April 2023
Hello to all of you,
Happy April to everyone! We hope your month of March went well! At the nursery, we have been quite busy with the Ottawa Seedy Saturday (March 4th), our pruning courses and various projects! In the blink of an eye, the month flew by. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank the people who came to Ottawa on March 4th; it's always a pleasure to meet you! Also, for those of you who came to our workshop on March 5th, we hope to have equipped you to take care of your trees! And for the others, we have a little surprise that might interest you, but before that, here's a quick look back at the projects of March.
First of all, the scion wood project has been started. Several species of fruit and ornamental shrubs are being grown together in our heated soil box. This is to encourage root formation without awakening the buds. How is this possible? Well, since everything is outside, the ambient temperature, much colder than the soil, allows the plants to concentrate their energy to form roots. These scion wood can then be transplanted in the field to continue their life cycle. Here is a picture illustrating the project :
*Scion wood density is not an issue at this point.
For the mushroom branch, Friday the 7th will be the last day to order bags of mycelium. By the way, we want to thank those who ordered bags! We were pleasantly surprised by the quantity of bags ordered! We will start the production of these bags this month. Buuuuuuut, stay tuned to our social media, because it's possible that the mycelium bags will be back before the summer for agricultural fairs.
Now, for those of you who were wondering when we were going to give an update on our mobile chicken coop, well you'll be served in the following lines. The construction of this coop is progressing well (as some of you may have seen on our socials)! Lucky us, because we are expecting chicks during the month of April! Yes, we will be raising broilers this summer. If you are fond of cute baby animal pictures, keep an eye on our social media during the next month, you won't be disappointed!
Ok ok ok, we've made you wait long enough... The surprise is this: a free shrub pruning course given by Victor in collaboration with Horti-cité will take place on April 15th in Gatineau. We are very proud of this partnership and we invite you to participate in large numbers! Come and perfect your knowledge in this field with us! Link to register at the end of the newsletter.
Speaking of Victor, this member of the founding trio was awarded a $500 scholarship at the Agricultural Gala of the Institut National d’Agriculture Biologique (INAB) for the nursery. This award aims to encourage the development of projects of graduates (and students in continuing education) of the DEC (DSC) in management and technologies of agricultural enterprise of the CEGEP of Victoriaville. Bravo Victor!
Photo from the INAB Facebook page
This concludes the April newsletter. If you have any questions or comments, do not hesitate to contact us! Until May, take care!
La Réfriche Nursery Team
Links :