Linda Pollock
On Bank Street, alongside the busy lanes of traffic and scurrying pedestrians, you might not expect to see a lush, abundant vegetable garden.
But a garden has been thriving for the past eight summers at the corner of Bank and Argyle. The Centretown United Donation Garden produces healthy vegetables for the meal program of the Centre 507 drop-in and resource centre for those in need.
Volunteers cultivate a wide variety of greens and vegetables including lettuce, arugula, bok choy, carrots, kale, chard, cabbage, zucchini, tomatoes, beans, leeks, and onions, as well as fresh herbs. A beautiful planter of flowers attracts insects and pollinators.
All this good food is harvested throughout the season and carried upstairs to the centre on the second floor of the church. Staff use it in tasty salads, soups and casseroles served to the centre participants. The pollinator planter is a recent addition sponsored by the Ottawa Horticultural Society.
The garden was created by members of Centretown United Church in 2016 when the ash trees, growing for decades in four large city planters beside the church, had to be cut down after succumbing to an Emerald Ash Borer infestation. With a grant from Just Food Ottawa and financial support from the congregation, volunteers repaired the existing planters, built seven new ones, and began planting. The garden coordinator consults annually with the cooks in the centre’s kitchen to identify the vegetables and herbs most useful to the meal program.
Volunteers include members of the congregation as well as residents from Centretown and adjacent neighbourhoods who enjoy gardening and wish to contribute to solutions to food insecurity in our city.
If you would like to be a volunteer either on a regular basis to water and weed, or for occasional larger tasks such as spring planting or fall clean-up, please contact centretowngarden@yahoo.com.