New community gardens are sprouting in the West Shore.
ColwoodB次元官网网址檚 newest community garden, located next to the City Hall parking lot on Wishart Road, will be home to roughly 40 four-foot by eight-foot plots that will be rented out for residents to grow a variety of fruits, vegetables and flowers in an effort to help build community.
B次元官网网址淭hereB次元官网网址檚 so many benefits to community gardens,B次元官网网址� said Barbara Sibbald, vice president of the Colwood Garden Society, who has lived in the municipality for the past 15 years. B次元官网网址淲hen a community works together for something, they tend to bond. Every time a community can bond a little more you have a safer community.B次元官网网址�
The garden will also be used as a teaching garden for students at Wishart Elementary school, and some of the produce will be donated to the Goldstream Food Bank. A number of plots will also be wheelchair accessible.
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Plans for the garden have been in the works since 2014. Sibbald said with more people moving into condominiums and apartments, thereB次元官网网址檚 less opportunities to set up their own garden.
For Sibbald, her home is heavily shaded and doesnB次元官网网址檛 allow enough sunlight for fruits and vegetables to grow.
When she heard about the garden society, she jumped at the chance to be a part of it so she could grow beets, beans, strawberries, kale, butternut squash, broccoli and brussel sprouts.
B次元官网网址淚 enjoy the peace and working with the soil and the peacefulness that you get when youB次元官网网址檙e gardening,B次元官网网址� Sibbald said. B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 just amazed I can put a seed into the ground and add a little bit of water and it will grow. To me, thatB次元官网网址檚 an amazing part of nature.B次元官网网址�
As part of a work party organized recently, a handful of volunteers came together to dig the holes needed for the garden. The next work party is on Saturday, June 9, when volunteers hope to put up an eight-foot-high fence to keep deer out.
While the society plans on having the garden ready for use by late summer, Sibbald said there are already big plans for it.
She also hopes to add a little library and a bench one day.
Plots will be leased annually from January to December for $45. For more information on the Colwood Garden Society visit .
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The Highlands Park and Recreation Association has also been busy getting its first community garden off the ground. The garden at 729 Finlayson Arm Rd., will feature a number of garden boxes and irrigation. The association has been working on bringing a garden to District residents since 2015.
Last year the site was excavated and work parties built a fence. Initial garden boxes were completed and filled with soil in March, and a grand opening is scheduled for June 24.
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