We look forward to welcoming you back to our in-person meetings at our former location: the Ongwanada Resource Centre, at 191 Portsmouth Ave, Kingston.
Did you know our birthday was February 22? The March meeting is our first opportunity to get together and celebrate, and there will be cake and bubbles to toast our 125th anniversary!
Our speakers for the evening will be Daren and Vania Frame, owners of the Sticky Forks Apiary in Elginburg. They’ll share their wealth of knowledge and experience with Honey Bees and Honey Production.
Period costumes are optional but encouraged. Bring a friend or family member, the more the merrier! Download the invitation by clicking on the image below.
Admission is free to members of Gardening Kingston. The Guest fee is $3.00.
LOCATION
Our in-person Member’s Meetings will be held at:
Ongwanada Resource Centre 191 Portsmouth Avenue Kingston, Ontario K7M 8A6
Click on the map image below to link to the Google Map and a more detailed view of the surroundings.
Our February speaker will be Robert Pavlis, a Guelph-Wellington Master Gardener, educator, book author, and owner of Aspen Grove Gardens.
Japanese Gardens of North America and Europe
This talk will discuss basic design concepts of Japanese gardens and will use pictures from various Japanese and Chinese gardens in North America and Europe that have been visited by the presenter.
Join us on Zoom for our February 8th meeting at 7:00 PM.
Zoom link will be distributed with the newsletter.
Our January speaker will be Nancy Abra, a London Middlesex Master Gardener.
Plants ~ the Legacy; our Living Heritage
This presentation will cover how the legacy of plants extends back thousands of years. Nancy will also discuss how and why our heritage plants and gardens in Canada should be preserved to tell the story of our forefathers.
Join us on Zoom for our January 11th meeting at 7:00 PM.
Zoom link will be distributed to members via email.
Our December speaker will be Sheila Nemcsok, of Portsmouth Urban Foraging. Sheila will introduce us to the living pantry all around us and provide useful information for harvesting, storing and cooking our bounty. Local wild foods change throughout the seasons and provide not only free food but nutritious and delicious food.
Join us on Zoom for our December 14th Meeting at 7:00 PM. Have your notebook ready and be prepared to go for a walk the next morning for your first harvest. Foraging is not just a spring activity!
Zoom link will be distributed with the newsletter.
Stephen Gard is the new Executive Director at Loving Spoonful. His credentials include 25 years’ experience working in non-profit organizations with recognition as a Certified Association Executive in non-profit leadership. Gardening Kingston has long been a supporter of Loving Spoonful, especially in the Community Garden Network. We have invited Stephen to give us an overview of the full Loving Spoonful umbrella. Have a peek at their website – www.lovingspoonful.org…you will be amazed!
The location is fully accessible with ample free parking, and our meeting room is located on the ground floor.
Our Gardening Kingston banner will be located in the hallway outside of the meeting room, but hotel staff at reception will also be able to direct you.
Click on the map image below to link to the Google Map and a more detailed view of the surroundings.
Bring a plant, and get a different one in return. Bring two…get two. Any plant not chosen in a swap will then be available to other attendees. See complete instructions here.
Presentation by Cathy Christie, KASSI
“Be a Local Hero: Learn How to Grow, Save and Share Local Seeds”
“Our seeds are disappearing.
When seed varieties vanish from the marketplace, they evaporate not only from collective memory but also from the evolutionary story of the earth. Seeds are more like Bengal tigers than vinyl records, which can simply be remanufactured. Once gone, seeds cannot be resurrected.
Goodbye, cool seeds. Goodbye, history of civilization. Goodbye, food.
A seed makes itself. A seed doesn’t need a geneticist or hybridist or publicist or matchmaker. But it needs help. Sometimes it needs a moth or a wasp or a gust of wind. Sometimes it needs a farm and it needs a farmer. It needs a garden and a gardener.
It needs you.”*
Join us for an interactive hands-on session to learn how you can help build local climate-resilient, sustainable food systems by growing, saving and sharing local seeds.
Bring your own seeds to share and swap. Seeds – (including lots of tomato seeds) from the KASSI Living Seed Commons will be available by donation.
We look forward to seeing you there!
* (from The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food by Janisse Ray)
The location is fully accessible with ample free parking, and our meeting room is located on the ground floor.
Our Gardening Kingston banner will be located in the hallway outside of the meeting room, but hotel staff at reception will also be able to direct you.
Click on the map image below to link to the Google Map and a more detailed view of the surroundings.
This is the Gardening Kingston tagline. What does it mean to you? Come share your thoughts, grow your understanding about your club, and learn from your fellow gardeners.
Come share your plants, and the products of your labour. Arrive early, 6:30 pm, to enter your items in the flower show. Take a look as to the categories, the tags are available at the meeting, but bring your own vases. Enter in as many categories as you want. The more entries, the better likelihood to earn a prize! Everyone present will be asked to vote during the evening, including tasting the kitchen goods.
Even if you are not entering items in the show, please arrive early on September 14th, the meeting will start promptly at 7:00 p.m. NOTICE this new time! Same location as in the spring: Holiday Inn Express Kingston West at 205 Resource Road.
The Utilities Kingston Water Wise Garden is an award-winning garden and gives us an opportunity to learn how to save water, time, and money, by building a water wise garden that ‘makes every rain drop count’. It promotes messages on water conservation, organic gardening and compost, runoff pollution prevention, and more.
Tours are typically 30 minutes. It’s a great way to spend time outside and learn how to garden sustainably. Activities and crafts for small children are offered after the tour is completed.
If you are interested in taking a tour, please reach out to Eleanor at esimonetta@cityofkingston.ca to schedule a time or perhaps a recurring weekly slot for you and your group.
Come meet your fellow gardeners, representatives from gardening organizations in our area and also a few local businesses that can support your gardening activities. The Lemoine Point Native Plant Nursery, the Kingston Area Seed Systems Initiative, Glocca Mora Farms, Bear Root Gardens, Sticky Forks Apiary, and Urban Nature will outline their organization or business for a few minutes, and then you will be able to talk to them at their information table. During that time, you will also admire the entries for the flower show and vote for the “best in show” in each category!
On the other side of the room, you will be enticed to bid for lovely items donated for our silent auction (cash or cheque only). All proceeds from the auction will be donated to the Partners in Mission Foodbank. We have also arranged for a large bin to be brought to our meeting so that if you wish ,you could drop off a non-perishable item for the foodbank.
There will be treats, so skip dessert at home and join us for a fun evening!
One last thing: we can’t have a flower show if no one participates. Come as early as 6:30 PM to bring your contributions. See you there!
Gardening Kingston 