Eco-Yards

Hello to all our friends on Facebook! We are currently looking for a new place to call our own - specifically, a new base site. We need somewhere with at least 4,000 square feet where we can safely store and access our tools, vehicles, materials, and plants. It should be in the Calgary region and if there is water/power/office space, all the better! If you know of anything please reach out and let us know, or share this post to drum up some interest. Thanks! Hope you are all enjoying the summer.

Our custom landscape designs are made to fit our clients' space and taste. They feature elegant, hardy, native and drought-tolerant plants that not only flourish in the Calgary summer (outdoor water restrictions or not) but will also survive our harsh winters.
http://www.eco-yards.com/design-and-insta llation/

We know that the sunshine and warmer weather has you itching to get out there and get your yard ready for spring, so we went ahead and posted our best tips and advice on our website! Go and take a look before you dive in! http://www.eco-yards.com/too-early-spring -cleanup-and-rain…/

The first tulips are poking through the leaf mulch in Laureen's yard. Finally, with the snow gone, Laureen and John will start this week meeting clients and doing designs for this season of landscaping projects. Contact us to bring the Eco-yards special touch to your landscaping project.

Sitting here reflecting on our great time at Calgary Seedy Saturday this past weekend.
It's inspiring to watch the grow-your-own food movement flourish in Calgary - including our own John and Laureen, who always buy the seeds for their own veggie gardens at Seedy Saturday straight from the seed growers! What a privilege. Generally speaking, locally grown and harvested seed grows plants better suited for regional conditions, and more resilient to disruptions (insects, drought..., etc). Saving your own seed, and buying from regional open-pollinated seed producers, is a simple yet tangible way to encourage ecologically healthy and unique spaces in our cities and countrysides.
The people who visited our booth were so enthusiastic about our approach to landscape and environmental design, which advocates for including food production (either annual or perennial) and resilient, locally-appropriate plant selection. We understand that every person, and every design context, is unique - therefore, we don't use a broad, one-size fits all approach; however, there is often a chance to mix some annual vegetables into your flower border, or to nest a raised bed in the back of a walkway, or best of all to integrate some perennial food-forest plant communities into your sanctuary. Whatever the case, we encourage clients to consider how they might engage with growing their own food on whatever scale they feel comfortable with. Laureen even bought her own mushroom growing kit and is excited to see how it goes - talk about fresh and local food with little effort or space required!
By far the best parts of the day were the times we spent meeting new friends, reconnecting with old associates, networking with peers and catching up with mentors like Ken and Pam (the founders of Bow Point Nursery Ltd. and old friends). These are the people who have pushed this movement forward in so many ways, and also helped nurture eco-yards into the great company it is today. Without this community, and our supportive clients, we would not have the chance to spread beauty and ecological diversity - so, thank you all for coming to speak with us, and for joining us in our journey to create a more beautiful and sustainable Calgary. All the best, and happy growing!
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Find us at Seedy Saturday this year! Stop by for a chat about how you can make your yard beautiful, bountiful, and more resilient to changing growing conditions. Hope to see you there!

John Bailey is our new Operations Manager. His first task this year is hiring new crew members.
John has worked for Eco-yards for 5 years, has a background in Permaculture, Urban Farming, and is currently completing his Master of Environmental Design degree.
John will help Eco-yards grow!
... For more details on his bio, go to http://www.eco-yards.com/about-us-2/
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Marda Loop Justice Film Festival justREEL FILM SERIES presents:
SEED: THE UNTOLD STORY
... 7:00PM TOMORROW Tuesday, May 9, 2017 River Park Church 3818 14a St SW Calgary, AB
Free Admission
Click here to view Trailer of "Seed: The Untold Story" SYNOPSIS: Few things on Earth are as miraculous and vital as seeds, worshiped and treasured since the dawn of humankind. SEED: The Untold Story follows passionate seed keepers protecting our 12,000 year-old food legacy. In the last century, 94% of our seed varieties have disappeared. As biotech chemical companies control the majority of our seeds, farmers, scientists, lawyers, and indigenous seed keepers fight a David and Goliath battle to defend the future of our food. In a harrowing and heartening story, these reluctant heroes rekindle a lost connection to our most treasured resource and revive a culture connected to seeds. SEED features Vandana Shiva, Dr. Jane Goodall, Andrew Kimbrell, Winona Laduke and Raj Patel.
http://www.seedthemovie.com/ CONVERSATION LEADER: Roy Beck of Sedgwick, Alberta’s Broadview Farms, is a horticulturalist who believes in preserving the past for a better future. Broadview Farms is also a strong proponent for seed saving and raising awareness of the loss of diversity with current practices. Working in research and development with a seed company, Roy has knowledge and firsthand experience in working with seed breeders, hand pollination tactics and how to avoid cross-pollination, how to clean and store the seed, and the genetic material encased within the seeds.
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On Earth Day, Eco-yards will have a table at the West Hillhurst event - a family-friendly afternoon from 2-5.
See http://www.westhillhurst.com/whca-events for more info.
Come and say hi!

