Bicycle tour highlights growing popularity of community gardens

EDMONTON - Sandra Ngo helps gardeners of varying ages and abilities get their hands dirty.

?I had one girl this summer who pulled her first weed, another who planted her first plant,? said Ngo, garden-co-ordinator at the Sustain SU community garden.

Others who volunteer at the communal plot, near 89th Avenue between 110th and 111th streets, are more experienced green thumbs.

?Some people are students who have grown up on farms and just want to reconnect with the land. There?s not much gardening in condos or apartments,? Ngo said.

On Sunday morning, Ngo showed off the combined efforts of her volunteers to a crowd taking part in a community garden bike tour.

About 30 people wandered through the plot with Ngo, checking out the lettuce bed, or ?slug heaven? as she calls it, as well as neat rows planted with a variety of other vegetables and herbs. The food produced is available to volunteers, and some is donated to the campus food bank.

Visitors saw chili peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes thriving inside a greenhouse, and learned how volunteers use compost collected on-site to fertilize the garden.

?Every community garden has a different story to tell, and we wanted to give the volunteers a chance to tell that story,? said Areni Kelleppan, executive director of Sustainable Food Edmonton, which organized Sunday?s bike tour with the Edmonton Bicycle Commuters? Society.

The free tour made stops at five community gardens on the south side, ending at the French Quarter?s Farmer?s Market.

A tour held July 13 started at the Riverdale community garden and included five other central gardens.

Kelleppan said this summer?s bike tours are a first for Sustainable Food Edmonton, an organization that oversees community gardens and other food programs.

With more than 70 community gardens in Edmonton this year, the hard part for organizers was choosing what spots to go to.

?In 2003, there were about five community gardens,? Kelleppan said. ?So over 10 years we have seen huge growth. There?s another dozen or so that want to get started.?

She credits the popularity of community gardens to a growing desire for people to know where their food comes from, and to connect with their neighbours.

?Gardening is the perfect way to engage the community. It?s a non-threatening way for newcomers to get involved, and everyone can work in it. I think that?s part of the appeal,? she said.

Anna Vesala, a board member with the Edmonton Bicycle Commuters? Society, organized a bicycle garden tour in 2010, in part because of her involvement with a community garden in Oliver.

?Our garden committee had so many questions and we thought other communities might have answers. We thought let?s just go see other gardens,? Vesala said.

Her group?s questions where basic, including wondering what tools others kept in their sheds and where they got and stored their compost.

So when Sustainable Food Edmonton approached the Bicycle Commuters? Society for help organizing this year?s tours, ?it was a really easy yes,? Vesala said.

?For us, it?s also about showing different types of bike infrastructure that have gone into the area,? she said.

Sunday?s route took bicyclists on ?sharrows,? which are shared lanes for vehicles and bicycles marked by a bike and arrows painted onto the pavement.

A mix of participants attended the tour, including people with no gardening experience curious to see what opportunities are available, and fellow community garden volunteers checking out their neighbours? plots.

?I have a soft spot for community gardens and I wanted to learn more about community cycling opportunities, so it was the perfect fit for me,? said Michelle Neilson, who attended the tour with her sister.

Neilson and others wandered through the Parkallen community garden near 65th Avenue and 111th Street, a pea pod shaped garden that incorporates principles of permaculture design.

There was also a special stop outside Parkallen School, where volunteers with River City Permablitz Network worked to transform an old flower bed into a berry patch outside the school?s doors. It will eventually grow into a self-sufficient source of snacks for students.

While many community gardens delegate separate plots to individual gardeners, Parkallen?s garden is tended and harvested collectively by a group of about 20 volunteers.

?It?s peace of mind for me, to come in here and spend a bit of time in the green space,? said Rose Yewchuk, a volunteer who lives in a nearby apartment building.

?And it?s nice to get produce, too. When I?m hungry for lunch, I can just walk across the street and get lettuce and cucumber for a salad.?

cklingbeil@edmontonjournal.com

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Source: http://feeds.canada.com/~r/canwest/F264/~3/_hFNl1mmBsM/story.html

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