Organic Gardening News

Weekly roundup of three properties that recently sold in Metro Vancouver.

375 East 40th Ave., Vancouver

Type: Five-bedroom, four-bathroom detached

Size: 2,956 square feet

B.C. Assessment: $2,852,000

Listed for: $3,498,000

Sold for: $3,500,000

Sold on: April 18

Days on market in this listing: Two

Listing agent: Bridget Ross at Stilhavn Real Estate Services

Buyers agent: Sam Heller at Heller Murch Realty

The big sell: It took two days for this five-bedroom house just east of Main Street to be snapped up. Built in 2016, it sits behind a white picket fence and landscaped garden giving it instant curb appeal. Inside, the three-storey layout displays elevated craftsmanship with a built-in floor-to-ceiling bookshelf, a Sonos sound system, and a wood-burning fireplace (with the option to convert to gas) in the living room, an elegant kitchen finished with bespoke cabinets, engineered stone counters, and marble backsplash, and a study complete with a custom-made desk and daybed nook that leads into the dining room where French doors open to the private garden and cedar hot tub. There are four bedrooms upstairs alongside two full bathrooms with radiant heat, while the finished lower floor is fully plumbed and wired for a legal suite. A two-car garage with lane access comes fully equipped with an electric vehicle charger.

103 — 2478 Welcher Ave., Port Coquitlam

Type: Two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment

Size: 884 square feet

B.C. Assessment: $630,000

Listed for: $749,900

Sold for: $730,000

Sold on: March 30

Days on market in this listing: Four

Listing agent: Kylene Shannon PREC and Caprice Stadnyk at Macdonald Realty (Langley)

Buyers agent: Rod Bahari PREC at Sutton Group — West Coast Realty

The big sell: This renovated two-bedroom condo resides in Harmony, a four-storey condominium development constructed in 2008 in downtown Port Coquitlam with the West Coast Express, shopping, and Gates Park all nearby. Due to its ground-floor position, this unit has a private, keyed entrance off the street, and a large partially-covered patio bordered by privacy hedging. The interior of the home shines with modern flooring, crown moulding, new doors, designer light fixtures, California wood shutters and blinds, updated bathrooms, fresh paintwork, and a stylish electric fireplace. The brand new kitchen features white Shaker-style cabinets, stainless-steel appliances, and a quartz countertop and backsplash, and all of this under nine-foot-high ceilings. The pet- and rental-friendly building offers a bike room, gym, and guest suite, while this unit comes with a storage locker, two underground parking spots, and a monthly maintenance fee of $380.00.

2767 Charles St., Vancouver

Type: Four-bedroom, two-bathroom detached

Size: 1,289 square feet

B.C. Assessment: $1,582,800

Listed for: $1,498,000

Sold for: $1,600,000

Sold on: March 28

Days on market in this listing: Eight

Listing agent: Marty Pospischil at Pospischil Realty Group

Buyers agent: Graeme Lin PREC at Oakwyn Realty

The big sell: According to the listing agency Pospischil Realty Group, multiple offers were received for this classic 1940s bungalow located in east Vancouver’s Renfrew district with the successful bid coming in at $102,000 over the listed price. Sitting on a 33-by-110 foot lot, it features four bedrooms and two bathrooms divided between the two-level layout with almost identical square foot dimensions on each floor. On the main level, there are thin-slat oak hardwood floors, a brick-surround wood-burning fireplace, and corner windows in the living room, an updated functional kitchen with an eating area and views across the rear garden, and two bedrooms that are separated by a four-piece bathroom. Downstairs, there are a further two bedrooms and a bathroom, as well as laundry and mud rooms. The rear garden is fully fenced and mainly lawned, and contains a single-car garage with lane access.

These transactions were compiled by Nicola Way of BestHomesBC.com.

Realtors — send your recent sales to nicola@besthomesbc.com

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Walking into the University of British Columbia’s new school of biomedical engineering (the Gordon B. Shrum Building), the first thing you notice is light. Soft, northern light that filters through floor-to-ceiling windows lining the lab spaces. The Shrum building sits on University Boulevard but feels cocooned from the hustle of campus thanks to a preserved grove of London plane trees surrounding a quiet courtyard.

Greg Boothroyd, principal architect at Patkau Architects, who designed this new facility, says those trees weren’t meant to survive the development.

