Vert-à-Go

This weekend is Gardenscape, Saskatoon’s annual horticulture trade show. As always, there will be a large number of booths (420 this year) dealing with all things green and growing, as well as nine feature gardens (including ones demonstrating water-conscious gardening and vertical gardening). The auction of all plants used in the show will be held at 6:30 on Sunday evening in the main theatre.

The feature speaker for 2009 is author, journalist and environmental activist Des Kennedy. He will be giving two talks daily, one on ‘Garden Artristry’ and another on ‘The Exquisite Artistry of Chinese Gardens’ (check the schedule for exact times). For those with a particular interest in food gardening, you may also want to check out the following talks and demonstrations:

Friday, 27 March (Speakers’ Theatre)

• 4pm Best Vegetables for Saskatchewan (Doug Waterer, U of S Plant Sciences)
• 6pm Fruits of Saskatchewan (Forrest Scharf, Provincial Fruit Specialist)
• 7pm Growing and Processing Herbs (Connie Kehler & Helga Halfinger/Helga’s Herbs, Herb Spice Association)

Saturday, March 28

Speakers’s Theatre

• 12 noon Drinking Your Garden: a primer on home wine making (Cedric Gillott, 2007 Gold Medalist, International Cider Competition)
  3pm Living Roof Tops (Goya Ngan, Saskatoon)
• 4pm The Buzz Around Bees Will Chalmers (Saskatoon Area Bee Club)
• 6pm Organic Gardening & Pesticide Alternatives (Patricia Hanbidge, Saskatoon School of Horticulture)

Demonstration Theatre (Hall D)

• 11am Growing and Using Edible Herbs (Fran Eldridge, Fran’s House of Herbs)
• 2pm Ask A Horticulture Expert (Spencer Early/Early’s Farm & Garden Centre, Rick Van Duyvendyk/Dutch Growers Garden Centre, Patricia Hanbidge/Saskatoon School of Horticulture. Vic Krahn, Lakeshore Garden Centre)

Sunday, March 29 (Speakers’ Theatre)

• 2pm Garden Insects: The Good, The Bad, and The (not necessarily) Ugly (Cedric Gillott, Professor Emeritus U of S Biology)

Get the full schedule here!

Gardenscape 2009

When: Friday 27 March (noon-10pm) , Saturday 28 March (10am-9pm), Sunday 29 March (11am-5pm)

Where: Prairieland Park Trade Centre, 503 Ruth Street West, Saskatoon  (Google map)

Cost: $8 ($12 for 2 days), Students 15 & under FREE, Butterflies & Blooms Exhibit $3

For more information: Gardenscape web site

Today, 22 March, is the United Nations’ World Water Day. This year’s theme deals with transboundary water–the lakes and rivers that cross political and geographical borders. This theme is a timely reminder that when it comes to water, we’re all in the same boat. We all need it every day, and we’re all vulnerable to the same problems that can affect our water supply: drought (as climate change reduces snowpack and rainfall) and contamination (by factories, transportation, agriculture, and individuals). We may live on a large and  (for now) seemingly abundant river here in Saskatoon, but that water has to travel a long way to get to us. What happens if and when something happens to the water supply upstream? Forget oil–it’s a water shortage that’s the real concern.

Most Canadians take clean and easily accessible drinking water for granted. But worldwide, 1 in 7 people do not have access to safe drinking water, and a child dies every 8 seconds from drinking contaminated water. It’s not just a problem in developing countries, however. No one is immune from the dangers of unclean water, as the deaths and illnesses in Walkerton and North Battleford tragically demonstrated. Last April there were nearly 1,900 “boil water” advisories in place in small communities across Canada. First Nations communities in particular are vulnerable to contaminated water supplies, due to environmental pollution and lack of proper treatment facilities.

Water supplies are also a giant concern. Although the earth is covered water, most of it is salty and only 1% of it is fit for drinking. Canada has a large share of the world’s fresh water, but we are also gluttons when it comes to water usage. The average Canadian uses an average of 329 litres of water per person per day, which is twice as much as Europeans. In Mozambique, the average person uses 1.3 litres of water per day–that’s less than one flush from a low-flow toilet. We seem to think that we can simply go on using as much as we like of it while dumping whatever we like into it (chemicals, fertilisers, animal waste, and other pollutants) and that it will just keep flowing, clean and pure, from the tap indefinitely. This is a profoundly deluded viewpoint, and it will come back to haunt future generations unless we smarten up and start treating water as the incredibly precious resource that it is.

