Ripley junior horticulturalists put garden patch to bed, and enjoy mud oven pizzas

The Ripley Horticultural Society’s “For Our Youth” Club has wrapped up another year. The final meeting was  held in October at the Bruce Botanical Food Gardens in Ripley.

It was a windy day, but at least it wasn’t raining. The goal for this meeting was to put the club’s garden bed to sleep and celebrate a fantastic season with mud-oven pizzas.

The group met in the hoop house and answered the Roll Call question: “What was your favourite meeting this year?” Many members mentioned the harvesting and cooking days, while others enjoyed the pollinator day with Christine Roberts. Good information to keep in mind when planning next year’s adventures.

The club sat down to talk about the steps involved in closing down its garden patch. Leader Melody Smillie explained why it’s just as important to take care of your garden at the end of the season as it is to prepare it at the beginning: pulling weeds now prevents them from re-seeding; pulling out old plants helps prevent any diseases from spreading. Taking time to close up the garden also gives the club a chance to collect seeds to save for next year.

The members discussed different ways they could take note of where all the plants were growing so they can plan next year’s garden accordingly. Melody also explained the concept of rotating plants and how they won’t put the vegetables in the same spot next year, which gives the soil a chance to recover.

Everyone went to the garden to begin the clean up project and lay down cardboard and biodegradable landscape fabric to help keep weeds down for next year. These materials will break down over the winter and add nutrients back to the soil – bonus!

Melody helped members collect seed pods and left Natasha and Brad in charge of half the group to continue with clean-up. They dug out weeds, pulled old tomato, bean and pepper plants, and pushed very full wheelbarrows to the compost pile. Lots of hard work, but the members know how to pitch in and they certainly did a fantastic job.

The rest of the club members went back to the hoop house where they learned how to extract seeds and determine which ones were viable for planting next year. Members picked out beans, marigolds, basil, strawflowers and sweet corn. They decided tomatoes were too messy to deal with, but Melody promised to gift them some of her tomato seedlings in the spring. Once they finished sorting, the seeds were sealed safely into envelopes and labelled. It’s exciting to have their very own home-grown packets for the 2026 season!

Meanwhile, Heather Newman, president of the food gardens, was busy taking the mud oven out of hibernation and getting it fired up. The oven has been a club favourite at the gardens, and it was the perfect day for the members to make their own pizzas. Leader Bonnie Ernest chopped up a variety of ingredients, including basil, tomatoes and broccoli harvested that day from the club’s garden. The kids even nibbled a few broccoli flowers.

Leader Kimberlee Lowry and her son, Dylan, rolled out small balls of dough, and the kids came two-by-two to create their own pizza masterpieces. Heather acted as mud oven chef and everyone had fun watching the pizzas go in and out of the fire. There was enough dough for members who wanted seconds, and they all enjoyed the special wood-oven flavour.

The club is very grateful to the food gardens staff and the board of directors for clearing a section of land for the members to cultivate and plant this year. The food gardens have also been generous in offering their space as a place for the club to meet. Club members and leaders presented Heather with a donation of $100 and a card signed by everyone.

The group congratulated “Star Gardener” Brooklyn Curran who had the most club garden visits this year. Each member received a card at the beginning of the year and was encouraged to visit the garden as often as possible between meetings. Leader Natasha presented Brooklyn with a sweet flower cookie prize for being such a faithful garden visitor!

The meeting ended on a slightly bittersweet note as the members said goodbye to long-time leader Melody who is retiring this year. She has done an amazing job as treasurer and administrator, and everyone will miss her warm, patient nature and all the gardening knowledge she brought to the club. She received a group photo and a gift certificate to Commonplace as thanks for her years of commitment.

Finally, the club had one last frog scavenger hunt in the gardens thanks to members Brie and Dylan M. before the kids lined up to choose an item from the Treasure Box. The club leaders are so impressed with the kids and their co-operation, willingness to work hard and dedication to learning. They look forward to seeing everyone next year.

Anyone interested in signing up for the club is encouraged to send an E-mail message to leader Kimberlee at kimberlee1072@yahoo.ca for more information. New members, aged six and up, are always welcome!