Chasing Sunshine

Since the destruction of our community garden again, yesterday I bought a whole new army of plants AND backups (and then some!). Let the pathetic losers rip up my plants again, I'll be prepared. However, in the meantime, it means that I'll be chasing the traveling sliver of sunshine all over my balcony, since 99% of my garden requires full sun. Thank goodness I work from home - this feels like it could be a full time job, moving the large bunch of 'em around a few times a day.

Anyhow, as some of you may (or may not) have seen in the news, Saturday was a sad day for our little community garden. Although don't ask me why I was grinning like an idiot when they put the camera in my face. I almost look happy that our garden was trashed. Judith, on the other hand, who was interviewed before me, said she was doing all she could not to cry. I told her she should've... that would've really pulled at the viewers' heartstrings. I guess it made a good human interest story because it wasn't only on CHBC, but on Global news as well.

Yay!! Now the whole province gets to see me in my garden grubbies, sans makep! ;)  Oh well, it was only for 5 seconds anyway. At least I was looking more presentable when a lady from Castanet sneakily snapped my pic as I watered my garden on Sunday morning (below).

To share the story from my perspective, (not that it's really much of a story), late Friday night I had put a bed sheet over my garden to protect my wee plants from frost, as random patches of them had been killed off the night before. When I came down to help with the shed building on Saturday morning, as I approached the park, I noticed that the blanket wasn't on my garden anymore.

"Oh crap!" I thought. "Did my blanket fly away and into someone else's garden? Or did some asshole just steal it ?" As I got closer I noticed some flattened tomato cages, mangled fencing, ripped up gardening grids, and stomped plants.

"It's a sad day...", my gardening neighbour Linda said. I checked out my little patch. My grid was torn up, my two new strawberry plants were gone, as well as one of my frost-bitten tomato plants. Everything else was left in place. Sheesh... you'd think the vandals could've ripped up my other frost-bitten plants for me, y'know?

Over the next little while, more people gradually arrived, mourned the loss of their plants, commiserated together, and then moved on... because we have to. Although one or two people did show up, hopelessly threw up their hands and left. I patched their gardens up for them, once I was done with mine. I noticed one of them replanting on Sunday, so it's nice they didn't give up for good.

Oh well, I didn't mind making up another grid for myself as my pink ribbons were already fading. I was also able to locate and replant my two strawberry plants, and so far they seem to be surviving okay. I was surprised the losers didn't kick up my new coconut mulch path which I had recently laid. I've been getting a lot of compliments on it from my fellow gardeners. ;)

Actually, if you look at the photo below, you'll see the row of marigolds that separate my section of garden from my neighbour Flo. I'm growing a sunflower and nasturtium border... but it's still in the sprouting stage.

I thought I might follow the lead of other gardeners and make up a sign to mark our patch. I was thinking that "Mo and Flo"sounds cute. For those who don't know, Mo is a nickname I've had for as long as I can remember. I think it's how my sister use to pronounce Mel when she was a tater tot. A small handful of relatives still call me Mo, mainly my mom, my sister and my aunt. I used to hate it. (After all, it's one of the Stooges!) But it has grown on me... like a bad fungus. Ha.

Anyhow, next weekend our garden coordinator Sandy and another gardener are planning on camping out in the new shed to ensure the vandals don't come back. Of course, I don't expect they'll hit twice in as many weeks. So far it has been a bi-weekly event. I wonder if people will start taking shifts, so someone is camping out there all summer? I really think motion-detector lights and a video camera would be the best solution. I'd happily pitch in towards their purchase, and would almost want the vandals to come back, just to be caught on camera and get charged. That would be awesome and well worth the sacrifice of a few plants. Like I said, I have a ton of back-ups chasing sunshine on my balcony, and I'd be happy to share. ;)

Melodie Cliffe and Judith Van Oyen water in the community garden near Sutton Glen Park.

Garden trashed twice in two weeks

by Elisha Dacey - Story: 54739
May 24, 2010 / 5:00 am

A brand-new community garden in Glenmore has been the target of vandals - not once, but twice - in the past two weeks. 

The garden, which is only five weeks old, was systemically trashed on Friday night, says Central Okanagan Community Gardens co-ordinator Sandy James. 

"On Friday night (May 21), the vandals came in for the second time, and destroyed the garden," says James. "They ripped out all the plantings and chucked them everywhere, the tomato cages, they jumped on them and squashed them...they walked through the boxes and trampled everything in the boxes." 

James says the first time, which happened Friday May 7, the vandals actually picked up several of the smaller plot boxes and "tossed them about" the park. 

This time, instead of the boxes to wreck, they trashed the water pipes and broke taps leading to the garden. 

James says RCMP tell her that the garden was likely trashed by a gang of local kids who apparently hang out in the area and have vandalized other area parks. "Judging by the footprints, it's a lot of kids." 

The garden, which is located in Sutton Glen Park in Glenmore, is surrounded by condo and strata buildings, but no one appears to have seen or heard anything. 

"We're not discouraged," says James, noting the gardeners renting the plots simply came in Saturday and replanted. "We can see by the other inner cities that actually grow these community gardens that it reduces vandalism." 

James says the COCG has eight community gardens in Kelowna and this is the first time one of them has been targeted so thoroughly. 

In terms of security or prevention, there's not much the association or the police can do, says James, adding they're now worried about the new shed that was built at the park and the donated compost boxes. "We have asked the community foot patrol to patrol this park," says James. 

"We'll just persevere."