Way back in the depths of deepest winter I accepted a position with Fiskars Project Orange Thumb® as a member of the editorial board. Project Orange Thumb gives a financial lending hand to community gardens in the US and Canada and this year 30 gardens were slotted to each receive $3,500 in cash and tools.

As a member of the board my assignment was to carefully assess a stack of applications and help select the winning applicants. Choosing winners was no easy task as a great many of the groups presented inspiring ideas and amazing stories that could have a positive effect on their communities. A second part of my assignment was to check in with one of the community groups well into the growing season to see how their garden had developed since receiving the grant in the spring.

While reading through the applications, I was particularly drawn to the work of the Peterborough Community Garden Network located not far from me about 2 hours outside Toronto. What started off as a typical community garden in the network was transformed into the Urban Grain Seed Saving Garden, a garden space uniquely located on top of a parking garage that just happens to be perfect for growing unusual and heirloom grains on a small scale. All seeds grown in the garden are donated to the local community seed library to be planted and grown out the following year, and the garden also functions as a teaching space, offering urban dwellers the opportunity to share in the experience of grain growing, harvesting, and milling. I was very intrigued by this unique community gardening concept and spoke with organizer Jill Bishop to find out how the idea came about, what they’ve been up to this year so far, and where they plan to take the project in the future.

The Peterborough Community Garden Network’s Urban Grain Seed Saving Garden in early spring.

My Interview with Jillian Bishop of the Peterborough Community Garden Network Urban Grain Seed Project

Q: Can you tell me a little about the background of this project? Where did the idea come from?

A. The Urban Grain Seed Project emerged as a means of utilizing underused community garden space. There was a community garden that had been used for several years by staff members at the Ministry of Natural Resources. They were growing food to donate to local food programs. Last year, the garden group had lost some of its steam & decided to take a year or two off. In an effort to keep weeds from taking over, we planted some grains as an experiment. Joyously, they did quite well, and the potential to grow grains in unique, high profile and underused spots was realized.

This winter, we approached the group again about using the garden to plant a more formal Urban Grain Seed Garden and thanks to the support of Project Orange Thumb, we were able to make the project a reality. The project aims to plant a diversity of heirloom grains for the purpose of increasing the quality and quantity of locally grown grain seed available in our region. Seeds will be distributed next year via our Community Seed Library. We hope that they will be planted in sections of community gardens that might be abandoned or underutilized, and integrated into gardeners community and backyard plots. If we have an abundant harvest, we will also be milling some of the grains to bake bread and increase awareness and interest in growing grains in the city.

Because the site is on the roof of a parking garage, it provides perfect isolation for seed saving. In addition to grains, we will be growing some varieties of tomatoes, zucchini, beans and peppers that will be isolated properly. Because of this isolation, and uniqueness of the site (raised beds on the roof of a parking garage), it is a great place to host workshops that accurately demonstrate proper seed saving techniques and to inspire others to grow grains and other crops for seed saving in urban and unique locations.

Buckwheat and Arab Blue Barley late summer 2014.

Arab Blue Barley in the springtime.

Arab Blue Barley

Q. What crops are you growing?

A.

• Multi-Hued Quinoa (from seeds that were grown and saved from the same location last season)
• Purple Barley
• Arab Blue Barley
• Red Fife Wheat (an heirloom variety that has history and roots in the Kawarthas)
• Blue Tinged Ethiopian Wheat
• Buckwheat
• Turkey Craw Climbing Bean
• Lazy Housewife Bean
• Black Krim Tomato
• Cocozelle Zucchini
• Butternut Squash

Q. What challenges have you faced so far this season?

A. One challenge was that despite having pre-arranged use of the garden for the season in the winter, the group decided that they would indeed reconvene and wanted to grow some vegetables at the site for this year. We were able to work together to negotiate sharing the space, and actually provides a great opportunity to share seed saving techniques with a group of on-site interested gardeners. It was slightly challenging to convince them to grow only one type of cucurbit from each of the four families to prevent cross-pollination, but we were able to provide the seeds, so it worked out a-ok.

