Urban Agriculture

• Introduction
• Canadian Survey
• Riverview Gardens
• Conclusions
• References

Review Community Gardens

History

The Riverview community gardens are located between the raised berm of Churchill Drive and the Red River within Churchill Drive Park. Its location on the depositing side of the river’s bend and its situation in close elevation with the river’s water level has long made it a fertile site for the property owner’s across the road and the pioneers who settled the land as primary agriculture. Since urbanization, the land was planted with vegetables and a greenhouse was maintained the city’s hospitals. The work was done by inmates driven in from Headingly provincial penitentiary, providing a portion of the food for all of Winnipeg’s municipal hospitals. In the early 1970’s, the municipal hospitals were sold to the Manitoba Health Commission who left the lands that the gardens occupy to the city, who quickly leased the property to the Riverview Community Garden group. Since then membership has grown to roughly one hundred participants with 107 plots, measuring 40’x50’ each – 2000 square feet and roughly 2 acres in total. Each plot is capable of producing about 1,700lbs of produce, a site total of 182,000 lbs. Applications are submitted every year by mid April with an annual fee of $7, with a waiting list ranging from just a handful up to 125, despite not advertising. This fee includes an annual tilling and three summer clean-ups. The majority of gardeners live within walking distance from the gardens, although some participants come from as far as St. Vital, East Kildonan and Transcona. The comparatively large size of the individual plots means that even those living within walking distance use a car to do maintenance and transport the produce, so the distance one lives from the site becomes somewhat irrelevant.

Programs

Communication between the gardeners is fairly informal. A notice board stands at the centre of the site and application forms double as a newsletter including any new rules or highlights from the previous year. Occasionally, an additional newsletter is distributed by the executive committee, depending on who is involved and whether or not there are any ‘news worthy’ events such as floods, droughts or excessive vandalism. Socially, every fall the group organizes a harvest party potluck dinner at the local community club where food items feature the produce grown. Although the group has no official mandate to promote organic gardening or even urban agriculture, some of the participants who are teachers do lead their classes through the gardens in May and June. One gardener, who occupies three plots contributes a portion of his harvest to the Fort Rouge Community Centre Farmer’s Market, increasing the local awareness of city farming while adding a source of modest income. Beyond the local contribution to the community, the gardens have roots in larger efforts as well. One participant, Ron O’Donovan began the now city wide ‘Grow a Row’ campaign for Winnipeg Harvest in 1986. Since then the effort has collected 1.4 million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables for Winnipeg Harvest. The range of activity and ultimate uses for the gardens at Riverview is testament to the contribution that is possible in community gardening even without an organized mandate in social networking, education, or urban food supplements. The contribution comes naturally.

Practices

Almost all of the garden’s participants employ an organic strategy. There is an onsite compost bin, and many bring the compost and mulch from their own yards in the community. Some people even make use of leaves and grass clippings piled in the park by the city. The practice of composting replaces the use of chemical fertilizers and also helps to retain moisture within the soil. Mulching is also practiced by some to hold moisture and fill in the cracks of dry soil. Although no water conservation is practiced on site and no city water source is available, many find ways to water their gardens. Some bring containers from home, filling smaller jugs half submerged in the soil. Some pump water from the river, one gardener with his own buried water line branching out into the plot – outright modern irrigation. Some of the more organic gardeners suggest that water is actually not necessary. One person operating three plots has never added water to his crop even in the driest spells, without any crop failure. He claims that the close proximity to the river actually allows groundwater seapage to reach the plants. If not constantly watered, the roots presumably reach deeper into the soil finding this water. Another organic highlight has been the group’s ability to convince the city to not spray the site for mosquitoes. (apparently a local connection unique to the Riverview site) Gardener’s claim that this has resulted in not only less vegetable scrubbing, but also an increased dragonfly and bird population, and noticeably lower numbers of mosquitoes.