“UBC originally envisioned that these trees and this courtyard area would probably be destroyed because the building is so big. But when we came to the site and we saw these trees in this courtyard, we were like, forget it,” says Boothroyd. They found a way to keep them and in doing so, the site has a really interesting geometric shape, he says.

Designing across disciplines

UBC’s new school of biomedical engineering is a relatively new discipline that combines the rigour of engineering with the care of medicine. It’s the first time in Canada that the faculties of medicine and engineering have joined forces to share not just a space, but also a discipline, says Boothroyd.

Better together

Patkau Architects also collaborated with others to pull this project off.

“We have done many academic buildings, but never something quite as complex as a lab, so we partnered with Architecture49 , who are lab specialists. It was a nice collaboration, and a good experience designing a building with such technical complexity,” he says.

A COVID creation

Another first for Patkau, this building was designed almost entirely over Zoom, during the early days of the COVID pandemic, says Boothroyd.

Some of the digital processes they learned through this time have stuck, he says.

“With projects that are at a distance, there’s just much less travel that’s required. It’s good for the environment, and good for people’s lives as well.”

Form meets function

Inside the Shrum Building, labs line the northern side, creating soft daylight. The offices are on the south side, and in between is an atrium, full of sunlight and intersecting triangles. This has been designed as a place for casual run-ins and spontaneous chats, says Boothroyd.

“It is a building that helps create opportunities for serendipitous interaction in everyone’s day. By having this big open lab that you walk through you see the work of your colleagues and get a sense of what it’s like to work in a research community. You’re not in an isolated silo.”

On the ground floor, maker spaces and design studios line the boulevard, offering glimpses into student life.

“People walking down the street get a glimpse at some of these super cool things students are building and making as they walk by, and hopefully they’ll draw them into the building and get them inside and interested in biomedical engineering,” says Boothroyd.

Teaching that can’t be YouTubed

Even the lecture halls in this building challenge conventional lecture design. One has rectangular tables for group work, another is tiered so students can swivel their chairs and collaborate.

“If you want to watch a lecture, you can just watch it on YouTube. The teaching style now is focused on more activities that you can’t do on YouTube,” says Boothroyd.

A lunchroom on the third floor, with a deck and kitchen, acts as yet another collaboration zone. There is a big open deck off the lunchroom. There is a corner designed for informal lunch-hour lectures.

“It’s a neat space and is already being very well used,” says Boothroyd.

Challenges and surprises

This was a challenging project because of the construction environment during COVID, says Boothroyd, but they had an amazing team on the project, a great contractor and project manager, and it was done on budget and on time, he says.

When asked what surprised him most about this completed building, Boothroyd doesn’t hesitate.

“The upper atrium. You think you know what a space will feel like from 3D models, but when I walked into it, it was better than I imagined. Full of light, but also intimate. It makes you want to stay.”

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Father’s Day is just around the corner. Show the special dads in your life some love this June 15 with a thoughtful gift.

From space-saving pots and pans for your home chef to a sporty Canadian-made portable cooler for that outdoorsy adventurer, here are five Father’s Day gift ideas sure to please even the fussiest father.

For the dad whose happy place is the back forty

Give your dad the perfect excuse to hang outside this Father’s Day. Vivere’s Combo Double Hammock promises the freedom to set up and snooze anywhere you choose, as it can be hooked to trees or stand solo. Comes with a carry bag and the opportunity to pretend he’s on vacation anywhere — or time — he likes.

$179.00 (online only) | Home Depot.ca

Say ‘yes’ to the dad who’s a chef

For the dad whose love language is food and can’t help cooking with every pot and pan in sight, T-fal’s Ingenio Expertise — stackable cookware with removable handles — is easy to clean and also an ingenious space saving hack. These practical pans are available in sets of three, eight or 14 and come in a rainbow of colours to match any kitchen decor style.

From $87 to $270 | Amazon.ca

For the dad who loves to lounge in comfort

Get dad the perfect throne for kicking back and napping. Dutch design brand’s Fatboy Bean Bags combine fun design with water-resistant durability. Canadian orders are stuffed and shipped from Fatboy’s Montreal-based warehouse, so there’s still time to secure dad the gift of ultimate comfort.

