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Raising the stakes for gardeners

Sunriver Allotment Garden welcomes new raised beds
75357sookeallotmentgarden
Volunteers Bonnie

Do you know someone who used to love gardening and wants to grow a few veggies the easy way this summer —  your mum, or uncle or auntie, a granny or a neighbour?

Read on, and tell them about the raised beds at Sunriver Gardens down on Phillips Road.

On February 7, at Sunriver Community Gardens, a handful of volunteers showed up to make two more boxed raised beds bringing the total of raised beds to 10 raised plots each 4’ x 8’.

These mini plots are ideal for a kitchen garden or planting a summer garden, and a winter garden (if so desired) as the winter greens do very well here in Sooke - chards, kale, Brussels sprouts, cabbages and early spring broccoli.

Thanks to a generous benefactor who donated the lumber, and a skilled building crew from the local shipyard, Shawn’s DIRT Taxi and Sooke Backhoe’s  Del Wilson, the beds got constructed and filled with old Phillips Farm mother earth, and the crew even put in some gravel paths around the beds to keep everyone’s feet dry. Each bed has a nice sit plank around each raised box bed. For some it is important to know they can garden while sitting.

Sooke Food CHI is now ready to take reservations for early spring gardening.

The beds are designed for those with mobility related health issues.  So, if it’s hard for you to  garden by standing up, bending over or kneeling  -— this is for you.

Martha Moore, one of Sooke’s movers and shakers, is really pleased with her raised bed.

“When we moved into the condo it meant leaving our gardening to a few containers on the deck. We enjoyed the flowers and a few veggies. Last year was a treat to have a raised 4’X4’ bed in Sunriver garden. It was so easy to sit on the edge — no kneeling or bending, pain-free gardening. This year, thanks to wonderful volunteers, the raised, seated border beds are 4’X8’. Fall Fair entries here we come!”

A $20 annual plot fee entitles one to the use of water, using a watering can or hose from nearby; all tools, compost and soil amendments. We have some donated seeds available too, from generous gardeners like Jane and Rick Gates.

Please call Glen  at 250-642-7906 to sign up for a raised bed, or plan to attend Seedy Saturday on Feb. 25.