(Garden) plot thickens as new community garden takes shape

ELORA – Folks who would like one but can’t get a plot at a community garden elsewhere in town will be happy to know a new community garden is in the works at Elora Public School.

There had been one outside the school, but the Elora and Salem Horticultural Society, which oversaw the garden, was told last year the garden had to move as the school was required to install a gate in that place.

It wasn’t such a bad piece of information to receive, said Daisy Moore, who is taking the lead in re-establishing a community garden on a different site at the school.

The old garden was established in 2015, “and we weren’t having success there. It was too shady and there was bad drainage,” Moore said to about a dozen people who gathered on April 8 to learn about the new plan.

A small creek runs through the school’s playground, and the new garden will be established on the other side of a footbridge on land that’s relatively flat with very few trees.

It has the stamp of approval from the Upper Grand District School Board, school principal Natasha McLaren and vice principal Amy Wootton, who also attended the meeting.

The school board has even provided a small budget to help get the project off the ground – or rather, in the ground. 

There’s much work to be done before anyone can plant carrots or tomatoes.

A work party was slated for April 22 – Earth Day – when volunteers will spread manure over the staked-out area and it will be plowed in.

Later, when the time is right, it will be tilled and then left to stabilize. And then tilled a few times more to break down the large chunks and get the soil ready for planting.

In the meantime, volunteers will build a few raised gardens, source composters and water totes, and mark out pathways between the separate garden plots.

Eventually there will be a fence around the space and those who rent a plot are free to plant what they want and care for their crops the way they want.

“We want it to look good,” Moore said. 

“But the bigger idea is to come together and garden together. If it’s properly set up in the first place, we will have success.”

As people introduced themselves, it was clear that a community garden is much more than a place to grow food or flowers.

People talked about not having enough land, or suitable land, or any land, to grow what they want. But more than anything, they talked about the community that grows in a community garden.

“The social aspect is huge,” Moore agreed.

After this week, the next work party at the new garden will be May 14 to 16 for plot and pathway set-up. 

The gardens will be measured and staked out, soil moved from pathways to the beds, and the paths covered with straw or woodchips. Then gardeners can occupy the plots.

Anyone wanting to join a work team at the Elora school garden can contact Moore at daisy@daisymoore.com.

When this garden is complete, there will be six community gardens in Centre Wellington and four have available plots. 

For more information or to book a plot, reach out to a coordinator:

• Centre Wellington Community Sportsplex garden, cwcommunitygarden@gamil.com;
• St. James community garden, Trutherford111574@hotmail.com;
• Faith Lutheran community garden, Irk.beer@gmail.com; and
• Elora Public School community garden, asa.boxer@mail.mcgill.ca.