Prairie Crocus have been blooming for over a week in Calgary wild meadows, just in time for Easter, thus another name for these lovelies is Pasque flower. I design and plant these in our Eco-yards for clients, usually near a doorway so clients are delighted in the early Spring. Often I pair it with primroses, shown here, which are also really early blooming happy spring flowers. Take a look at the beautiful plantings we have done for our clients at http://www.eco-yards.com/331-2/. We could delight you with flowers all season long too.

Wait to spring clean your garden beds for a few weeks.
Those leaves and debris are shelter for the beneficial ladybugs in your yard while the nights are still cold. Copy nature and leave them be for a while. You can safely pull back the mulch a bit from around bulbs and perennials if they are starting to bloom now.

Alberta Low Impact Development is looking for residential or other small-scale sites where they can demonstrate rain gardens, pervious pavement, downspout management, turf alternatives, native landscaping and other water-sensitive landscaping techniques, under two programs.
Both types of projects include funding for design and construction services.
RAIN GARDENS 4 RESILIENCE is a project of the ALIDP funded by the Watershed Resiliency and Restoration Program. If you would l...ike to nominate a site for a rain garden / downspout management project, visit https://alidp.org/our-work/rain-gardens-4 -resilience. Rain Gardens 4 Resilience projects need to be constructed in the 2017 growing season.
STREET 2 STREAM is a project of the ALIDP in partnership with Cows & Fish. Contact Kristina kwantola@cowsandfish.org to discuss your project opportunity. Street 2 Stream projects need to be completed by the end of May 2017, and may incorporate any water-sensitive landscape component, including riparian buffers and stream bioengineering at the property level.
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Seedy Saturday is tomorrow in Calgary: 10 -3 at the Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Centre. A great place to get your seeds for this year's garden. Some good workshops too. Eco-yards will be there - stop by and say hello! http://www.calgaryseedysaturday.ca

One more day until applications close for the jobs of Landscape Labourers and a Designer for the 2017 season and beyond with Eco-yards. Long term we are also looking for a Labourer who can work into being Operations Manager. Please spread the word. More info is at www.eco-yards.com/work-at-eco-yards/

Eco-yards is hiring for the 2017 season for Landscape Labourers and a Designer. Long term we are also looking for an Operations Manager. Please spread the word. More info is at www.eco-yards.com/work-at-eco-yards/

Here are some Fall gardening tips:
1. Trickle water your trees. Before the ground freezes or you need to put away your hoses, it is a good time now to trickle water your trees.
Put your hose on trickle and lay it at the dripline of the tree you want to water. Let it tun for an hour or two - I move it every 30 minutes or so all around the tree if I can. The dripline is the outer edge of the branches or leaves - where the rain would drip. this is where the most roots are that ...soak in water and nutrients.
I trickle watered my trees last weekend and am doing it again today.
This helps then stay hydrated and, if we have a dry Spring like last year in Calgary, really helps them.
2. Collect leaves for your compost. While folks are raking up their leaves it is a great time to collect bags of leaves to add to your compost over the winter or for next summer. I collect bags from the back alleys and prefer small leaves (like birch and mountain ash). I know there are leaf drop-off sites that would be easy to pick up leaves from and prefer back alleys because those leaves would be going to the landfill, not the City composting program.
Over the winter and next summer, if I add kitchen scraps to the compost, I can cover those with leaves - allowing the proper mix of fresh and dried ingredients for the compost.
Good to water your compost pile now too if it is dry. It should be just moist.
3. I leave my perennials with stalks on them now. That helps hold in snow which insulates the perennials over the winter. it also provides food for birds (seeds, flower heads) I cut off the dead stalks in the Spring.
4. I spread compost on my veggie garden once I have cleaned it out and just leave it on top, or maybe mix it in a bit with a garden fork.
Happy Fall! file:///Users/laureenrama/Library/Contain ers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Mail%20D ownloads/73EAF5AF-4FB4-4E9C-A475-3E278E1 387F8/IMG_3482.JPG
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Yum saskatoons! Saskatoon berries are starting to ripen in Calgary ravines and river valleys. We love planting these in clients' yards - the native variety is perfect for smaller spaces as it is tall and thin - cultivars are wider and shorter. Get out and enjoy these prairie delights (owner Laureen loves them!)!