles of nature.  As our society returns to this connection, and nurtures it as a teacher, the more we will learn the true meaning of sustainability.  And, not just sustainability, but of regeneration and renewal of all the forms of life around us.

 

At Transition Garden, we are hosting Eleanor, a Workaway.info worker for 12 days.  While taking a year off between her undergraduate degree and a Masters degree, she has decided that learning about food production is important for the future, and the career work she may be doing in architectural planning.  Like Eleanor, countless others are feeling the same way – knowing somewhere deep in their bones that getting your hands into the soil is an essential skill to know.  People are seeking out this learning, finding and listening to skilled teachers, and knowing they will in turn have to pass it on to others.

One of my favorite examples begins with Helen and Scott Nearing, who I consider some of the original back-to-the-landers when they left New York City in the 1930’s and went to farmstead in Vermont, and eventually in Maine.  One of their more popular books Living the Good Life: How to Live Simply and Sanely in a Troubled World describes their ability to live a simple yet productive lifestyle.  One of their students was Elliott Coleman, who learned deeply from their gardening techniques and went on to publish many books on his own.  One in particular, The New Organic Grower, turned many heads about the power of four season gardening.  Again, in turn, one of Elliott’s students, Jean-Martin Fortier, learned deeply and proved the small scale business viability of market farming in Quebec.  He published the best seller The Market Gardener: A Successful Grower’s Handbook for Small-Scale Organic Farming.

Learn deeply from the best teachers you can find, and know you will be passing these skills on into the future.  The future will need your advice.  Small scale community food production is an essential like skill, now and for the future of humanity.