Wolseley gardeners preparing early for spring

Wolseley

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This article was published 15/02/2023 (1054 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The recent deep-freeze might have spring feeling a lifetime away, but the Wolseley Residents’ Association is already looking forward to the thaw and is taking applications for plots in the Vimy Victory Garden, a community garden at Vimy Ridge Memorial Park.

Community garden co-founder Erna Buffie said she’s looking forward to getting things going for the garden’s third growing season.

“It’s really exciting. We have some gardeners who are reapplying, and it’s wonderful. We have a large percentage of people who are in apartments. We give priority to people, actually, without yards,” Buffie said.

Buffie said the community garden has started to become a little community, and last year, the residents’ association threw a party to celebrate the garden to which about 100 people showed up.

“We like to think of it as a community, or in a community focus, and we’ve had incredible feedback about how much it has changed the park,” Buffie said.

She said with gardeners regularly tending to their crops, it brought a little more life and activity to the park.

“It means there are people in the park regularly now. The park just feels safer. It feels more beautiful. It feels more communal,” she said.

Buffie said the association plans to make some additions to the garden this year.

“One of the things that we’ve been working on getting up is better signage,” she said. “Because there are two community gardens there, and we need people to know that they’re free to pick from the community beds, but the other beds are allotments and belong to families.”

Buffie said they’re also looking at adding a number of new beds, which would add to its already blossoming amenities. Last year the garden added a section for native plants and planted a small orchard.

Currently, there are 20 plots available for allotment. Besides being given to community members without yard space, priority will also be given to those in the Wolseley area, though applications are accepted from beyond its boundaries.

Gardeners must agree to abide by a basic code of conduct, such as contributing one or two hours a month to maintain the compost bins, garden beds and orchard, cleaning up litter, and refraining from using pesticides and herbicides.

Buffie said after priorities are considered, successful applicants will be chosen at random.

“We run what we’re calling a lottery. Names are put into a system and then randomly picked. That’s the way we operate the selection for who gets the beds,” she said.

Applications are due by Feb. 28, and successful applicants should hear from organizers by March 17. For full information and to find an application, visit wrawpg.ca