Garden Share Bristol

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting this iris farm, smack in the middle of the city of Boulder, Colorado. Located near the intersection of Broadway and Iris (natch!), it is open to visitors for several weeks each spring (now through June 8th) when the iris are at their peak bloom. You are welcome to wander the grounds and enjoy the 103 year old farm site, dig your own iris, or order iris to have shipped to you in July or August. Check out their website here for more information.

Although the farm doesn’t seem to have as many fields in production as it used to (and that may just be my own perception), I still had a great time wandering the grounds with my camera. Patina was my watchword!

Enjoy the tour….

We had the SPEC open house yesterday and what a day it was! There was a great turnout of SPEC members, volunteers and community members. The weather was perfect for showing off the rooftop garden and our solar panels. The goal of the open house was to officially launch 'Growing Gardens - A Resource package on How to Start Your Own Community Garden'. This handbook was developed by UBC Geography students working in conjunction with SPEC.

The brains behind the 'Growing Gardens' manual.

Katherine Richardson, professor of Geography 447, presenting the manual.

All of the work done on the rooftop garden paid off. It looked great! Many, many thanks to our volunteers!

Solar panels and veggies make great companions. The veggies help to keep the panels a little cooler which makes them run better.

We have so many tomatoes! Perhaps we should use the solar cooker to make some tomato sauce when our harvest comes in.

Jess, a SPEC director, cooling off in the shade with Betsy Mae.

Rob, a SPEC director, giving a tour of our solar panels.

Another group for the rooftop tour.

Thanks to everyone for helping out with the open house. It was filled with wonderful people and great fun. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
Cheers, Tara

Many thanks to our little helpers - you did great!

The seeds from our first planting with the daycare have sprouted, and we look forward to seeing more green in the coming weeks. If anyone is able tomorrow MONDAY MAY 19, we will be meeting in the afternoon to prepare the bean teepes and finish our next square foot plot. We look forward to we will plant some peppers, basil, cucumber, and beans, On Friday with our other little friends from the daycare!

“It was as if someone had poured tons of coffee and milk into the ocean, then switched on a giant blender. Suddenly the shoreline north of Sydney were transformed into the Cappuccino Coast.
Scientists explain that the foam is created by impurities in the ocean, such as salts, chemicals, dead plants, decomposed fish and excretions from seaweed. All are churned up together by powerful currents which cause the water to form bubbles.”

I remembered seeing this some months ago and was able to Google the original story (click here for the complete article and more wild photos). Although my pond doesn’t have any decomposed fish or seaweed in it (aaaaak!), flowers, pollen and seeds from the adjacent maple and ash trees do contribute to the “junk” and particulates in the water. The abnormally windy weather we’ve experienced this spring (and increased fish activity, as Ayana suggested) may be the “whipping” factor that stirs up the foam.

Anyway, it’s been fun. Thanks for your comments!