June Update on the "Duchy of DunDuff" Community Garden at Dundas West & Dufferin

Needs work. Can you help?

(actually located on Hickson Street near corner with Brock Ave, south of Dundas)

Still busy doing the solarization of the soil with black plastic to kill weeds and weed seed

Interest growing in a mural project, either with local school or community artist (still to be found!)

Aiming for "cheap & cheerful" first season planting: calendula, cosmos and sunflower seeds

(want to plant something colourful & quick; will save native perennials for after the mural project) hope to have a planting event late June; call 596-1495 x 30 if you 'd like to come!

Do you live near the Duchy of DunDuff? New Community Garden needs help!

"DunDuff" is what I have affectionately dubbed my neighbourhood, that of Dundas W. and Dufferin. If you come exploring, you'll discover the little enclave that orbits around Shirley Street Public School. One of the portals to this corner is at Brock Ave. and Hickson St.

Currently, on the upper side of Hickson at Brock, there is a narrow, bedraggled, abandoned .5 metre wide strip of land, fronting a cinderblock wall "ornamented" with graffiti. The perfect place to do a little neighbourhood beautification and spread the good green vibe!

One of the reasons I¹m motivated to do this is so that the many school children who walk by the spot every day will have something inspiring, beautiful and green to look at in this bricked-up, cement and asphalt area.

The owners of the wall, Kingston Plumbing and Building Supplies, have given the go-ahead. They've furnished important background info, telling me that in the past, they had tried to cheer things up by installing a trellis on the wall. But it was stolen the very first night!

This was my cue for the reno/planting plan: something very simple, that will not be a temptation to steal or vandalize. Use native plants that will not be an obvious target as "desirables" to steal. And of course, low maintenance!

So the idea I've come up with, for the first year, is this: a carpet of Canada anemone (rapid, hardy spreader, with long lasting early spring bloom that first appears as a dot of white, then swells up into a blossom) and Virginia creeper on the wall, to provide berries for birds and spectacular fall colour. A border of bricks to demarcate the strip from the sidewalk, to clearly establish it as a stewarded space.

Of course, I'm open to suggestion--so do give me a call if you've got pointers or would like to help. In future years, perhaps some tall grasses could be planted to further obscure the wall.

Work Plan

How You Can Help:

Artistic? Help with the design & production of a sign.

Photographer? Document our events.

Driver? Help deliver compost from one of the Councillor's environment days.

Virginia creeper overload? Any vine babies to donate?

Pine Tree Seedlings? To camouflage unsightly lamppost.

Brick donations?

Gardener? Help to lay down newspaper & compost base; and later to transplant & plant

All volunteers welcome!

Sarah Brierley
Work: 416-596-1495 x 30 or sarah@evergreen.ca