 From $269 | Fatboy Bean Bags

For the dad who appreciates coastal landscapes

Wall Art on Wood’s coaster sets are a great choice for the fellow who can’t get enough of the wild shores of the West Coast. Handcrafted in Esquimalt on Vancouver Island, the cork-backed coasters are sold in sets of four and feature prints of original art signed by the maker.

$33 | Etsy.ca

For the dad who needs to keep his cool

Whether he camps, fishes or picnics in the park, the Woods Boreal Cooler’s 65-litre model is made in Canada and a super choice for your dad’s outdoor adventures. Its spacious, durable and designed not only to keep drinks and food chilled, but to look cool too.

$159.99 | Canadian Tire

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If Vancouver city council gives the go-ahead on Wednesday, Granville Street could one day resemble a mix of car-free Las Ramblas in Barcelona, with the live music of Nashville’s Broadway, plus a touch of the bright lights of Tokyo’s Shibuya pedestrian crossing.

That is the 20-year vision for a striking new plan to revitalize the city’s once-neon-lit grand old dame of a street, which has fallen on hard times.

The plan, which envisions all of Granville eventually being car-free from the bridge over False Creek to Waterfront Station, could cost up to $140 million in 2025 dollars, according preliminary estimates in the report, which was two years in the making.

“Currently, the area faces challenges with vacant storefronts, lack of daytime activity, and rising health, safety and street-disorder concerns, contributing to a negative perception of the Granville Entertainment District,” the report states.

The plan keys on three areas: The city centre (between Georgia and Smithe streets) with mixed-use residential developments including some of the city’s tallest towers; the entertainment core (between Smithe and Davie streets), a hub of live music, theatres and restaurants; and the bridgehead (between Davie and Drake Streets) with a quieter mix of residential, local shops and cultural spaces.

If approved, the plan eventually envisions the creation of a “world-class destination public space gradually working toward a year-round shore-to-shore pedestrian zone.”

Built around the time the city was founded, Granville soon became known as Theatre Row, and welcomed trolleys heading up and down. By the 1950s, it glowed with endless neon signs, and today is still home to icons such as the Orpheum Theatre and Commodore Ballroom.

The plan’s goal is to transform Granville into an arts, entertainment and cultural destination, with more restaurants and patios.

That includes improving safety, live music, expanded hotel space, mixed-use residential (including tall towers 200 and 400 feet high, taller than previously allowed, near the Canada Line Station at Georgia), and single-room occupancy social housing.

There are eight single-room accommodation buildings on Granville, the report states, containing about 600 rooms, many of them privately owned, which the city plans to replace with self-contained social housing.

The preliminary estimated cost is between $90 million and $140 million.

There is a proposed new plaza at Granville and Robson streets, which would be home giant digital billboards, like Manhattan’s Times Square or Piccadilly Circus in London’s West End, showing visual art and live-event screenings along with advertisements.

At the moment, about 1,100 TransLink buses ply the corridor daily, carrying 21,000 passengers. Those would be shifted to adjacent Seymour and Howe streets, after those roads are upgraded.

“Granville Street, part of Vancouver’s historic streetcar network, remains a busy transit corridor connecting key areas,” the report reads.

“The 2010 Winter Olympics marked a peak of activity, with significant changes including the introduction of the Canada Line and public realm improvements,” it says. “Despite (today’s) challenges, Granville Street has significant opportunities.

“The Granville Street plan will enhance the area’s future for businesses, venues, visitors, and residents. The plan’s vision aligns efforts across city departments, private property owners, and business and venue operators to transform Granville into a dynamic destination for culture, performance, and entertainment.”

There will be regular reviews and updates to ensure the plan adapts to changing contexts, the report says.

Before presenting the plan to council, the city held a dozen public workshops, held youth roundtables and public walking tours, received 5,700 completed surveys and heard 11,000 comments.

The city also met with business and hospitality associations, arts and cultural organizations, social service providers, and public agencies such as B.C. Housing and TransLink.

After the final round of engagement this past February, support for the vision was 76 per cent, the report says.

gordmcintyre@postmedia.com

x.com/gordmcintyre

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If Vancouver city council gives the go-ahead on Wednesday, Granville Street could one day resemble a mix of car-free Las Ramblas in Barcelona, with the live music of Nashville’s Broadway, plus a touch of the bright lights of Tokyo’s Shibuya pedestrian crossing.

That is the 20-year vision for a striking new plan to revitalize the city’s once-neon-lit grand old dame of a street, which has fallen on hard times.