Here are some links/petitions/events to help you learn more about the ‘hidden water’ you’re consuming, and which can also help you to reduce your water consumption:

• GOOD magazine’s illuminating table of typical daily water usage can show you exactly how you can cut your water footprint. Hint: pick chicken much more often than beef, and grains and vegetables much more often than meat.
• Waterfootprint.org can help you calculate your personal water footprint, and also features a product gallery showing how much water goes into what, complete with case studies.
• Inside The Bottle, a campaign against bottled water, is asking you to sign a petition today supporting public water systems in Canada and around the world. Pour yourself a glass and count yourself in as one of the many people who are choosing tap water over bottled, which is more expensive and uses far more energy and resources to produce.
• Core Neighbourhood Youth Co-op sells rain barrels–catching rain water for your garden can make a really satisfying dent in your summer water bill.
• Rethink that trip to Las Vegas–Lake Mead could be within a few years of going dry, which could literally leave Las Vegas high and dry (and Los Angeles too).
• Oxfam Saskatoon is showing two films on Tuesday, 24 March in honour of World Water Day–Sisters of the Planet and Refugees of the Blue Planet. These films will be shown from 2-4pm at the Neatby-Timlin Theatre (Arts 241) at the University of Saskatchewan.

photo by gabrielsond

Victoria Park area residents are being invited to a workshop on Tuesday, 7 April to help shape the future of the City Gardener’s site in the northwest corner of the park (the intersection of Ave H S and 16th St W).

The City Gardener’s site currently includes a community garden as well as a 100-year-old gardening shed that has been the subject of some controversy over the past few years–should the city attempt to repair the badly deteriorated heritage building, or demolish it?

At this workshop, residents will have an opportunity to discuss how heritage artefacts and a community garden can be incorporated in the future design of the park space. The workshop will start with a presentation by city staff, followed by group discussion and small group input as appropriate. Questions and discussion will be strongly encouraged!

The design for the City Gardener’s site is the first stage in the development process for the Victoria Park Master Plan, which should be completed later this year.

Program workshop for the City Gardener’s site

When: Tuesday 7 April, 7-9:30pm

Where: Royal Canadian Legion, 606 Spadina Crescent West, Saskatoon, SK (Google map)

For more information: Call Dylan Czarencki on 975-3342, news release

The Environmental Working Group has just released the 5th edition of its Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides. This handy cut-out-and-carry card lists which fruits and vegetables have the highest (and lowest) levels of pesticides so you can see at a glance when it’s most important to buy organically-grown produce and when the benefits of organic are less dramatic.

An EWG simulation of thousands of consumers eating high and low pesticide diets shows that people can lower their pesticide exposure by almost 80 percent by avoiding the top twelve most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating the least contaminated instead. Eating the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables will expose a person to about 10 pesticides per day, on average. Eating the 15 least contaminated will expose a person to less than 2 pesticides per day. (Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides)

Living in Saskatchewan, it’s much easier to find organic versions of some of the Dirty Dozen than others, especially if you prefer to buy more locally-grown produce. For instance:

• I don’t remember ever seeing organic BC peaches, nectarines,  pears, or cherries–I have seen Washington-grown ones at Safeway, but their taste was disappointing (I’ve eaten amazing organic soft fruit while in Washington, so freshness is obviously the issue, not inherent quality!). Most times, I would really rather eat something else entirely rather than risk spending a lot of money on imported out-of-season fruit that turns out to be sour or woody.
• Grandora Gardens (at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market) and other vendors sell bell peppers treated with biological controls during late-spring/summer/early-autumn. You can grow your own in the summer.
• It has become much easier to buy organically-grown strawberries in the supermarket–both Safeway and Extra Foods often have Driscoll’s organic berries for sale during the spring and summer (imported from California). Local u-pick strawberries are not organically grown and although they certainly try to minimise chemical application, I am unsure about the level of pesticides involved. It’s pretty easy to grow your own–they are perennials and like all berries, taste a thousand times better picked straight off the plant.
• Organically-grown celery is easily found at (most/selected branches) Safeway, Sobey’s, and Extra Foods–let me know if you have trouble tracking it down.
• I’ve not seen organically-grown kale, but suspect it would be available at Dad’s–this is not really something I ever buy as there are so many other options for locally-grown greens (buy grow, freeze, or sprout your own year-round).
• Lettuce, again, is available from Grandora Gardens and other farmers’ market vendors in season. It is also ridiculously easy to grow your own from early May-September.
• Chilean grapes are often treated with up to 17 different pesticides. If you can’t find organic ones, US-grown grapes use fewer pesticides.
• Organically-grown carrots are available in grocery stores, but the ones from the farmers’ market are far superior in taste. I don’t know if conventional Saskatchewan carrot growers need to use as many pesticides on their carrots as those grown further south–our drier climate and colder winters can help reduce the need for many fungicides/insecticides.

