The value of community gardens

BY FRAN BAFARO MASTER GARDENER

Food is a basic human need and is essential for all people. Access to healthy, affordable food can be a challenge for many. The Town of Ladysmith is fortunate that two organizations, the Ladysmith Community Gardens and Kiwi Cove Community Garden, have goals and resources to help address local food security issues.

On the corner of Second Avenue and High Street sits the Ladysmith Community Gardens (LCG). Built on town property and established in 2011, it is a beautiful space created for people who desire to grow food but lack their own natural space in an urban environment.

Twenty-seven raised garden beds, a shed, a gazebo and a pergola, along with a picnic table and benches, create the landscape of the gardens. Fruit trees, several di fferent berry bushes, fruitbearing vines and herb garden fill the corner lot. The garden beds are tended by gardeners from 24 families and the community non-profit organizations: Born Healthy; Ladysmith Family and Friends Society (LaFF); and Community Link. The gardeners pay, manage and

maintain their own beds. Depending on seasonal growing conditions, gardeners can grow and harvest a considerable amount of produce for their families and organizations.

During the growing season, the LCG is frequented by people of all ages. They come to check out what’s growing, talk to the gardeners, have a picnic lunch and children play in the sand pile. It has become a genuine community garden space for all.

The LCG agrees to keep up the garden to park standards, and in return, the Town of Ladysmith provides the space, soil, water and maintenance of the property. Garden beds are regularly renovated and repaired with lumber donated by Saw Mill Direct.

A waiting list for garden beds and a desire to meet the needs of town residents has spurred the LCG’s volunteer board to look towards future expansion for a second community gardens space.

Kiwi Cove Community Garden was established in 2006 on a plot of donated land on Kiwi Cove Lodge property. Over the years, the garden bed has grown and is currently 1,280 square feet in size. The garden produces food for the growing community of Ladysmith with the philosophy “to grow as much useful food as possible, for as many people as possible, and do it responsibly,” using sustainable gardening practices.

In the 2021 and 2022 gardening seasons, approximately 4000 pounds of produce were grown and harvested each year. They grow “virtually everything” and “yields vary from year to year.” All of it goes to the Ladysmith Food Bank.

The garden is maintained by volunteers. Over the years, there have been as few as four volunteers and as many as 15

in a season. Volunteers are a vital resource to the success of the garden, and more are always welcome.

The addition of supplies donated yearly by Dinter’s Nursery and West Coast Seeds help keep the vegetable plants growing. Over the last several years, donations from local charitable organizations help alleviate major expenses.

Future plans for the Kiwi Cove Community garden include developing the gardens as a community learning resource that teaches gardening skills while continually addressing food security issues.

Food security is a problem with no easy solution. One way to address it is with food production. The community of Ladysmith is fortunate to have two local organizations supported by dedicated volunteers and generous donors tackling it. They grow food in two distinctly different community gardens with the same overall goal of providing healthy food for citizens in the Town of Ladysmith.

Certi fied master gardeners are volunteers who provide education to home gardeners using current, science-based horticultural knowledge that exempli fies environmentally-responsible practices and stewardship.

Certified Vancouver Island master gardeners are volunteers who provide education to the home gardener using current, science-based horticultural knowledge that exemplifies environmentally responsible practices and stewardship.

Ladysmith Community Gardens

Opposite page: Kiwi Cove Community Garden. Photos submitted.