Campbellton Park was a flurry of activity last Saturday morning as volunteers got to work building the neighbourhood’s first community garden.
Members of the Campbellton Neighbourhood Association, as well as seven members of Strategic’s stand-by fire crew, built 18 yellow cedar garden beds and with the help of a Bobcat from D.A.D.S. Homes, filled the boxes with planting soil.
Volunteers also dug deep to accommodate and then lay the water line, as well as put up a secure fence around the park, which is located on the south side of 15th Avenue between Redwood Street and Petersen Road.
Zoie Richards, a resident who lives down the street from the park, said the garden is a good thing for the neighbourhood.
“I live a block away,” she said. “It’s great to see this.”
It was Richards who provided a key piece to Saturday’s garden construction team.
Richards, a GIC team leader with Strategic, said she asked around at work to see if there were any interested volunteers and the fire crews stepped up to help.
“Our fire crews are always on stand-by and they do lots of volunteer work,” Richards said. “They volunteer their time for several projects throughout the community.”
While the garden is still in its preliminary stages, some of the garden beds have already been spoken for but there are still others available.
The cost for a garden plot is $45 per season which covers costs such as insurance.
The plots are given out on a first-come, first-serve basis and if the demand is there, the Campbellton Neighbourhood Association will go ahead with a second phase which involves the addition of 15 raised garden beds.
The beds are 20 feet long by four feet wide and are just the beginning.
To complete the garden, the Campbellton Neighbourhood Association is looking for donations such as a lockable shed, gardening tools, a lockable gate and other gardening supplies.
For more information or to get involved, contact Brian Shaw at 250-287-8807 or email brianthepiper@gmail.com.
