2015 Fall Harvest & School Year Outlook

Students harvest plants from the garden

In September, students from the PW Garden Club came to the garden after school one day to harvest the plants that have been growing over the summer. This year some of the seeds didn't germinate, but those that did turned into big, beautiful plants.

This year the highlight of the harvest was the kohlrabi (pictured above). We planted these in the spring not really sure what kohlrabi was, and they turned out wonderful. After harvesting, Grade 11 student Lianne Campbell volunteered to make fritters out of the kohlrabi for club members to enjoy. We also tried some of it raw, and it reminded students of cabbage and broccoli, with a subtle spiciness to it. We also harvested some carrots and strawberries.

Several of our trees unfortunately appear to be diseased, with some sort of fungal infection. We will be looking into this more during the winter to see what we can do. If any of you reading this know of experts who would be willing to take a look at them, do let us know!

We've decided to forgo planting over the winter so we can focus on our other projects. This winter, we're going to focus on installing benches, tables and other outdoor furniture in the garden to complement the pathway completed in June. Students have been meeting regularly with PW teachers from art, woodworking, and metalworks to draft designs and make a plan — more details coming soon!

—William

Thank You to Our Student Volunteers and Financial Supporters

You may have noticed some changes that were made to the Prince of Wales Community Garden. The new pathway in the garden was recently completed in June, and it is stunning. The gravel footpaths provide a structure to the design of the garden, and the mulch accentuates the leafy layout of the garden beds. Previously, it was just grass and beds, so this new design is a bold and refreshingly beautiful update to the garden that not only improves the garden aesthetically, but will also be a springboard for future improvements, such as an amphitheater and picnic tables.

We’ve made some marvellous progress on the garden thanks to the work of many student volunteers, but no two people were more instrumental to the process than Hannah Madden-Krasnick and Stephanie Wu. These two spent countless hours poring over the plans and paperwork necessary to make this a reality. They applied for grants to finance this project, created a beautiful master plan for it, and made some crucial changes to the layout that will allow for the creation of an arresting school garden. Without the initiatives of these two, the garden wouldn’t be anywhere near the condition it is in today. In addition to spearheading the revamp of our school garden, they were also key members of many other facets of Prince of Wales, like the Student Council and Yearbook. We are certainly sad to see them leave, but wish them luck in their future endeavors.

Of course, we'd also like to thank those who made this all possible, financially. The City of Vancouver has generously given us a Green Grant of a thousand dollars to help finance this project. We would also like to thank the Kits Neighbourhood House for their ongoing support in giving us grants for projects like these, and appreciate their continued support for our next garden project this fall: getting more garden beds, and installing tables, benches, and mosaic tiling to improve the garden as a classroom. Finally, the PW PAC has also supported the garden over the years as well; we're very grateful for their contributions in many of our past projects, including the pathway, and hope they'll continue to support us in the years to come. This wouldn't have been possible without the support of the City of Vancouver, Kits Neighbourhood House, and PW PAC, as well as our student volunteers, and we look forward to bringing the redesigned garden to students this fall!

—William & Haske

Welcome: Year 2015-16

With the school year approaching, nothing could excite us more than the ability to maintain and expand on our shared passion: PW Community Garden. I am glad to announce that this year Haske Sumalia and William Li will be taking over the leadership of  the Garden!


Haske and William have been helping with the Garden for a few years now and are very familiar with the proceedings. We look forward to more exciting posts and photos from their end.

Cheers,
Sheida Naderi-Azad
Director, PW Community Garden

Youtube Promotion

And....We are famous! Former Director Sophia Vartanian has put up a video of our hard-working gardeners on youtube! Please check them out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSOrPt0C5hY


Cheers,
Sheida Naderi-Azad
Mentor, PW Community Garden

Garden's leaf-shaped design

We have successfully added mulch to the surroundings of the beds in our attempt to adhere to the leaf-shaped design as voted by the board of PW Community Garden. As well we have added gravel to produce the stem of the leaves, as well as a path for community members to walk through when observing or using the garden. This design as a whole allows the users to plant vegetables in an organised fashion, and to be able to move amongst the beds efficiently in spite of Vancouver's heavy rains!

Cheers

Sheida Naderi-Azad

Mentor, PW Community Garden

Summer Garden

The garden has expanded a lot in the past year. We have added more beds, devised a path and a design for the garden, and planted lots of delicious Summer vegetables! Below are a few shots depicting the outcome of our hard work. 

Cheers,
Sheida Naderi-Azad
Mentor, Prince of Wales Community Garden