Photo: Contributed
The long weekend in May is the perfect time to plant your garden.
The guild gardens may be the perfect way to plant your yard.
The Kelowna business is all about permaculture, which essentially works in nature’s established systems. Danielle Crowe grew up in Kelowna and spent her youth in the orchards, falling in love with nature. She has practiced permaculture for more than a decade and has decided to turn that passion into a business.
The guild gardens essentially sell instant gardens, which are square pieces of cloth or guilds that contain seeds for a variety of plants that are meant to be together. Just put it in your yard, cover it with an inch of soil, and water it. Each guild is 30 inches by 30 inches.
“It took me 10 minutes to plant my garden this year,” said Crowe.
The Guild Gardens has eight guilds for sale: Flower Salad, Salsa, Grape, Apple, Medicine, Pollinator, Brassicas, and Three Sisters. For example, the three sisters’ guild grows beans, corn and radishes. The salsa guild will offer onions, coriander, rocket, lettuce, chives and basil. Each should be anchored from a single plant or tree that does not come with the guild but is easily accessible at affordable prices.
Customers are encouraged to have fun with their guilds and create patterns or borders in their gardens. You can also create a “living fence” made up of plants that can grow up to 15 feet tall. Semen strips can also be purchased.
“It’s really fun for kids,” says Crowe. “My kids help me design my garden and it’s better than watching them grow gardens on Minecraft.”
The company also sells products for customers to build their own garden, potted plants, and wild and natural seeds. Also available are gardening consultations, permaculture landscaping, and workshops for those who want to live the permaculture lifestyle.
Crowe has found the business to be very popular with both green thumbs and those who are just starting out in the garden.
“People who have been gardening for a long time are really interested,” said Crowe, “and people who just want to start gardening are really interested.”
The Guild Gardens and Castanet have teamed up for a competition. The winner will receive on-site advice from a permaculture design expert, a workshop of their choice and a complete kit for their own garden, which consists of eight seed guilds, eight seed strips, potted plant starters and seeds. The total value is $ 500.
The competition is free and ends on Monday, May 24th at 11:59 pm.
