Hello Friends,
I thought I’d write a little blog about Westwood’s garden for your information & enjoyment. This first issue will be about what has been done last year & this year & what the plans are for the future.
So, last year & so far this year I weeded & cleaned out the flower beds, moved a lot of plants around & added some new plants. I’ve started to add some native plants this spring & will continue to do this in future years. I’ve put labels with them as well as the native plants that were already in the garden (for everyone’s information but mostly because my memory isn’t what it used to be). I found a source for the native plants at a farm just outside Stony Plain called Medieval Manor Gardens.
Dawn, the owner, offers a farm tour that I would love to take & I am hoping more Westwoodians and friends would join me.
Contact me & maybe we can arrange a tour this summer.
Dawn also offers workshops & guided trail hikes through the Rosenthal Woods and other areas in Parkland County with “Identification of wild edible and medicinal plants and wildlife, selective sustainable firewood gathering and more.” That sounds really interesting too. Check out the services & products tabs on her website.
The Lawn!
It seems to be more dandelions than grass this year. I suggested doing a one-off with the nasty herbicides but was voted down on that. Good thing too because I researched more and found out about clover lawns. With more research & advice from Jacqueline & Elaine (in the office) we opted for over-seeding the lawn with micro-clover. That will allow the grass, clover, & other ground covers like creeping Charlie & purslane that we already have to crowd out the dandelions. The over-seeding needs to happen in the spring & I thought we could have a dandelion digging party to get rid of the larger ones in the front lawn first.
Would pizza & vegan desserts be enough enticement for you to attend the party?
Many hands make light (and short) work!
This weekend Bruce and I are going to put a trellis up to cover the north end of the east porch. It is pretty messy looking there & hopefully it will look better from the street.
That’s it for my very first blog post. If you have any ideas, advice or concerns about the garden or this blog please don’t hesitate to contact me, Lindsay, at grounds@westwoodunitarian.ca
The next posts will be about vegetable gardening at Westwood, native plants, bees, and anything else I can think of.
Lindsay McWhirter, Garden Blog Author
Comments? Questions
Contact Lindsay: grounds@westwoodunitarian.ca
A few pics from the past. Stop by to see what’s new.
