It’s seed season, mother pluckers. Growing your own fruit and veg is accessible for everyone on the North Shore.
For those without their own outside space, there are community gardens and allotments that offer plots in beautiful places. We’re so lucky that we have the option to stick it to the man and not have to pay millions of dollars for organic garlic or tomatoes that taste of actual tomato. We can grow our own and hopefully, because we’re all grown-ups with a conscience, no one will steal what we nurture.
They wouldn’t, would they? I’ll come to that in a minute.
The North Shore Community Garden Society is run by volunteers who oversee and manage seven community gardens, sharing their knowledge of organic gardening in the process. It’s cheap as chips to lease a garden plot, although there’s a waiting list. Peruse their website at nscgardens.ca to register your name, and soon you’ll be on your way to becoming an amateur gardener with dry hands and soil under your fingernails.
District of North Vancouver residents are eligible for community garden plots in Lillooet Park, Lynn Valley Lions and Garibaldi Park.
City of North Vancouver residents are eligible for plots in Queen Mary Community Garden, at City Hall, in Moodyville, and in the Alder Community Garden.
The NSCGS is also a partner of the incredible Edible Garden Project, who grow 10,000 pounds of produce annually at their Urban Farms for the North Shore Community.
West Vancouver residents have access to three beautiful allotment gardens through Parks and Recreation. There’s one at Gleneagles Community Centre and two between Millenium Park and Ambleside Park. I remember walking along the seawall and spotting a plant that had been fashioned into the shape of a Grinch lying on his side. I’m a big fan of anything weird like that, and gardeners, well, let’s just say they can have green fingers.
If you were a fan of R.E.M., you’ll know the song “Gardening at Night,” which wasn’t really about gardening. It speaks to the universal metaphor for everyone working towards things in their lives blindly, in the dark, not knowing where it’s going, or what the point of it is. The end results of our labours are surely going to making psychotically rich people even richer. I can’t think of a song that doesn’t resonate more in these crazy times than that one.
The opposite applies to community gardening, which happens in broad daylight unless you’re a goth or have nocturnal leanings. There is a transformative power in a community garden. They bring people together in a calming public space, build stronger neighbourhoods along with that sense of connection that we all crave. There is a point to it all, and you can reap what you sow. You can plant some herbs or some cucumbers or kale and hang out in a space where there might be a butterfly way and a solitary bee house. How charming does that sound? For me, it’s a glorious idea to have a quiet haven in the midst of the bustle of our traffic and construction.
Maybe you’ll grow a prize butternut squash, and a family out on a stroll or walking their dog will happen upon your community garden and admire it. Which brings me to the elephant in the room. Hopefully admiring won’t turn into stealing, as happened to one woman on the North Shore last year, who planted thirty garlic bulbs only to have them all taken by someone when no one was looking. Who does that? Who has created community garden drama in the face of all that goodness and light?
If it was you, think twice about doing it again. Gardening karma will come for you, and it isn’t pretty. Remember the Day of the Triffids? I wouldn’t want to be you.
Not forgetting that our dear libraries have seeds as well as books. They’re free to borrow. After your harvest, save the new seeds and return them for next year’s club. It’s like a magical fairy tale in which you are the star of the story.
North Vancouver’s Jackie Bateman is an award-winning author, screenwriter, copywriter, and extremely nosy if you get too close. [email protected]
