Community gardens grow in popularity as grocery prices continue to climb

As grocery prices continue to climb, so does demand for affordable, healthy food.

The P.E.I. Food Exchange is highlighting one way to do it: planting your own.

Hidden in plain sight and tucked away behind some industrial buildings is eight and a half acres of gardens — the biggest community garden on Prince Edward Island.

The Legacy Garden is open to the public with over 200 community plots for rent at a nominal fee.

Participants have to supply their own seeds and fertilizer, but the garden provides access to all the tools you need.

“In the space, you’re able to grow a variety of vegetables and fruits for your family,” said Leah Collette, Legacy Garden manager. “And be able to offset a lot of the costs of going to the grocery store.”

It’s one of a number of community gardening projects being highlighted by the P.E.I. Food Exchange, as part of the Charlottetown Edible Garden tour.

Rising food costs are growing more interest in gardening.

“They’re completely capable of growing their own food,” said Rhea Szarics, programs coordinator for the PEI Food Exchange “They can convert their backyards into productive and beautiful garden spaces, and if they are in turn looking for space to grow food, there are many options out there.”

The cost of planting a garden is often less than a single trip to the grocery store and produces much more food than shoppers get in that trip.

A master gardener was on hand Saturday to answer gardening questions. She said that, though it’s often a relief for the pocketbook, gardening isn’t just a way to save a little money.

“Go to the grocery store, everything there is perfect, everything there is in abundance,” said master gardener Heidi Riley. “But when you actually plant your own food, you see that it’s not that easy to produce it, and so it gives you that appreciation.”

The staff at the community garden also produce fruits and vegetables as well as cultivating many unique plants and species native to P.E.I.

That food doesn’t go to waste.

“We give away a majority of the produce that we produce here,” said Collette. “So we are working, along with a lot of different organizations, to help fight against food insecurity on the island.”

That’s particularly front of mind on Saturday. It’s both Food Day Canada 2022 and the Canadian Garden Council's Year of the Garden, celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Ornamental Horticulture in Canada.

The community garden in Charlottetown is among the biggest examples in Canada, but it’s by no means rare. There are other ones dotted throughout the city with 10 or 20 plots that allow people to grow food to help feed their families and fight food insecurity.