I’ve always wanted to have a garden to call my own.
Watch things grow, get mad at rabbits, and feast with friends on the bounty of
the land, come harvest. I’m yet to get this opportunity but I am getting a
little bit closer! With my new role at Greenhorizons Sod Farm, I suggested we
get involved with community gardens in and around the city.
When I first brought up the idea, I naively thought
we’d be getting into a small, relatively straight-forward community of
veggie-lovers, but boy was I surprised! It quickly escalated from one small
garden down town to that one plus two on the mountain, one in Stoney Creek and
another in Burlington!
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| Powell Park Community Garden |
The crazy thing is that everyone I’ve talked to
from the gardens is overwhelmingly enthusiastic over the littlest of things
they’ve got going on! People are excited about the rhubarb from the warmth this
spring but also worried that the warmth we’ve had will hinder plants that
started budding before winter had its last hurrah! Either way, I’ve been
enlightened to a whole new community of people that are eagerly anticipating
Victoria Day weekend (an unofficial gardening kick-off weekend around the
golden horseshoe), and some that have already got their green thumbs, dirty!
Hamilton and the GHA are boasting over 66 community
gardens this summer! There is no telling how much local produce is going to be
coming out of the ground, simply from the hard work of a couple hundred
committed citizens!
With so many gardens, I had no idea where to start
or who to contact to get involved. Fortunately I came across some very helpful
people. To dig for information and get the ball rolling, I gave a call to the
Hamilton Community Garden Network to see how our farm can be of use to these
nature-loving do-gooders. Clare from the HCGN, who has been pivotal in our
involvement so far, set me up with the Powell Park "mini"-garden coordinator, Chad
Mackay, as well as with Sara Collyer from Neighbour-2-Neighbour.
The Powell Park garden is in its seedling year,
just getting started and the group is itching to make things happen! Their
kick-off day is officially June 2; however I’m sure they’ll be hard at work
before then!
Sara from Neighbour-to-Neighbour actually decided
to spread us out a little bit; recommending our participation in three
mini-gardens that they help with. With Sara’s help, we’ve got involved with the
Heritage Green Baptist Church garden, the Eastmount Elementary School garden,
and the Chalmers Presbyterian Church garden.
Finally North Burlington Baptist Church boasts the
biggest of all the gardens we’re involved with, and their expanding! Heather
Griggs, the coordinator of the garden, has been nothing but wonderful to work
with and I can’t wait to see what’s growing on in their garden this summer!
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| North Burlington Baptist Church Community Garden |
I'm fill of anticipation to see what this small fraction of the
community that we’re lucky enough to work with has in store over the next few
months! Every day I want to drive out to each and every plot just for the
chance to run into one of the gardeners and hear about their latest plight in
the battle against weeds, animals and weather!
Be sure to wave at the gardeners the next time you
walk or drive past a plot but be warned: conversation will almost definitely
include some talk of soil, weeds, pests, animals and if you’re really lucky,
the overflow of produce from the garden!
The plants aren’t even growing yet and I’m proud of
the work these gardeners have put in! Happy Gardening, Hamilton, and may 2012
yield a bountiful harvest!
-Ben
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