Smithers Community Garden at capacity

With spring on the way, various members of the Northern Root Community Garden (NRCG) are anxiously waiting for the frost to melt so they can get back to their various plots and start another season of growing.

The only problem? There’s just not enough soil to go around.

READ MORE: Good things are growing on Railway Ave

At their Mar. 10 council meeting NRCG chair Scott McMillan gave a presentation on council with the underlying message of asking the Town to think about ways to ensure future expansion of community garden space within its boundaries.

He said the decision to bring the message to council came after attending a climate action workshop which looked at different ways to reduce emissions through local food production.

“One of the actions we talked about is providing more land for locals to be able to grow more food if they’re interested,”

According to McMillan, they are, with the garden’s 32 plots completely spoken for by a combination of individuals, families and businesses which use the land.

He said currently there are six people on the garden’s waitlist and he expects the number to grow as the months get warmer.

To that end, McMillan noted there are no lands within the Town currently set aside for future community gardens and asked council to consider finding ways to ensure community garden space is provided in future Town developments, such as new subdivisions.

“One thing I’m looking for here is not, at this point, to say the community garden is ready to take on a whole new chunk of land but having that land in the future so that if one of the six, 10, 15 people on the waitlist wants to take on that big task of developing that site then it is an option,” he said.

“I think the more proactive we can be about it the better of a garden we can produce at a lower cost.”

McMillan said the garden currently faces a number of challenges, including the odd nosy deer or rabbit, but that at the end of the day two of the biggest issues they have are space and proximity to the town.

“I have had a number of elderly folks phone interested in the garden but when they realize it’s the one down at railway they were looking for something a bit more central.”

Then there’s also the costs associated with a new plot of land, namely irrigation, storage and things like soil testing.

In response to a question from Coun. Frank Wray about how prepared they would be able to pay for things like soil testing if they got land, McMillan said he was unsure about specifics but suggested the NRCG could look at applying for grants if it came to it.

The garden’s chair added they aren’t picky with regards to what’s available. “If there’s space there for something that could match what we’ve got that would be ideal but its certainly not necessary,” he said. “Maybe it’s gonna be a couple of smaller groups [and] just working with what land is available.”

Deputy mayor Gladys Atrill also discussed the possibility of people in the community sharing yard space and said she supports bringing the discussion into the Town’s planning of the OCP.

“It’s something that’s a good marker for us to consider during those conversations.”