On Sunday, March 30th, a group of volunteers helped kick off the 2025 growing season in the Solar Roller!

Volunteers began by prepping the garden beds by adding compost from Highline Mushrooms (available to the public at no cost!). After incorporating it into the soil, the 4 beds were planted using a combination of seeds + starters, most of which were from one of our past sponsors, Anything Grows in Cochrane. We also had saved seeds from 2024, thanks to our programming staff whose work was made possible by grants from the Calgary Foundation and Alberta Recreation and Parks - Communities Choosewell Grant

This first planting focused on cold hardy vegetables, including peas, beets, potatoes, onions, herbs, and greens. The plan is to do another round of planting in May for tender vegetables such as tomatoes. Sequential plantings like this give a bigger yield of food.

In the perennial bed, we noticed strawberries, walking onions, chives, and sorrel already starting to sprout from the previous season, which was exciting! If you didn’t know, sorrel is a lemony green that is hardy and prolific in our area and does not bolt (go to seed) like lettuce and spinach do here. Volunteers also potted up orache (wild mountain spinach or goosefoot) that had self seeded over the winter. Orache is a drought resistant, hardy green with masses of fleshy, nutritious leaves.

The beds were then covered using gardening fabric + plastic to help keep the beds insulated and the soil warm to help with seed germination.

The day closed with a workshop led by Carrie on tips for early planting for southern Alberta climates. Overall it was a great day, and we are looking forward to seeing the growth that 2025 will bring! Subscribe to Cultivate Cochrane’s Facebook page to know about other events coming up.