This year, with a winter that seemed to last until the very last day of April, we have certainly earned a warm, green May! Grasses are starting to turn to a lush green colour, fresh bright green buds are swelling on tree branches, and wildflowers of all sorts are peeking their new green stems from the soil.
May is a month of green events, too! As the natural world renews and refreshes with new leaves and blooms, so do we, with new energy and vitality for a season of warmth, gardening, cycling, and outdoor fun.
GreenUP offers many resources, products, events, and workshops to support your month of green.
The GreenUP Ecology Park Annual Plant Sale runs from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 20th. This is our biggest sale of the year and, for many Peterborough-area residents, it is the official start of the gardening season.
The Ecology Park Garden Market officially opens that day, with quality veggies, seedlings, and a large variety of wildflowers, grasses, shrubs, and trees available. We specialize in varieties and species that thrive in our region of Ontario and that also provide important habitat for wildlife and pollinators.
Throughout the season, GreenUP Ecology Park features a host of display gardens and naturalized areas, a native plant nursery, children’s programs, a garden market, skill-building workshops, and hands-on displays that all benefit from the funds raised at the Annual Plant Sale. GreenUP can then continue to offer the community everything we need to be good stewards of the land in our care.
May is also the month when many of us dig our umbrellas out of the basement and our bicycles out of the shed.
During the month of May you can track your bike, transit, and walking trips with Shifting Gears. Come out of hibernation and leave the car behind as you travel to work, school, the store, an appointment, or elsewhere in healthy and sustainable ways – and win amazing prizes while you’re at it!
Register and get tracking now at peterboroughmoves.com. The first 500 participants to log 15 sustainable trips this May will win a prize.
If a bicycle is your favourite form of travel, GreenUP and B!ke, Peterborough’s Community Cycling Hub have teamed up to offer Bike Night every Thursday throughout the cycling season, thanks to generous funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
Bike Nights in May start on May 3rd with a Movie Night; join us to enjoy documentary or a feature film that highlights bicycles and bicycle culture.
On Thursday, May 10th, you can join Bike Night with your whole family for Ready to Ride for Families.
On May 17th, the focus will be on infrastructure with a group ride lead by City of Peterborough TDM Planner Susan Sauve, who can answer all your questions about how to use new bike lanes and other cycling infrastructure in town.
On May 24th, there will be a women’s-only bike tune-up night, and finally, on May 31st, Bike Night participants will focus in on shifter and derailleur maintenance.
Some Bike Nights require registration. For more details about Bike Night topics and registration, visit peterboroughmoves.com.
And, little bike enthusiasts will want to join GreenUP and B!KE for Kids on Bikes Ptbo on Saturday, May 5th at 10 a.m. at The Silver Bean Café in Millennium Park. The kids will enjoy bike decorating, filling their tires with our pumping stations, practicing skills with bike games, and riding through the Bike Playground.
While May surely is a time for activity and rejuvenation, it can also be a time for rain, higher water levels, and addressing flooding. If you are looking for green solutions to flooding, join our Rain Garden Tour and Luncheon on Friday, May 25th to learn more about how to consider some green infrastructure options at your home.
Last year, the Ready For Rain Peterborough program, along with local residents, installed eight rain gardens in The Avenues neighbourhood in Peterborough.
The walking tour on May 25th will take you on a guided look of the rain gardens, highlighting the techniques, plant species, and structure of these unique gardens along with the reasons for installing these demo gardens in each location.
For more information and to register, email jenn.mccallum@greenup.on.ca.
May is also the perfect time to collect rain to later use on your garden, saving you money on your water utility bill, while conserving water at the same time.
Pop into the GreenUP Store at 378 Aylmer Street North in downtown Peterborough to pick up a rain barrel.
Our rain barrels are sourced locally and are made from recycled olive barrels that have been retrofitted to collect and store rain water for personal use.
For extra incentive to save water, Peterborough Utilities Group customers will receive an instant $25 rebate on their purchase of a rain barrel at the GreenUP Store.
For more information about many more green events happening in May and beyond, check out the GreenUP website events calendar at greenup.on.ca
