Wanted – good soil

By MaryLynne Rimer,

Neighbourhood Garden of All Sorts Coordinator

The new ‘Neighbourhood Garden of All Sorts’ will soon begin to take shape at its new location on the Niagara Street Boulevard adjacent to MacDonald Park. The garden will have 18 raised allotment beds including three especially designed for people with disabilities. The design also includes room for an herb spiral, flower plantings, and some space to grow fruits and/or veggies to be shared with the community.

We plan to add to the beauty and livability of the neighbourhood, as well as providing much needed space to grow food. The design leaves room for walking along the boulevard and won’t interfere with the enjoyment of the ball games at MacDonald Park. The garden will be, like the Michigan Street garden, open to the community to visit.

It has been somewhat of a long road to come to this place of relocating the garden from its original location on Michigan Street. With the support of LifeCycles Project Society, a few dedicated gardeners have worked hard to comply with the City of Victoria’s Community Garden Policy, including consulting with residents, gaining community support through petitions, and working through the Neighbourhood Association’s Land Use process. We are happy to see the City's and the Neighbourhood Association's strong commitment to, and support of, community gardening.

Our challenge now is to get the monetary and in-kind support for building this new garden. We very much appreciate the City putting in access to water and a fence. We also appreciate Camosun College construction class offering to build us a beautiful shed for the cost of the lumber and in-kind support from Jawl Properties for the raised beds. As we were unable to recover any of the soil from Michigan Street, we are looking for help for the purchase of soil at a cost of about $2,500. We have about $4,000 from fundraising, grants, and a carryover balance from the Michigan Street garden. However, the total costs of the relocation will be about $9,000.

Please be in touch if you’d like to volunteer, or can provide cash or in kind donations. 

rimergroup@gmail.com  250-360-7696

If you like to garden, and are a resident of James Bay without gardening space available, you may be interested in joining the Neighbourhood Garden of All Sorts. Please contact Billy Page at b.page@shaw.ca