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With the kind support of Saanich Parks
Welcome to our garden!
Located on a quiet residential street in Victoria, the Agnes Street Community Garden has been in continuous operation for over 30 years. Visitors to the site, who are always welcome, will find some 80 garden plots, with most plots 20 feet by 50 feet or 1,000 square feet in size. Gardeners rent plots for the calendar year and choose what garden plants to grow. Due to the moderate temperatures many gardens include not just spring and summer crops but over-wintering crops as well.
All crops are grown with organic methods and are pesticide free. A large core group of gardeners are retired seniors, but families and other groups also participate. Many of the gardeners are from nearby co-op housing, townhouses, and other condominiums, but some travel greater distances as their local community does not have this gardening resource. Some gardeners rent only a half or quarter plot as this better suits their needs. Currently there are some 80+ registered gardeners at the site.
In addition to the healthy, fresh produce the actual gardening activity includes the benefits of social contact with other gardeners, fresh air and physical activity. There is always something new to be learned about plant varieties, cooking and preparation ideas, planting methods and organic soil improvement ideas.
The transformation of the Agnes Street Gardens into a community resource, with substantial waiting lists, is very different from its initial 20 years or so of sleepy history. In the mid-1970's the provincial government of that time established many allotment garden sites in the Lower Mainland and Victoria areas. At that time Agnes Street Gardens was one of the smaller garden sites with only 25 to 30 allotment plots and provided garden plots to local resident gardeners. Over the years land development and other financial pressures resulted in the loss of many of these original allotment garden sites. Starting in 1999 a series of three extensions increased the available plots to the current total of 80 plots. At the same time the gardeners and the local municipal government of Saanich worked together to save the land-base of the Agnes Street Gardens which was slated to be sold. The result was a community garden land use type created within the municipal park structure with long-term land tenure.
See how we've grown!
