With warmer weather ahead, the community garden should be open near the May Long Weekend. (File Photo/paNOW Staff)

By Rob Mahon

Community Garden Starting Soon

Long winter won’t delay Prince Albert community garden

May 3, 2022 | 12:00 PM

With winter lingering through much of April, it could’ve delayed the opening of the community garden operated by the Prince Albert Food Bank. Fortunately, the upcoming stretch of warm weather all but guarantees they can open on time.

The community garden, which sits beside Ecole Holy Cross on 15^th Avenue East, normally opens up around May long weekend. Thankfully, the weather is on track to allow the garden to open at its usual time, with only a few last preparations to be made.

“At this point, it first has to be tilled,” said Kim Scruby, executive director of the Prince Albert Food Bank. “Then we get it marked off with stakes. We’re on schedule now to be on time with that.”

Improvements are always coming to the garden as well, which is good news for the growing number of people who want to use. In fact, that number is growing so quickly that they’ve had to add more plots.

“We’re going to be building a composter out there so folks have something to do with weeds and that type of thing,” Scruby said. “Right now, it’s looking like we’re pretty much booked up. We’ve got a waiting list and we should have enough plots to accommodate that.”

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In the past, community garden users have grown everything from potatoes to corn to tomatoes to a wide variety of other types of produce. A lot of the produce grown in the community garden ends up supplying the food bank itself, so Scruby is excited to see it open.

“It keeps us going for a while,” Scruby said. “We’ve got some gardeners who take up plots exclusively for (the food bank). Everything grown in that plot goes directly here. We’ve got about six or seven people just on hand who do that.”

According to Scruby, the price of produce may account for some of the interest in the community garden, but there’s another factor. Some people find gardening relaxing, or that it takes them back to a time when family members tended similar small gardens.

“There was a time when I was a kid when everybody’s grandparents had a vegetable garden in the back yard and you don’t see much of that anymore,” Scruby said. “With a lot of folks living in condos and apartments and that type of thing, the space isn’t available and I think this meets the need for a lot of those people in the community.”

Scruby added at this point they’re hoping for more good weather to guarantee a timely opening.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP