Grounds Clean-up Postponed

Submitted by Yvonne Sabraw on behalf of the Grounds Committee

Hello Sunnyhill Members!

How can we have a Fall Clean-up this Saturday when it still feels like summer?

Continue to enjoy your gardens and yards, and we will reschedule the Fall Clean up. The tentative date is now Saturday, October 16th.

We have gotten some very helpful feedback about the timing for trimming hedges and this lovely time of year is NOT the time for that trimming, so there will be more details on that for the October Clean up.

Until then, please continue to store your brown compostable yard waste bags with leaves, grass clippings and branches at your unit, protected from the weather, until we have the big Post-cleanup pick-up for the City Landfill composting program.

See you in the sunshine this weekend!

Yvonne on behalf of Sunnyhill Grounds

Sunnyhill Housing Co-op 787 3 Street NW 403-270-8405

Sunnyhill Grounds Clean-up Day September 25

Submitted by Jaée on behalf of the Grounds Committee

Mark your calendars!

Sunnyhill Grounds Clean-up Day

Saturday, September 25th, 10:00-3:00

Time to do a final weeding, water our trees, sweep the pathways, get tree suckers snipped, and generally prepare for the changing seasons. Birds have finished nesting so this is the ideal time to trim hedges so they will be healthy next year.

There are common space tasks to work on together, and we encourage members to also take care of their yards at this time. Remember, members are responsible for trimming hedges on both sides of their yard fence.

We will have a pick-up of trees, branches, and leaves after the clean-up event to take yard waste to the City Compost, so now is the time to get all compostable waste into brown bags. Please store your bags in a weather-protected area by your unit until we identify and announce the pick-up location

Note: SOD IS NOT COMPOSTABLE, and COMPOST BAGS MUST BE FREE OF WEEDS AND GARBAGE. Weeds, garbage and sod go to the City landfill.

And - if you haven't checked out the shed for a while - there are new clippers and an electric hedge trimmer available to help you tackle unruly hedges. We also have a small wood chipper that can take branches up to 2" in diameter. It is only to be used once you have training, so bring branches out to the Clean up day on the 25th to be chipped.

See you on Saturday the 25th! In the case of really bad weather, we will postpone by a week.

Gardening Time and Updates from Grounds

Submitted by Cristian Badea-Hasa on behalf of the Grounds Committee

Start Gardening Time

Every time I say “spring” after mid-March, snow is there shortly. I put in place a protocol to avoid saying it. First step is replacing the capricious word with “gardening time”.

But, better, let’s start digging! Or, NO DIG, as it is the buzz in the last few years.

More than ten years ago, after many attempts to repair the lawn, I was inspired by a landscaping guy from Oregon. Covered everything with flyers and then mulch. After a while (few years, but gardening takes some patience) mycelium was there and, underneath the wet paper, wonderful, alive soil. Ready for gardening it was.

Yes-yes! But, poor grass ☹… What grass? It is no grass around! Is a mix of stupid genetically modified cereals with very short roots, which do not sequester the carbon dioxide back in the soil. It is a realtor’s marketing scam from about a hundred years ago.

Simply saying: weeds (let them grow and you’ll see).

Slowly gardeners realized that mulching around important plants will help with water retention in the area, obviously preventing some pests coming to the feast (slugs, bugs don’t like “stepping in mulch). Cooling the friendly plant in the summer and a good blanket during the winter. And, yes, fewer weeds.

BIG EVENT: Mulching At Sunnyhill 2021

A garden-size woodchipper was acquired by Grounds. Works fine for up to 1 ½-inch branches, sticks, dried stems. It will be available to book for use in the garage. Because it grinds things it will be locked and some brief training will be provided for safer use.

It’s not only that you get rid of branches but save some bucks for the coop garbage bill. Make some mulch for your use or simply compact the wooden materials for easier disposal.

Coop has large common areas and has lots of trees and bushes. We need lots of mulch and mulching and “mulchers” every gardening season.

TIME: Weekend of June 5th and 6th . Starting time 10 am.

WHO: Everybody is invited to give a hand (or two). Will be a lot of work, but plants will be happy, tidy, hydrated, and grateful.

If you are not into No Dig thing, please notice that any digging happens after calling 811 to locate the possible lines below ground level.

But if you care to see the promoter and teacher of NO DIG way (youtube channel) Charles Dowding, I am positive you will be hooked.

Other news worth mentioning:

Pest Control products are located in the - newly remodeled – shed. Hope you will do not need it, but, wasp spray is in there. If you are afraid or not sure how to use it please email Grounds.

One wheelbarrow is broken. Will purchase a replacement, most likely a lighter model using fiberglass.

Please join the Garden Club.

Next Grounds Committee meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 15 in the Playground area. Please join us and maybe share an idea or two. Or just listen first hand.

Plants are our babies from Mother Nature. Family, eh?

From Grounds, Cristian

Grounds Committee Notice: Opportunity to Green Your Garden!

Submitted by Debbie Willis on behalf of the Grounds Committee

Grounds Committee Notice: Opportunity to green your garden!

The Grounds Committee has secured a Greener Co-op Micro-grant to increase food self-sufficiency and reduce water use at Sunnyhill Housing Co-op. This micro-grant will be used for installing rain barrels and creating pallet vertical gardens for our members. We received funds to cover the partial cost of 10 rain barrels and material to build 15 pallet vertical gardens; the remaining costs will be covered by the Grounds Committee budget. This is a proof-of-concept endeavor: we will distribute these resources to selected households (chosen on a first-requested-first-served basis), to encourage other members to adopt these greener practices in future years.

Water barrels:

We will purchase the water barrels from Green Calgary and help co-op members to install them, if required. A water barrel for your garden will allow you to use natural, chlorine-free rain water on your plants and will save the co-op gallons of water each year. It also helps keep our watersheds clean by diverting water that usually collects fertilizers and other contaminants from storm drains. Your water barrel will come with the necessary hose attachment.

Pallet gardens:

We are also excited to offer the possibility of inexpensive, simple, and beautiful vertical gardens to interested members. We chose pallet gardens because of their affordability and accessibility. We also feel that vertical gardens are an excellent choice for our inner-city community, where yards are small and many gardeners hope to produce more food on their balconies. We are also excited by the idea of building our own, Instagram-worthy vertical gardens! The Grounds Committee will host an outdoor day of teaching and learning how to construct these simple, DIY, upcycled pallet gardens. The construction would occur outside, following Covid-safe protocols, in early June (date TBD). See below for an example of a pallet garden: 

If you are interested in a water barrel, a pallet garden, or both, please email the Grounds Committee at SHCGrounds@shaw.ca and please CC Debbie Willis at debmwillis@gmail.com

Grounds Committee Report

Submitted by Pamela Boyd on behalf of Grounds Committee

Grounds Report July 4, 2019

On Hedges

The current Grounds Policy, approved in 2008, states:

· Hedges should be trimmed and free of weeds

· Hedges should not overgrow walkways

It is good practice to trim hedges at least once annually, especially as they reestablish themselves following treatment for disease. Trimming, after they flower in early summer, promotes new growth and helps keep the hedges thick and healthy. Tall hedges may improve privacy, but are not great for security. Untrimmed hedges become scraggly and unsightly.

There are clippers in the tool shed along with two containers of bleach wipes. Wipe clipper blades with bleach after each use and when moving between sites to avoid spreading the disease that infected our hedges. Hedge clippings go in the compost bins, not the regular garbage. If the compost bins are full, rake the clippings into a pile and wait until there’s room in a bin. We have asked Blue Planet about getting more or larger compost bins.

NB. A former policy stated that hedges should be no higher than the fences. This requirement was dropped in the last round of policy revisions.

Weed Reminder

While our coop grounds are so lush and green and lovely it is important to remember the weeds.

We have heard that some people have trouble identifying noxious weeds. Our biggest weed issue in the co-op is creeping bellflower.

Bellflower is a perennial, low-growing in spring, growing underneath everything else. You can pull out the heart-shaped leaves in hunks. Later it is a 1-metre tall purple-blue nodding bell in summer with elongated leaves and is much easier to pull out.

Manitoba Maples are weed trees that infest Sunnyhill. Most of us have them in our yards. Even people who thought they were “clean” find baby maples in their yards. The only way to get rid of them (without herbicides) is to pull them out by hand. Just cutting them down helps, but has to be done each year as new suckers appear. These trees send out water-loving roots that can damage our building foundations and water pipes. Once established, they are very difficult to remove.

Water barrels - bulk purchase offer

Submitted by Debbie Willis

The Calgary EcoStore can offer a bulk discount on water barrels, which are normally priced at $85 but will be 10% off if we purchase ten or more as a group. Water barrels are a wonderful way to increase water security and sustainability in the co-op and to source chlorine-free water for your garden. Bonus: the Eco Store's water barrels are made of re-used materials.

Please text or call Debbie at 403-875-5818 or email debmwillis@gmail.com if interested.

Congratulations, Sunnyhill People!

Submitted by Cindy Schnee

You’re looking good! It took a second round of notices to some units, but we are delighted to report that as of June 18 all units have mowed grass and tidied their yards. Grounds members pulled a bunch of weeds from hedges on June 17. There are still some issues with dog feces, but we’ve made great progress. Yards in general look better than they have for many years.

We’ll be inspecting again around the 15th of each month to make sure yards are kept up to standards. Several co-op members found teenagers to do work they were not able to do themselves. Ask Andrea in the office if you are looking for help. Don’t forget the dumpster in the parking lot if you need to dispose of unwanted items.

We heard that some people had trouble identifying noxious weeds. Our biggest weed issue in the co-op is creeping bellflower. This perennial has low-growing clumped foliage in spring and grows to a 1-metre tall flowering spike in summer. The leaves are heart-shaped in early stage, later becoming lance-shaped, tooth-edged and coarse textured. Flowers are purple-blue 2-3 centimetres-long nodding bells; the blooms begin on the lower stem. 

Once established, creeping bellflower is very difficult to remove as even the smallest tiny root fragments can grow entirely new plants. It also spreads very easily as each stem produces up to 15,000 seeds. The plant is resistant to some herbicides. Creeping bellflower is also known as garden bluebell, rover bellflower, purple bell, garden harebell, creeping campanula, and creeping bluebell.

We have asked our landscaping contractor, Curbside, to deal with weeds that we missed in the common area and by the hedges along the parking lot. Remember, some costs such as sod can be paid for with your unit fund. Also, parents and kids, please pick up your stuff in the common area.

Thanks again to everyone who rose to the challenge.

The Grounds Committee