Maple Community Garden

Today February 24th, 2015, CP has destroyed the Pine Street Community Garden located along West 6th Avenue between Burrard, Pine and Fir streets.

This garden is located just two blocks away from Maple Community Garden.

CP has the right of way along the Arbutus Corridor, and is removing these encroachments as part of their plan to reactivate the railway for storage and training (even though it was also announced that they are not planning to use this section of the track at this time).

Source: https://www.straight.com/blogra/397311/cp-rail-tears-pine-street-community-garden-vancouver-photos

Excerpt from CP website:

“Arbutus Corridor upgrades, Vancouver

Update: February 6, 2015-  On January 20, 2015, a judgment of the BC Supreme Court dismissed the city’s application to prevent CP from operating along the Arbutus corridor and continuing its work. After taking time to evaluate the court’s decision, CP is resuming steps for reactivating the corridor for rail operations.

Letters informing residents that CP will resume brush cutting and removal of encroachments on February 10, 2015 should arrive in mailboxes as early as February 6, 2015.”

Scroll down to the section on British Columbia, which also includes a link to the CP Letter To Residents being distributed: 

http://www.cpr.ca/en/community/living-near-the-railway/rail-projects-near-you

 

As of December 17, 2014 the BC Supreme Court hearing continues for the City of Vancouver’s civil claim with CP Rail.  The judge is expected to give his ruling in the case at a later date.

The Province:  December 17, 2014 

http://www.theprovince.com/lawyers+rail+cars+Arbutus+corridor+pose+major+safety+risks/10660623/story.html

The Province:  December 10, 2014

http://www.theprovince.com/City+seeks+block+storing+rail+cars+Arbutus+corridor/10454140/story.html

CP Rail has committed to cease all work on the Arbutus corridor until the City’s injunction application gets heard in court on December 9th, 2014.

Information from the City of Vancouver website: http://vancouver.ca/news-calendar/cp-rail-agrees-to-cease-work-on-arbutus-corridor.aspx

We have the go-ahead to plant garlic again after a years hiatus due to “Rust” problems. That plant disease is airborne and affects the Allium family (garlic, leeks & onions) as well as Hollyhocks and a few other perennials. We needed at least a year to try & eradicate this problem.

Planting Garlic….highlights from an article by Vancouver Sun’s Randy Shore who runs an excellent garden column on some Fridays.

#1 Buy good quality garlic at a garden centre (I like Red Russian variety but there are many interesting varieties), or at a farmers market, not at a grocery store!

#2 Garlic is a lime lover so your soil needs to be amended before planting with compost or mushroom manure, organic fertilizer (with a high nitrogen content) and a handful of dolomite lime. If leaves start to yellow in the spring, give the plants a dose of fish fertilizer.

#3 Break garlic cloves apart, being careful not to damage papery skins. Plant approx. 6″ apart and 4″ deep, with the pointed end up.

#4 Mulch the area with approx. 6″ of shredded leaves,ie run over dry leaves with a lawnmower or chop up in a large container with sharp hedge shears. This will keep winter rains from washing out nutrients and in summer will keep soil from drying out.

#5 Plant now, harvest next summer!

#1 Weed, deadhead and remove diseased plants from plots. Late tomato blight has hit the garden hard after the first rains. Please dispose of those plants in household garbage, not compost. This cleanup helps control the spread of disease and pests in the garden.
#2 Amend your soil with mushroom manure, compost or Sea Soil at this time and dig it in. Add a handful of lime as well or wait till spring.
#3 Plant spring bulbs if desired, with bonemeal in the hole before planting. Starting this fall we can plant garlic (now), leeks (spring) and onions, as our year has passed for not planting these crops due to Rust in the garden. Winter veggie plants can be put in now too: kale, winter flowering broccoli, some lettuces and radishes…Check West Coast Seeds Pamphlet re winter veggie planting (available free at garden centres)
#4 Some light pruning can be done to shrubs….currant bushes…cut long shoots back slightly and thin out crowded branches, cut down OLD canes of summer producing raspberries;  fall-bearing raspberries… cut down ALL canes in January; and some removal of older wood from blueberries . Rhubarb can be divided as well now that it is dying back back and the weather is cooler. Perennial plants can be divided too, Hosta, Sedums and Iris as well as other large perennial clumps, most will tolerate dividing now, before winter.
#5 Finish clipping edges around the plots and inside and outside the fence and clear up debris in those areas too, then you are all set for spring! Don’t forget to check your garden regularly, esp if you have produce to pick, do some weeding and keep up maintenance which is much less over winter. By doing a thorough fall cleanup, your garden will be ready for planting in the spring and the work not so overwhelming!

The City of Vancouver filed a notice of civil claim in B.C. Supreme Court today in a direct constitutional challenge to Canadian Pacific’s actions to clear its property along Arbutus Corridor.  See more at:

http://www.vancourier.com/news/city-of-vancouver-takes-cp-to-court-1.1413568#sthash.uinGNiIT.dpuf

The Arbutus Victory Garden website is an excellent resource for information regarding the CP situation. It provides latest news, links to media coverage and a copy of the August 17 letter to the city.

Maple Community Garden – Fall General Meeting

Date: Sunday, September 28, 2014

Time: 10:00am

Location: 2229 Maple Street (southwest corner of Maple St and W 6th Ave)

Agenda and previous general meeting minutes will be provided at the meeting.

Canadian Pacific Railway posted an update on its website on September 12th, announcing that they will resume work in the Corridor in the coming days following failed negotiations with the City of Vancouver:

http://www.cpr.ca/en/community/living-near-the-railway/rail-projects-near-you