The Vancouver Resident’s Guide to Alternative Gardening

City Beet Urban Farm in Mount Pleasant by Ruth Hartnup.

According to City Hall, there are over 110 community gardens within the City of Vancouver which can be found on city-owned land, at churches, at schools, and on private property.

By Jay Banks
Vancouver Homes
July 25, 2017

Excerpt:

Another option the City has been actively promoting for gardeners is the option to plant on City land in places like boulevards and traffic circles. As O’Neill explains, any resident who has a boulevard in front of their property is encouraged to use that space for growing both edible and ornamental plants.

The boulevard is defined as the place between the curb and the sidewalk. For those who don’t have access to a boulevard, another option could be to become a volunteer with the Green Streets program, which allows volunteers to plant gardens in traffic calming areas such as traffic circles and bulges.

Initially, both the Green Streets and boulevard gardening programs only allowed for decorative gardens, but both programs have now expanded to allow for food growing as well, as long as gardeners follow the guidelines set out by the city. These guidelines include making sure plants don’t reach more than one metre in height in order to preserve sightlines for drivers and pedestrians, and taking precautions to minimize the effects of airborne toxins such as vehicle emissions.

Read the complete article here.