City hall gardens grow veggies, public connections

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This article was published 31/07/2023 (808 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Three years ago, the City of Winnipeg’s gardening team swapped its flower beds on the west side of city hall to welcome three sisters: squash, corn and beans.

Originally planted in 2020, at then-mayor Brian Bowman’s request, the gardens are sprouting their fourth edible harvest for the 2023 season. In the concrete jungle of downtown Winnipeg, it’s the area’s greenest-kept secret.

“Our downtown gardening staff who maintain all the florals on site maintain those beds,” said Karl Thordarson, park superintendent for north and downtown. “We plant them up every spring. As the vegetables become ready, we have signs out there that invite the public to pick them while they’re available.”

After successful trial runs in 2020 and 2021, the city opted to replace another bed of florals with fresh greens and goods.

Now, a team of gardening staff tend to a box of strawberries, tomatoes, beans, peas and herbs. A modest, mud-stained lawn sign tells visitors to help themselves.

Thanks to municipal funding, a swath of community gardens are growing across Winnipeg.

In June, the city, in partnership with the Winnipeg Food Council, awarded a total of $10,000 in grant funding to support new community garden and urban agriculture projects spearheaded by local organizations.

At the city hall garden plot, the remainder of unpicked produce is donated to Harvest Manitoba. Thordarson estimates around two to three crates of produce were delivered to the food bank organization by the end of last season.

After adding lawn signs in 2022 encouraging visitors to pick the veggies, Thordarson said there are now few leftovers.

While vegetables have replaced two flower beds, city hall hasn’t entirely moved on from florals. Instead, Thordarson explained, it is seeking more meaningful, symbolic ways to make use of the flowers.

“We’ve got Pride flag planting this year, and there’s a bed of sunflowers to recognize our Ukrainian refugees here in the city,” Thordarson said.

Staff have also used the remaining flower beds to Indigenize the space. One bed forms a medicine wheel, another forms an orange heart to honour residential school survivors. Across the way, sweetgrass, sage, tobacco and cedar grow on site.

“A lot of the plantings there are really moving away from simple floral arrangements into something that’s much more reflective of our community and showcasing inclusiveness at city hall,” Thordarson said.

cierra.bettens@freepress.mb.ca