Coquitlam is growing its roster of community gardens and students and residents will benefit.
Tomorrow (Thursday), the city will be putting spade to earth to open the new Scott Creek Community Garden at Eagle Ridge Park, located between Scott Creek middle school and Eagle Ridge elementary.
As many as 26 raised garden beds have been built and filled with soil with the help of $15,000 in cash and materials from Scott’s Miracle-Gro as part of the company’s Showcase Garden Program. Dozens of children of all ages are reportedly eager to get their hands dirty growing flowers and raising vegetables, and some have plants and seeds ready to go.
“My son is surprisingly interested in gardening,” said Agnes Mayer, whose son is in kindergarten at Eagle Ridge elementary and has sunflower seeds to plant.
Plots are also available for members of the community but there is a waiting list for them, although people can still apply. As well, students from nearby Gleneagle secondary are expected to participate and a raised trough for soil and plants was built for students who use wheelchairs so they can tend plants easily.
Parks manager Kathleen Reinheimer said the Scott Creek Community Garden complements Coquitlam’s four other community garden programs and will encourage students and families to learn how to grow their own produce and connect with others in their community. Some of the produce will go to the food bank through the Plant a Row, Grow a Row program.
The new garden is also envisioned as a secondary campus for the Inspiration Garden composting, food gardening and interpretive programs, and volunteers from that garden (located in Town Centre Park) are expected to help out new green thumbs and may look after the student plots during summer.
Coquitlam also hopes the community garden will bolster the city’s entry into the Communities in Bloom contest, Reinheimer said.
“This is the first kind of major initiative we are embracing on for our Communities in Bloom entry. This is a flagship entry that is typical for that kind of initiative, it really shows off the kind of response and interest from the community.”
For more about the Coquitlam in Bloom program, including upcoming activities, visit www.coquitlam.ca/CiB.
