by David Hinks
Augusta Park is the place to be in July! Every Wednesday (and there are five this year!) from 6 to 8pm features music and food. Come and tour our greatly expanded garden. Our volunteers have been busy pulling weeds, hoeing and spreading straw and chips. The following photo gives a recent view.
The Augusta garden includes a collaborative community garden as well as individual allotment gardens for which there is absolutely no charge. If you would like to be involved with the garden please let Jeff at Mills Community Support know that you’re interested. Jeff can be reached at jmills@themills.on.ca . We are hoping that gardeners with individual beds will also join in and help with the collaborative community gardens.
The abundant rainfall of last week followed by very hot and humid weather has resulted in a virtual explosion in the growth of our garden plants. The following photos shows lovely lush beds of kale, chard, tomatoes and cucumbers at Augusta Park.
Vegetables are popping up all over town. The following photos show a planter on our main street full of vegetables and herbs and beds in the park beside the post office full of vegetables.
The Neighbourhood Tomato hosts a weekly ‘weed and learn’ session every Thursday evening through the growing season 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Join us at Augusta Park for a collaborative community gardening session as we share our knowledge, mentor new gardeners, weed our new garden and share some fellowship.
The Neighbourhood TomatoHeads are also partnering with TYPS to create intergenerational educational/hands-on gardening sessions Tuesday evenings at the TYPS garden behind the library from 6 to 8 pm. We have joined forces with several downtown gardeners to help develop additional garden space and are helping to provide gardening resources. This garden includes both individual and communal gardening opportunities.
As our gardens start to bear produce in abundance it is time to make sure that our community wins the “The Great Veggie Grow-Off”!!! The launch of the Veggie Grow-off took place May 1 in Augusta Park. The Neighbourhood Tomato Community Gardens in Mississippi Mills, and the Community Gardens at St.Gregory’s Next Door in Carleton Place, challenged the towns of Beckwith, Carleton Place, and Mississippi Mills to see which town can grow the most local produce for the Lanark County Food Bank in 2014.
All you have to do is bring your armfuls of produce to the Food Bank at 5 Allan Street in Carleton Place and make sure that it is weighed and credited to Mississippi Mills. The Food Bank is open Tuesday 9am to noon, Wednesday 7 to 9 in the evening, Thursday 9am to noon and Friday 9am to noon. Try to drop it off first thing in the morning if possible. I plan to harvest lots of greens from Augusta Park to deliver to the Food Bank on Tuesday mornings.
However gardening is not without its challenges! A thank you was recently received from a couple of deer thanking the Mills Community Support for thoughtfully providing their food in raised beds so that they don’t have to bend down.