The plan, which envisions all of Granville eventually being car-free from the bridge over False Creek to Waterfront Station, could cost up to $140 million in 2025 dollars, according preliminary estimates in the report, which was two years in the making.

“Currently, the area faces challenges with vacant storefronts, lack of daytime activity, and rising health, safety and street-disorder concerns, contributing to a negative perception of the Granville Entertainment District,” the report states.

The plan keys on three areas: The city centre (between Georgia and Smithe streets) with mixed-use residential developments including some of the city’s tallest towers; the entertainment core (between Smithe and Davie streets), a hub of live music, theatres and restaurants; and the bridgehead (between Davie and Drake Streets) with a quieter mix of residential, local shops and cultural spaces.

If approved, the plan eventually envisions the creation of a “world-class destination public space gradually working toward a year-round shore-to-shore pedestrian zone.”

Built around the time the city was founded, Granville soon became known as Theatre Row, and welcomed trolleys heading up and down. By the 1950s, it glowed with endless neon signs, and today is still home to icons such as the Orpheum Theatre and Commodore Ballroom.

The plan’s goal is to transform Granville into an arts, entertainment and cultural destination, with more restaurants and patios.

That includes improving safety, live music, expanded hotel space, mixed-use residential (including tall towers 200 and 400 feet high, taller than previously allowed, near the Canada Line Station at Georgia), and single-room occupancy social housing.

There are eight single-room accommodation buildings on Granville, the report states, containing about 600 rooms, many of them privately owned, which the city plans to replace with self-contained social housing.

The preliminary estimated cost is between $90 million and $140 million.

There is a proposed new plaza at Granville and Robson streets, which would be home giant digital billboards, like Manhattan’s Times Square or Piccadilly Circus in London’s West End, showing visual art and live-event screenings along with advertisements.

At the moment, about 1,100 TransLink buses ply the corridor daily, carrying 21,000 passengers. Those would be shifted to adjacent Seymour and Howe streets, after those roads are upgraded.

“Granville Street, part of Vancouver’s historic streetcar network, remains a busy transit corridor connecting key areas,” the report reads.

“The 2010 Winter Olympics marked a peak of activity, with significant changes including the introduction of the Canada Line and public realm improvements,” it says. “Despite (today’s) challenges, Granville Street has significant opportunities.

“The Granville Street plan will enhance the area’s future for businesses, venues, visitors, and residents. The plan’s vision aligns efforts across city departments, private property owners, and business and venue operators to transform Granville into a dynamic destination for culture, performance, and entertainment.”

There will be regular reviews and updates to ensure the plan adapts to changing contexts, the report says.

Before presenting the plan to council, the city held a dozen public workshops, held youth roundtables and public walking tours, received 5,700 completed surveys and heard 11,000 comments.

The city also met with business and hospitality associations, arts and cultural organizations, social service providers, and public agencies such as B.C. Housing and TransLink.

After the final round of engagement this past February, support for the vision was 76 per cent, the report says.

Love concerts, but can't make it to the venue? Stream live shows and events from your couch with VEEPS, a music-first streaming service now operating in Canada. Click here for an introductory offer of 30% off. Explore upcoming concerts and the extensive archive of past performances.

Finally, as temperatures continue to warm up, it’s time to plant the three most popular fruits that can be enjoyed well into late summer. Whether grown in garden beds or in containers, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are the favourites for summer menus.

There has been an explosion of plant breeding for each of these amazing edibles. It’s challenging to keep on top of all the new varieties because there is always the risk of missing out on some tasty new opportunity. In both the gardening and culinary worlds, when we select a favourite variety, it tends to become entrenched, and it’s hard to develop a relationship with a new introduction. In both disciplines, however, continually experimenting helps us discover even more delights.

Tomatoes are, perhaps, the most challenging. As a grower, it’s becoming more of an issue each year trying to decide which varieties to produce from the hundreds available. As with all edibles, it’s about the flavour, the ease of growing, weather adaptability and a variety’s tolerance of pests and diseases that determines the best ones to grow. Public demand, however, is the No. 1 reason to grow a particular variety.

I find it easier to break tomatoes into categories. Slicing tomatoes are still the most popular tomatoes, and yes, old heritage varieties, like Black Prince and Cherokee Purple, continue to hold the edge on flavour. However, many take 80 to 90 days to mature, and folks want to enjoy tomatoes in July, not wait until mid-August.

