Fairview Community Garden Meeting Minutes

Design Meeting

February 11, 2015

Overall Concept

- Concept of baseball diamond shape/feel

- Growth expansion of garden

- Wind

- Food forest – large and small trees, herbs, perennial vegetation – as wind block and food

production

Bed Options

- Raised beds

- Children’s bed

- Wheelchair accessible

- In between height ~waist height or little lower or ~16@

- Bed design in concept drawing are 4’x16’ (two 4’x8’ beds)

Shale/beds – dig out 3’ wide of shale to keep height but connect to soil?

- Need to think about shale going forward – scrape back or leave?

- Topography changes included in design?

Shape options

- Honeycomb shape – difficult to build

- Pie shape

- What is the motivation for different bed shapes/configuration ? aesthetic or functional or both

- Changing heights of beds

- Incorporate some non-raised beds, spiral herb beds?

- Keep radial theme

- Smaller groupings along radial pattern

- 4’x6’ beds to keep each one separate

- Adrian to create more detailed design using 1-2 different bed shapes and possibly a different

configuration depending on space and layout

Tool Shed

- What uses should it accommodate?

- Oversized to start for garden expansion

- Green roof?

- Rainwater catchment?

- Covered awning extending from shed with table/group area close by

- Drive through shed for wheelchair accessibility

- Vine covered pagola/arbour off shed or as separate structure

- Cottage style

- Shed area can be used for education

- Do we want a phase I shed and expand later – possibly a free/cheap shed from kijiji to start

- What do we want in the shed? How big?

- Small central locker for smaller tools?

- Think about shed permanence and location – possibly off to the side rather than centre

Compost

- Mostly adding to composting for first few years rather than extracting

- Only once a year or so adding compost to beds

- Compost should be near the shed for easy maintenance

Seating

- Include park benches, picnic tables

Food forest

- Width of forest ~8’-13’

- Phase 1 shrubs and low trees (that don’t shade phase II)

- <8’ height possibly a few 13’

- Spacing of tall trees allows for moving shade

- Support species at first eg. saltbrush

- Species we may want – goji, gooseberry, honeyberry, sour cherries, UofS cherries, mankings,

saskatoons, pear, plum, jostaberry, ben series of black currants, yellow and black raspberries

- Interpretive signage on a few of the interesting plants

- Could partner with CalHort and high school for pruning workshops

- Include some evergreens for winter use eg. grasses, nannyberry, buffaloberry, vacciniums

Backstop?

- vines – hops, grapes, hardy kiwi

- another food forest behind backstop?

Other elements to consider for now or future

- herb spirals

- bees

- school bed

- children’s elements

- vertical garden

Next meeting March 4th 7pm at Cravings. Adrian will have a draft design to review.