by Kathleen Stewart, Rick Wierzbicki, Shari Pitka
At the time you read this, the very first Landscaping 101 session is just behind us, and I hope you came with many questions for our ELM coordinator. If you missed this event, stay tuned for future sessions addressing issues related to gardening in Edgemont! In addition, if you are comfortable browsing the internet, why not navigate to the City of Calgary website sections dealing with tree care and gardening in our city. Search for “Tree-care and Education” and you will find a wealth of information on items such as what trees grow well in Calgary, tree pruning basics, tree pests, etc. There are some reference guides that you can download as well as online learning modules about various tree related topics. In the spring of 2021, the city hosted some workshops on topics like “Pruning Basics” and “Pest and Disease”. Recordings of these workshops are posted online, as are PDFs of the slides used during the presentations. There is an abundance of free information here that you may want to check out. There is mention of workshops to be offered in 2023; however, there are no details at this point (February 2023). Please continue to check this area of the website for updates if you are interested.
If you are prepping your garden for spring and need some mulch to top things up, the East Calgary Landfill offers year-round free mulch. All you need to bring is a shovel, a tarp, a container, etc.; no appointment required! However, that is a different story if you want to benefit from the green cart compost freebie. At the time of writing, no dates were posted yet on the city website; however, you can go to the city website for updates on the “Green Cart Compost Give Away” and book a time to collect your free compost. This giveaway is very popular, so keep checking the city website for updates to book your timeslot.
By this time, the Winter Displays will have been removed in all likelihood and we are preparing the planters for our summer displays. We are reminding residents that absolutely nothing can be removed from the planters. Edgemont experienced a significant theft of reusable items from the winter displays. Yes, you read this correctly, residents are taking decorations from the planters which means that we need to spend money from the ELM budget to replace these items the next year. Decorations are stored and reused the next season. Please report any theft or damage to planters to [email protected]. Help us stop the theft from our planters!
If we have an early spring (one can always hope), you will probably see our new contractor, Foothills Landscaping, out catching up on some outstanding jobs and planting some of the generously donated perennials. That reminds me, please contact our ELM coordinator ASAP through [email protected] if you would like to donate some perennials this spring! You will be contacted regarding pickup, etc.
Happy spring!
