Illustration by Drew Shannon
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Gardening is not for the faint of heart. It requires an iron will to keep weeds at bay and plants alive. To garden in a public place requires an even stronger vision, as inconsiderate people abound. They leave their garbage and dog poo and seem to have no respect for those who want to create something beautiful.
Two years ago, I decided to rally some neighbours to create a community garden. The inspiration were two beds at the top of the street that had been created by the city. They were planted with young trees that were left to their own devices. Now, they were full of weeds, garbage and the detritus left behind by dogs that had passed through. The branches of the honey locust hung so low over the street that you had to duck underneath to get by. In the city, where space is precious, I thought, “Why were we wasting this?” I figured anything we did would be an improvement.
Luckily, the neighbours were all in. We removed needles, glass, masks and tons of odd garbage, including pillows and clothing. Garbage accumulation has proven to be as rampant as the weeds.
Reminding myself of the good that has come from this project helps to keep me motivated. It has been a catalyst for getting to know the neighbours. Because we are doing this on our own, we started with the smaller of the two beds. Though we applied for a city grant, we did not receive any funding, so we had to get creative. We split plants from our gardens, so this space is a reflection of us as a street.
Martha, a chef and accomplished gardener, split her hosta and bachelor’s buttons and planted them near the base of the honey locust. Sandy, who had just moved to our street, brought coral bells and Soloman’s seal. Emma, a busy mom of two, planted daffodils, crocus, ferns and echinacea. Kishore, who had an amazing front garden of various ground covers, planted phlox and flax and two other plants we don’t know the names of. Louie, a guerrilla gardener with an eye for colour, brought meteor shower and rudbeckia. I planted violets, anenomes, goldenrod and chrysanthemum, most of which were growing out of the concrete in my parking spot. With a few interesting rocks well placed, before we knew it, there was a garden.
The larger bed was still a mess. I would weed whack it in an attempt to stop the weeds from spreading. The soil was hard and compacted and the bed is much shadier because it is next to a building. I tried to get a mulch drop from a tree service to smother the weeds and to help improve the soil, but the site was deemed unsuitable for a large truck to access. Just when I was thinking about giving up on it, neighbours across the street had a large tree serviced. A giant pile of mulch was now on the street. The neighbours were happy to help our project along, so Mark, my ever-obliging husband, and I moved the enormous pile of mulch onto the bed, using two wagons and a bunch of buckets.
The momentum kept going when we received a plant donation from the Maple Cottage Community Garden, a neighbourhood historic site and community garden located a few blocks away. They gave us seedum, more coral bells and the hellebore or Lenten rose, which was the first plant to emerge this spring. Sandy and Bob gave us some flagstone to make a meandering path from the benches the business improvement association had installed long before we started this project. One morning, a large sign appeared made out of the pieces of wooden pallets. We installed it along the open side hoping it would deter the dogs from going in – it hasn’t. Emma painted it in the same colours as the BIA’s rainbow benches, which has brightened up the corner nicely.
It is a vast improvement to the weeds and garbage. Every time I walk past, I am amazed at how quickly we reclaimed the space. It is far from complete, but no garden really is. It is a work in progress, which is where the beauty lies.
Anne Hynes lives in Toronto.