Tag Archive for: Seeds

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Gardening: Worm Composting

Join Neill McCallum for a workshop on the essentials and benefits of worm composting—a highly efficient method for creating vibrant, thriving gardens that outperforms traditional composting. Under Neill’s guidance, discover how worm composting produces nutrient-rich vermicompost using household organic waste. Learn to reduce waste, enrich soil biodiversity, and support a flourishing ecosystem through the power of microorganisms.

Watch worms in action and gain hands-on knowledge as Neill provides a detailed, step-by-step guide to building your own affordable worm composting system.

Neill McCallum is a science teacher and environmental educator with a background in Biology and Education, and graduate studies in Education. Neill shares his hands-on experience with vermicomposting, gardening, and being environmentally conscious. Neill is passionate about helping people of all ages better understand where their food comes from and how everyday actions can support healthy ecosystems. His work bridges classroom learning with real-world environmental practices, empowering communities to compost waste, grow food, and care for local biodiversity.

 

This event will also be streamed live via Zoom. All registered attendees will receive the Zoom link before the session. The session will not be recorded.

Gardening: Planning for Your Seed Garden

If you want to collect seeds from your garden, you should do a bit of planning before the growing season starts. But what kind of things do you need to plan or track? What’s the best way to grow your garden in order to both enjoy the produce and get some seeds?  Siri van Gruen will help demystify some of the planning that goes into producing seed, either to keep for yourself or to donate (to the NWPL Seed Library!). Join us to help plan for your seed garden!

 

This event will take place in person at the NWPL Main Branch, and streamed live via Zoom. All registered attendees will receive the Zoom link. The presentation will not be recorded.

Gardening: Houseplant Glow Up

While the weather might still be too nasty to do much in your outdoor space, January is a great time to give your house plants some love! Learn what plants like and don’t like this time of year, best practices for repotting, rearranging, pruning and propagating. Join Carole Forsythe to give your house plants the best possible start to 2026! Bring your questions.

This event will be in person at the Main Branch, New Westminster Public Library, or online via Zoom. All registered attendees will receive the Zoom link. Unfortunately the session will not be recorded.

Gardening: Garlic

Grow your best garlic ever! Join us to learn garlic secrets and best practices and how you can cultivate this culinary essential in your garden space. Gail Felton will discuss all the stages of garlic growth, different cultivars, how to increase garlic yields and what pitfalls to avoid. Bring your questions!

 

This session will take place in person at the New Westminster Public Library and online via Zoom. All registered participants will receive the Zoom link.

Gardening: Seed Cleaning & Bulky Seed Exchange

If you grew seeds in your garden this summer, join us for a hands-on seed cleaning event to get your newly harvested seeds ready for storage (or donation to our seed library). We will be threshing, winnowing, screening and sorting seeds of all types. Bring your seed material from your garden to clean together and consider donating your extras to the seed library!

If you have large quantities of bulky seeds or have divided some bulbs and have some to share, bring them to the event in an informal sharing of your crops.

Meet outdoors in the parking lot at the Main Branch – weather dependent. If it’s pouring rain we’ll be inside in the Auditorium, but it may not be possible to do such messy work inside!

Bring seeds to clean, seeds and bulbs to share, and some small bags or envelopes to take new seeds home again.

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Gardening: Invasive Species

Did you know that many invasive species are available from your local garden store as ornamental plants? And by planting them in your garden you can inadvertently release them into the wild? Learn more about how invasive species impact biodiversity, what to look out for, and what gardeners can do to help.

Join Adrian Avendano, executive director of the Invasive Species Council of Metro Vancouver for an informative evening.

This will be presented in person at the library or online via Zoom. Please note, the presentation will not be recorded.

Gardening: Companion Planting

  • sorry we have had to cancel this event due to unforeseen circumstances. We will try to reschedule in the future.

Gardening: Living Compost

Living compost is more than just an organic fertilizer; it is a dynamic ecosystem filled with diverse microorganisms that promote plant growth and enhance soil resilience. In this workshop, you will learn how to identify high-quality compost, understand what makes it “alive,” tap into the potential of its microscopic workforce to improve the health and productivity of your garden, and help the climate by capturing more carbon in your soil! This session is ideal for urban gardeners, empowering you to make informed choices and transform your soil into a thriving, life-supporting habitat.

Our instructor for this session is Jo Tobias from RootShoot Soils, who specializes in natural management of soil health.

This session will be presented live in person and be broadcast via Zoom. All registered participants will receive the Zoom link. Unfortunately the presentation will not be recorded.

 

This event is part of our Earth Week programming

Gardening: Common Garden Mistakes

Want to keep your garden looking great? Join Amanda Jarrett, garden educator and red-seal horticulturalist to learn about common garden mistakes and how to avoid them. New and experienced gardeners alike will learn important tips, which can save both money and heartbreak.

Join us in person or online via Zoom. Unfortunately the Zoom meeting will not be recorded. All registered participants will receive the Zoom link before the event date.

Gardening: Starting Seeds

January is the time to get going on your garden! Join us to learn how to start seeds for your home garden. You will save money and can have a steady supply of seedlings to plant outside.

With her seed starting technique using vermiculite, expert home gardener, Gail Felton achieves consistent, predictable results that are flexible and easy to accomplish at home. This is a hands-on session where you’ll get a chance to try the technique yourself and get your garden started. We will start seeds for lettuce, tomatoes, sweet peppers and basil. This is an excellent session for beginner gardeners and more experienced gardeners will learn some tips too!

 

**In preparation for this session, please save and bring some clean takeout sauce containers with lids (small plastic containers that ginger or dipping sauce come in). You will start your seeds in these containers and can take home again.**

 

This is a hands-on session, so Zoom attendance will be less satisfactory. Although the Zoom option will be offered, please consider coming in person.