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Community garden approved
Project, with over 40 plots available to rent on seasonal basis, will be set up at Ladner’s Kensington Park North BY
SANDOR GYARMATI
sgyarmati@delta-optimist.com
A new community garden will be established at Ladner’s Kensington Park North. Delta council Monday approved a proposal by the Ladner Community Garden Society to enter into a licence agreement with the group that pitched the idea to the parks and recreation department only a few weeks ago. “They’ve been trying to put one in Calgary for over a year and I thought we’d have to fight for it here. But they were really excited about it,” said the society’s Kristin Crouch. The roughly half-acre site in the 6500-block of Holly Park Drive will have about 46 individual garden plots available for families and individuals to rent for $40 on a seasonal basis. The society also envisions an instructional and demonstration component where children can learn about local farming and growing their own foods. The plan also includes a garden where produce can be grown for the local food bank. Noting the municipality would like the society to have plantings start next month, Crouch said they’ve been working on the proposal after visiting community gardens elsewhere. Crouch, who’s extensive gardening experience includes being president of the Evergreen Garden Club, said the Ladner community
PHOTO BY
CHUNG CHOW
The Ladner Community Garden Society plans to start a community garden at Kensington Park North this spring. Pictured are (eft to right) Ian Dick, Don Bruchet, Kristin Couch and Mark MacDonald. garden will be an exciting addition for South Delta. It’s an agricultural community but, other than some special markets and the Earthwise Society garden in Tsawwassen, few residents get to eat directly what’s grown here. “It’s not like we have a full farmers’ market. We have our market in Ladner
but it only has a few stalls that grows vegetables. You can probably go to Westham Island to buy stuff there, but we need to have more farmers’ markets,” she said. “When you look at what most communities offer and you consider how agricultural we are, we shouldn’t be behind a city like Richmond or Vancouver,”
Crouch added. Ladner used to have a community garden for seniors next to the old McKee House before the new seniors’ facility was built, she noted. According to the society, having a community garden fosters responsible stewardship of the land, through a commitment to sound,
organic, sustainable environmental practices. “As we go forward and start seeing a lot more high density, a lot of people won’t have a back yard, so there’s going to be more need for community gardens for people who want to grow their own food,” Crouch said. Crouch believes once the
word spreads that a community garden is available, the 40-square-foot plots will be taken quickly. She pointed to the lengthy wait lists in the City of Richmond that has eight city-owned community garden sites. Due to the huge demand, See GARDEN page 3
01085415
When you need to get back on track. ( Located behind Tsawwassen McDonald’s )
604.943.6383