Garden News
Storks welcoming visitors to the garden at the west entrance.
Changes at the Garden for 2023
- Gardeners are expected to contribute 24 volunteer hours/year to help maintain the communal areas (this is replaces the requirement of attending 6 work parties).
- We are recommending attending a minimum of 4 work parties/year to achieve your annual volunteer hours, especially for new gardeners.
- Gardeners will submit their volunteer hours at the end of each month via Google Forms (a simple online document). At the end of each month you will receive a link to fill out your hours. In December we will review your hours for the year.
- Membership fees are on a sliding scale of $10-$30. Plot fees are still $15. If you are an individual gardener, your fees for the year will be a minimum of $25; for two gardeners and one plot the minimum is $35. It is up to each gardener to decide how much they can within that range.
If you have any questions, please email us!
New Fully Accessible Garden Plot
A garden plot was redesigned with shallow areas for wheelchair access and deeper wells for more soil in order to retain moisture. This garden plot design is the first of its kind, created by a gardener and funded by the City of Vancouver!
Interview on CBC about Cottonwood Community Garden - find it here!
Our volunteer and Board member Latty washing ripe cherries from her garden.
Plot Maintenance
City of Vancouver guidelines require that individual plots must be planted by May 25 and prepared for winter by November 1. Plots are checked by Cottonwood's plot/task team for compliance. In addition to the City guidelines, we have a garden policy which is part of the same inspection dates.
Garden policy states that paths between plots must be maintained as detailed below:
Garden plots must NOT be fully fenced off and must ensure clear sight lines. The goal is to create a community gardening together.
Trellises are permitted only for higher growing plants such as beans.
Please keep your plot and all sides of your plot free of invasive plants: this includes adjacent paths.
Invasive plants include goutweed, bindweed (morning glory), buttercups, lesser celandine (pilewort), dandelions, Himalayan blackberry, grasses that seed and spread.
All categories of weeds/green waste and sticks/branches can be disposed of in the variously marked bins in the compost area next to the driveway off Malkin Avenue.
It's important that your weeds don't flower/seed/spread into your neighbours' plot or become a problem for the entire garden. Please ask if you need help identifying invasive plants and weeds.
Suggestions for reducing weeds at plot edges + adjacent paths:
Wood-chip mulch can be put on the paths on the west and east sections of the garden, but NOT in the accessible area known as "the accessible/expansion garden".
Please do not use any wood-chips on any plot edges or paths anywhere in the accessible garden.
For weedy paths around plots in the accessible garden, weed them down to the bare ground, but please don't apply wood-chips.