Vanier Community Garden Celebrates Milestone Anniversary
Hidden in a back corner of Richelieu Park, out of sight unless you know where to look for them, are 36 wood or metal accessible garden beds bursting with tomatoes, squash, sunflowers, beans, and every other imaginable kind of vegetable. This magical place is the Jardin Communautaire Vanier Community Garden.
In 2009, a group of volunteers, including Marguerite Beaulieu, Mike Bulthuis (then President of the VCA), Melanie MacGuigan and members of the Vanier Community Service Centre, saw the need for the people of Vanier to save money and improve their diets by growing some of their own food. They met to form a committee to establish what would become the Jardin Communautaire Vanier Community Garden.
In a true community effort, and with the support of local businesses, teams of volunteers marked the locations, removed the sod and built the four-by-eight-by-four-foot raised beds on land provided at Richelieu Park. The garden shed, built by students at Rideau High School as a shop project, sits upon a concrete pad donated by a local landscaping firm, Newfoundlandscape.
Vanier City Councillor Georges Bédard officially opened the garden on May 26, 2010, at a celebratory BBQ. The rest is history.
The Vanier Community Garden is managed by a volunteer committee through the Vanier Community Service Centre. Any resident of Vanier can apply to rent a bed for a modest yearly fee. Gardeners must grow only edible plants, encourage pollinators and share in the maintenance of the garden.
Over the years, the Jardin Communautaire Vanier Community Garden has become hugely successful, and there is a long waiting list of people who want to rent boxes. This demand has led to discussions in expanding the existing space or in creating more community gardens in other locations in Vanier, including the City heritage property at the Gamman House on Cyr St.
On September 6, the Vanier Community Garden will celebrate its 15th anniversary with a celebratory BBQ.
For more information on the Vanier Community Garden, please visit https://www.facebook.com/jardinvaniergarden/ or contact jardinvaniergarden@gmail.com.