And as far as the Clean 15 goes?

1. I tend to buy onions either from the farmers’ market, but I have no qualms about buying conventional Manitoba-grown ones from the grocery store.
2. I don’t buy a lot of avocados but will likely continue to get the odd regular one from the grocery store.
3. I tend to buy fresh corn in season from the farmers’ market, and then conventionally-grown frozen.
4. I generally have a greater concern about whether pineapple (and other tropical fruit) is fair trade and what the working conditions are for the farm workers than whether it’s organic.
5. I’m not a huge mango fan!
6. I buy asparagus in season from the farmers’ market. I never buy it from South America as the food miles are just too appalling.
7. I buy fresh peas from the farmers’ market and am still trying to find a large-enough, sunny-enough patch to grow my own. Otherwise, frozen conventional.
8. Kiwi fruit gives me an anaphylactic reaction, so I never buy them! It is very high on the list of allergy-inducing fruit, so be careful before giving it to children or serving it to guests.
9. I buy cabbage from the farmers’ market is so fresh and delicious and economical, but good to know that the grocery store is an acceptable backup.
10. I have personally never figured out how to make eggplant edible, myself! I’ll happily eat someone else’s.
11. I don’t think I’ve ever bought a papaya!
12. I never buy watermelon out of the summer season because it comes so far and tastes so dreadful, but will feel more comfortable about buying it from the grocery store when I do (now, if I could just find a fool-proof method for choosing a good one! Any advice?).
13. Interesting that broccoli rates so highly. I would have thought it would have ranked much worse because of all the tiny flowers that are vulnerable to pests! I like to buy it locally when it’s in season because it’s so beautiful and fresh, and bought organic when it’s on sale. But I will feel much happier about picking up a bag of regularly-grown from the bargain bin in future!
14. Again, interesting that tomatoes rated so highly. I would have thought they’d be worse, although I suppose if they’re grown in a greenhouse, pests are not a huge problem. My main issue is that grocery store tomatoes taste vile, and conventionally-grown tomatoes can be vulnerable to salmonella due to bad growing practices. Avoiding pesticide residue is not the only reason to buy organic! I grow my own in the summer, and buy from Grandora/other farmers’ market vendors during late spring/summer/autumn. (it takes a *lot* of energy to heat a greenhouse in Saskatchewan, or even BC, in the winter–very possibly moreso than growing them in a hot southern field and trucking them north). Seasonality is my main consideration–I haven’t bought a fresh tomato for months (and yes, I am missing them A LOT).
15. Sweet potato is something else that I’d usually get at the regular grocery store.

Here are the lists of the best and the worst–you can get a printable version of the EWG Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides that you can put in your wallet here. Remember, avoiding pesticide residue is not the sole reason for buying organically grown produce–organic practices can help improve soil, reduce water usage, improve environmental conditions for animals, birds, and insects, and may (but certainly not always!) go hand in hand with better working conditions for farm workers. It often (but again, certainly not always) may have a lower risk of disease or contamination. Conversely, local conventionally-grown produce may in fact have a better environmental footprint than imported organic. But reducing pesticide exposure is a pretty major concern for most organic consumers, and so it pays to know exactly what you’re eating.

The Dirty Dozen (always buy organic)

1. peach
2. apple
3. bell pepper
4. celery
5. nectarine
6. strawberries
7. cherries
8. kale
9. lettuce
10. grapes–imported (this is a US guide, so this would mean non-US-grown grapes)
11. carrot
12. pear

The Clean 15 (lowest in pesticides)

1. onion
2. avocado
3. corn
4. pineapple
5. mango
6. asparagus
7. peas
8. kiwi
9. cabbage
10. eggplant
11. papaya
12. watermelon
13. broccoli
14. tomato
15. sweet potato

Donna Ziegler from the Canadian Cancer Society will give a talk about the connection between pesticides and cancer at the next Saskatchewan Environmental Society presentation next month.

Pesticide exposure may increase your risk of developing cancer. Most of the research has focused on occupational (workplace) exposure to pesticides, linking them to non-Hodgkin lymphoma and leukemia, as well as cancers of the prostate, kidney, brain, and lungs. But there is also evidence that children may be especially vulnerable to the harmful effects of these chemicals.  These chemicals appear in a wide variety of places for a wide variety of reasons, ranging from pest controls designed to reduce the threat of disease and safeguard the food supply, as well as those aimed solely at ornamental lawn or garden use. Many of the latter pesticides have recently been banned in a number of Canadian municipalities. This presentation will give you the facts and advice for reducing your exposure risk. 

