Downtown garden supplies produce to Brock Mission
News
Posted By BETH HENDRY, SPECIAL TO THE EXAMINER
Updated 1 month ago
What used to be a concrete parking garage overhang has been transformed by volunteers into a thriving community garden.
Provincial government employees at Robinson Place on Water St. have made time during lunch hours, before and after work to build and cultivate a vegetable garden that provides healthy produce to local community outreach organization Brock Mission.
The Green Team at Robinson Place, a group of staff interested in environmental issues, met in February to discuss plans.
"The garden was an on-the-ground action that people wanted to do," said Jenny Gleeson, head of the project.
With the support of the building's owners, the Ontario Realty Corporation, a cement-covered space behind the building was chosen to house the garden. The team, now numbering between 30 and 40 members, got started by moving rocks, building sustainable raised beds and beds around the edge for sprawling plants such as zucchini and squash.
The city's waste management services division donated soil and compost for beds and the Peterborough Community Garden Network, part of Peterborough Green-Up, provided technical advice.
Gleeson said that students from the landscaping and horticulture program at Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School were given seeds and "they did the growing up to a seedling process."
Today, the garden yields more than a dozen varieties of vegetables, including spinach, beets, cucumbers and carrots.
The vegetables are harvested two to three times per week and donated to Brock Mission for use at its shelters and for the Open Table Community Dinner program.
"Having fresh produce locally grown, and anything that is that nutritious, is great," said Lindsay Archer, food service manager for Brock Mission.
The Green Team considers Robinson Place Community Garden a pilot project in "intense sustainable gardening," said volunteer Carrie Hoskins.
Members plan to add new beds to supply more organizations with produce. A harvest celebration is planned for Sept. 9.
Workshops on the storing, cooking and canning of vegetables are potential projects, but for now volunteers have their hands full.
NOTE:For more information on community gardens in Peterborough go to the Peterborough Community Garden Network website at www.greenup.on.caunder the heading Community Gardens.
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