Slicing tomatoes, that mature in 60 to 70 days from an established plant, can provide fruit as early as mid-July. Early Girl and Early Girl Plus are among the earliest to mature, but varieties like Celebrity, Bush, Champion and Super Fantastic are all great. Coming in a few days later are the larger 8-ounce size Better Boy, the 8- to 10-ounce Big Beef and the 12- to 16-ounce Beefmaster, and all have good flavour. If you want the big, tasty giants, like the 32-ounce Supersteak, the 2- to 4-pound SteakHouse or the up to 4-pound Porterhouse, you will have to wait until mid-August.

As mentioned, in terms of timing, the heirloom varieties will take 80 to 90 days to harvest. The 8-12 ounce Black Krim is ready in 80 days; the 16- to 24-ounce Mortgage Lifter matures in 80 to 90 days; and the 32-ounce Pineapple will make you wait 90 days.

Small fruit tomatoes rank in popularity right after the slicers simply because they produce so many bite-sized fruits so quickly. The super sweet Sugar Rush is among the earliest, producing in 50 to 55 days. Some of my favourites, like Sweet Gold and Sun Sugar, produce in 62 days; while Sungold is ready in 65 days.  The traditional red Sweet 100 takes 65 days, and Sweet Million produces in 60-62 days.

The very best hanging basket or container varieties are Tumbler at 45 days, followed by Tumbling Tom Red and Tumbling Tom Yellow, both at 65 days. Because they are so prolific and produce continuously, these varieties are usually the earliest tomatoes you will enjoy each year and among the last of the season.

There are so many tomato novelties, like grape tomatoes, paste tomatoes, varieties with unique colours, such as Chocolate Sprinkles, tomatoes shaped like pears and dipping varieties. We almost have too many varieties, but it keeps gardening fun, and discovering new flavours is always exciting.

Peppers have become very much a part of our summer gardens and year-round cuisine. Their flavouring, and spicy heat make them incredibly versatile. In order to connect them in groupings for culinary uses, the Ball Horticultural Corporation, one of the world’s largest, has classified peppers in simpler terms such as sweet bell, sweet non-bell, Anaheim, ancho/poblano, chili, cubanelle, ethnic hot, habanero, jalapeño, serrano and specialty hot pepper.

The nice feature of sweet bell peppers is their wonderful, fresh garden flavour, as well as their stunning range of colours. From orange, green, red and lime to chocolate, purple, yellow and now candy stripe, they truly create a potpourri of colour. Sweet, non-bells excel in colour, flavour and unique shapes. In terms of spicy heat, the runaway favourites are the jalapeño varieties. Anaheims, ancho/poblanos and serranos have a comfortable heat with which to work. They rank in the range of 1 and 2 in Scoville heat units.

Today’s young gardeners and foodies love hot peppers and know their limits with the super hots. When experimenting with peppers, proceed gradually up the Scoville scale. Some very hot varieties, like Carolina Reaper, Trinidad Scorpion and Bhut Jolokia (Ghost), can cause serious burns, so be cautious.

Cucumbers are some of the easiest vegetables to grow, and they are among the most productive, especially planted in containers. Seedless or burpless varieties are becoming today’s favourites because they are sweet, easy to digest and bitter free. If you love the long, straight 12- to 14-inch varieties, then Burpless Supreme and Tasty Green are two of the varieties you may wish to try.  If you insist on the super long varieties, then English Telegraph, stretching up to 18 inches long, is the variety to look for. The trend, however, is to go shorter. One of the popular varieties today is a short burpless, called Perseus, which grows only 5-6 inches long, making it easy to finish up at one sitting.

The new superstars are the miniature burpless cucumbers. Mini-Me and Quick Snack are great container varieties and, when trellised, are very productive, producing an amazing number of 2-3.5-inch deliciously sweet, bite-size fruits all summer.

Pickling cucumbers are hugely popular for summer preserves, and new varieties, like Gherking, are bitter free and ideal for fresh eating or pickles.

The beauty of growing cucumbers is their short growing time, anywhere from 45 to 60 days, and they love the heat of summer.

Even though summer is still a little way off, having tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers growing in your garden or on your patio will mean the promise of some great summer flavours to look forward to.

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