It is very hot & dry up there, but we installed drip irrigation on a timer and things are staying well-watered as a result.

The garden is only open to the public during business hours, but we have been able to work around that, and by hosting lunch and learn activities, we have been able to get lots of people out from the office, and other interested workshop participants.

Quinoa – Fall 2014

Quinoa ripening – Fall 2014

Q. What about critters? When we last spoke, you mentioned a problem with bunnies.

A. And yes, the bunnies are persistent! You would think that being on a rooftop (although it is built into a slope, so it is on ground level on one side) would prevent mass infestation, but it doesn’t. So, we have covered virtually everything in chicken wire and blood meal, and things seem to be growing quite well.

We had a gopher move in and trample quite a bit of the wheat and barley. He has since been humanely removed, and things seem to be recovering well.

Buckwheat – Spring 2015

Q. When it comes to seed saving, do you have any issues with isolation (preventing varieties from crossing)? How do you deal with that in a smaller, urban space?

A. The site is actually ideal for isolation because there are no large fields growing grain or any other gardens in the vicinity. We did need to plan the garden accordingly so that we planted things that would not cross with each other in the small space (i.e. just one variety of quinoa, one variety of cucurbit from each family). We also concentrated on self-pollinating varieties that require limited isolation (beans and tomatoes are separated by 15 feet).

Q. How did the Fiskars Project Orange Thumb grant help you get the season going? i.e. What did you use it for?

A. The tools were used to help weed, prepare and plant the gardens. We were able to invite a large group to help prepare the garden because we had a large collection of tools to be used.

We purchased:

– A storage bin was purchased to keep the tools in good condition.
– Harvest baskets to pick produce into.
– Drip hoses, timer and connectors to ensure that the garden stayed watered.
– Kindling to label all plants in the garden.
– Chicken wire and blood meal to deter bunnies.
– Stakes, twine and trellising to keep garden looking neat and organized.
– Screens and a grain mill to help thresh and clean grain when harvested and to experiment with making flour to get more people interested in growing their own grains.
– Jars to safely store seed once harvested.

Q. What are your plans for the grains and how does processing work? I’ve done some experimentation hand-processing amaranth that I grew and it was a nightmare to separate just a small jar’s worth!

A. We are looking to collect the majority of the harvest to be cleaned and stored as seed for replanting next season, but will be milling some of it to show people that they can grow and process their own flour, and get more people involved in growing their own grains on small or larger scales.

We have or will be purchasing more equipment to help thresh and clean grains communally. This will be done via hands-on workshops that help people develop the skills required and share equipment to ensure that grain is cleaned and stored properly for the winter, or can be used to process into flour.

Q. Do you have any plans for next year?

A. We would like to continue to expand this initiative throughout community gardens around town. Once we can establish a good collection of locally grown seed, and collect the equipment required to thresh, clean, store, and mill the grain than we will be able to encourage more community and backyard gardeners to integrate grain growing into their plots. It will be very valuable for suppressing weeds in abandoned plots and for diversifying the crops that people are growing in the city. I think that growing grains might help encourage a greater diversity of people involved in community gardens locally as well. The fact that they require less watering and weeding, and can produce an easily storable and multi- use product will be very appealing to people.

We would like to continue to use this site in particular because of the fact that it will grow seeds that are uniquely adapted to rooftop/raised bed/ urban conditions. By hosting hands-on workshops this season, we hope to have a group of gardeners experienced in growing, threshing and using grains that can in turn train a wider group of growers in coming seasons.

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To find out more about the Peterborough Community Garden or their Urban Grain Seed Project you can follow them online via: Twitter @PtboCommGardens | Facebook | Instagram @Urbantomatolady

All photos in this post are courtesy of Jillian Bishop.

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Disclosure: As mentioned above, I am on the Project Orange Thumb® editorial board for 2015, which is a paid position.