Community Garden hits capacity, says organizers

By Michelle Poirier

The Community Gardens in Belleville are so popular that all the plots have been filled and there are still residents waiting for their chance, organizers said this week.

The second year of the Community Gardens project by the Green Program is growing off of the success from last year. Twenty new garden plots were added in May behind the Community Resources Centre of Quinte at 41 Octavia St. These plots, including the twenty-one plots created last year at Ponton Park at 241 Dundas St. West, are almost all in bloom, Melanie Zeitz-Morrish, Green Program Coordinator, said.

“All the plots are full and I have a waiting list,” she said.

Zeitz-Morrish says the last time the gardens were checked there was just one plot had not been planted yet but they have till the end of June to get started.

The original goal of the garden project has been reached, she said.

“We got the message out that community gardens are available in Belleville,” she said.

The gardens are there to provide the community with a space they can grow their own fruits and vegetables to help save money, eat better, and help the environment by eating local.

“[The gardens were] really designed to accommodate a community need,” she said.

The food grown in the gardens is for the gardener’s own personal use but if there is extra they are encouraged to share with Gleaners Food Bank in Belleville and the Community Development Council of Quinte.

The city’s website says that community gardens can help bring people together. They create a sense of community, people working together from all around the town.

These gardens will remain as long as people continue to use them, Zaitz-Morrish said.