Pesticides and cancer presentation (for the Saskatchewan Environmental Society)

When: Wednesday 11 March, 7pm

Where: Lower Auditorium, J S Wood Library, 1801 Lansdowne Avenue, Saskatoon, SK (Google map)

Admission: FREE

For more information: Saskatchewan Environmental Society, 665-1915

Me, I’m greedy about my yard waste. Whether it’s leaves, grass clippings, or the many and varied dead bits from the garden, I throw it all onto my compost heap or pile it onto my vegetable beds for mulch. It’s way too valuable to throw into the garbage, although a shocking percentage of Saskatoon’s garbage cans are filled to the brim with yard waste throughout the spring, summer, and fall. Throwing this organic matter into the landfill is a huge wasted opportunity to help build healthy soil, and also contributes to some of the most harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

If you aren’t able to compost your yard waste on your own property, check out the City of Saskatoon’s Leaves and Grass Collection program, which will expand this year to add 1,000 additional subscribers:

The program will be available to a limited number of subscribers in early May. Participants in the program will receive a green individual roll-out cart to collect their unbagged leaves, grass clippings and non-woody vegetation [ed: tree branches, etc, will NOT be picked up]. The carts will be emptied by City crews every two weeks from May to early November. A schedule of collection dates will be provided to participants in April.

To register, fill out the application form by 15 April. You can also get a form by calling 975-2486. The cost of the program is $40.

If you aren’t in the program but still want to take your yard waste elsewhere for composting, the City of Saskatoon also operates public composting sites starting in April. Unbagged grass clippings and leaves can be taken to the McOrmond Drive Compost Depot (approximately 0.5 km north of 8th Street, next to the off-leash dog area) and the Highway 7 Compost Depot (on the west side of the 11th Street junction) free of charge (watch for the signs).

But don’t forget that composting your own waste is the easiest option of all! For information on how to get started, see the Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Council’s informative compost resource pages. Your garden will thank you when you give it a dose of that lovely rich black compost!

Saskatoon Community Garden Network meeting

When: Monday 2 March, 7pm

Where: Core Neighbhourhood Youth Co-op, 905 20th Street W, Saskatoon, SK (Google map)

For more information: Saskatoon Community Garden Network Facebook group, dana@chep.org

Terroirs are “vibrant and innovative spaces that define the people who live there and reflect a marriage between traditions, culture and the natural environment.”

The Terroir Identity and Seduction Symposium (presented by the Assemblée communautaire fransaskoise (ACF) and its partner, the University of Regina’s Institut francais) plans to bring entrepreneurs, farmers, governments, researchers and consumers together reflect on the enormous potential of terroir development for Saskatchewan’s rural communities.

Symposium participants will attend Saskatchewan-focused workshops dealing with a variety of local themes (regional development, culture and food, organic/natural gardening, agri-tourism, project development, and slow food, among others). The weekend’s schedule also includes discussion panels, a local taste show and gala banquet (featuring La Raquette à Claquettes).

Terroir Identity and Seduction Symposium

When: 20-22 February

Where: Saskatoon Inn, 2002 Airport Drive, Saskatoon, SK (Google map)

COST: $20 (show only), $50 (banquet only), $100 individuals/$150 corporate (entire event)

For more information: Terroir Symposium web site, or call the ACF at 1-800-991-1912

Gardeners of all levels of experience are welcome to attend an informative day of gardening workshops at the University of Saskatchewan, offered as part of the Master Gardener program.

The morning begins with a presentation by Early’s Farm & Garden associates about their favorite plants and products, followed by a keynote address by author and horticulturalist Sara Williams, who will discuss hardy and underused grasses and ferns.

Following a buffet-style lunch, gardeners will attend a workshop of their choice:

• Color and Design in the Perennial Border (Sara Williams)
• Hypertufa Pots (Angie Skiba) This class is limited to 15 students, so register early
• Practical Organic Gardening (Paule Hjertaas, President of SNAP–Saskatchewan Network for Alternatives to Pesticides)

U of S Master Gardener program midterm break: Take a break From the cold

When: Saturday 21 February,  9am-4pm

Where: College of Agriculture building, 51 Campus Drive, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK (Google map)

COST: Registration fee $70 for a full day (includes lunch and refreshments). Half-day rate is $35 (lunch not included). Registration deadline is 18 February. To register, call (306) 966-5539.

For more information: Master Gardener program web site, call 966-5546 or email mastergardeners@usask.ca