Get Your Garden Growing!
Our friends at Highfield Regenerative Farm recently shared a few great events coming up aimed at helping Calgarians learn to grow food in our sometimes fickle climate. If you are an avid and experienced gardener, someone new to gardening, and not totally sure where to start, or consider yourself somewhere in the middle, these events are for everyone!
Calgary Seedy Saturday - March 25th
Seedy Saturday is an annual event with vendors, tables, displays, and presentations about seeds, seed saving, and gardening. Calgary Seedy Saturday is keeping the skill of growing from seed to seed alive in Calgary. As large commercial seed companies consolidate and only offer more hybrids and patented varieties, we are increasingly losing the regionally adapted collections that have developed in our unique prairie climate. There will be a variety of open-pollinated fruit, vegetable, flower, and grain seeds available for swap (bring your saved seeds!) or purchase.
This year’s Seedy Saturday is happening on Saturday, March 25, 2023, from 10am to 3pm at the Winston-Heights Mountview Community Association (520 27 Ave NE). This is a family-friendly, free, drop-in event.
Seed to Table by the Calgary Horticultural Society
Seed to Table is a low-input growing initiative that goes through each of the steps required in a gardening journey. The classes and resources in this initiative will help you to:
Become increasingly self-sufficient
Save money
Reduce waste
Sign up for any of these FREE online classes.
March classes are as follows:
MARCH 4: Kickstart Your Garden
MARCH 13: Planning your Kitchen Garden
MARCH 22: Community Garden Kitchen Table Talk
MARCH 26: Growing in a Greenhouse
Join the Calgary Seed Library
The Calgary Seed Library is a grassroots organization (pun intended!) created by a group of pals. Their dream is to form a community of growers who can borrow from our seed collection and return seeds from their harvest back to it.
A seed library is exactly like it sounds - members can borrow a wide variety of locally appropriate seeds, and return saved seeds from their own gardens to share with others.
Sign up for a free membership (it only takes a minute) and then start borrowing! Seeds are available to pick up/drop off in the basement of the Next Page Bookstore.
Volunteer at Highfield Farm
Highfield Farm is currently recruiting volunteers for the upcoming spring and summer growing season. If you are excited about taking a deep dive into urban farming and looking to be a part of a really vibrant and intentional community, this opportunity is for you!
In exchange for contributing meaningful work, Highfield seeks to provide volunteer opportunities that build tangible skills, offer leadership opportunities, and allow for exploration, experimentation and empowerment.
West Coast Seeds Regional Planting Guides
Knowing what to start when and which plants do best in our climate is an important part of successful growing. West Coast Seeds offers a plethora of regional planting guides for all of Canada’s unique and diverse habitats. Check them out and get your seeds started!
Happy Growing, Calgary!