Upcoming events: container garden workshop on April 13; walking tour; Earth Day on April 14; Earth Day events on April 17th and now through April 30th.
Learn how to grow vegetables — even if you don’t have a garden — at the Growing Vegetables in Containers workshop at the Compost Education Center on Saturday, April 13.
Growing vegetables, flowers and fruits in containers adds nutrition and local vegetables to your meals, while receiving all the mental health benefits of gardening.
The workshop will be led by Kayla Siefried, the Compost Education Center’s demonstration gardens steward. She will reveal which varieties of fruit, vegetables and flowers are best grown in containers, recommend the best types of containers to use, choose the right soil and how to enhance nutrients.
Compost Education Center offers workshops on composting, organic gardening and sustainable living topics throughout the year.
Dress appropriately for any type of weather, as the workshop may be outside or in the thatched building.
Pre-registration is required. Tickets are $30 for non-members, free for members. There are a limited number of free Pay What You Can tickets available for people who identify as Black, Indigenous, People of Color or who are facing significant financial barriers.
The event takes place from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 13 at the Compost Education Center, 1216 North Park St.
For more information, or to register, go to compost.bc.ca/programs/2024-public-workshops. You can also register by calling the office at 250 386 9676 or via email: office@compost.bc.ca.
Walking History Tour covers ‘food wars’ of early Victoria
Learn about the colorful lives of small independent grocers and their customers at Grocery Wars, this week’s Old Cemeteries Society history tour, at Ross Bay Cemetery on Sunday 14 April.
Take a walk through history in the cemetery with guide Larissa Ciupka, as she reveals the secrets of the foodies who competed to put food on the table in Victoria a century or more ago.
Visit the graves of independents who chose to serve only their immediate neighbors and budding entrepreneurs who used their markets as springboards for more ambitious projects.
The tour costs $5 for non-members to join, $2 for members. It starts at 2 pm on Sunday, April 14. Meet at the cemetery entrance on Fairfield Road, opposite the south end of Stannard Street.
Tours and excursions take place every week throughout the year.
For more information, go to oldcem.bc.ca/tour.
Parks and urban forest focus of Esquimalt Earth Day event
Esquimalt’s parks and recreation department is hosting Earth Day 2024 to help raise awareness of keeping local parks and urban forests safe and healthy, at Highrock Cairn Park on April 17.
At the event, staff will offer information and activities on invasive species removal, trail building, environmental stewardship and more.
The park of 7.1 hectares is on the highest point of land in Esquimalt, 71 meters high. The park gets its name because of a cairn installed on the summit to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of the incorporation of Esquimalt Township.
Natural features include glaciated hills, native plants such as blue camas and groves of Garry oaks, arbutus and Douglas fir.
The event is free to join. It is from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. in April. 17 at Highrock Cairn Park. For more information, go to esquimalt.ca/community-events/events-listing/calendar/earth-day-celebration-2024.
Also, Victoria Butterfly Gardens is hosting an Earth Day scavenger hunt, now through April 30.
This fun adventure takes place in a vibrant jungle with tropical butterflies, poison frogs, turtles, large iguanas, flamingos, tropical ducks and tropical birds.
The scavenger hunt is included with admission. Adults (18-64) $19.50, students and seniors $15.50, children (5-12) $9 and children free. The event runs from 10 am to 4 pm daily until April 30 at Victoria Butterfly Gardens, 1461 Benvenuto Ave., Brentwood Bay. For details, go to butterflygardens.com.
