By Joe Mancini
Published in September 2021
The Working Centre’s Market Garden is now in its 10th year. It is an excellent example of converting 1.5 acres of privately owned vacant land in the heart of the city into a community-based market garden.
A key factor for success was the vision of Ron Doyle, the owner of the property, to integrate a garden into his development plans that recreated a run-down 100-year-old factory into a stunning version of something you might find if you walked the Camino de Santiago.
A second factor was that The Working Centre had determined it was important to establish a larger scale teaching garden in a location in the city as opposed to a rural property.
The third factor was the commitment from Ron and The Working Centre to invest in the necessary tools for the market garden to flourish. These amenities included a fully functioning water system, washrooms, interlocking brick pathways, a cooler, tool storage, an office space, and a washing station. We also committed to learning about organic soil amendments like good quality compost, greensand, and cover crops. We invested in a heavy duty tiller, row covers and other seeding tools.
A fourth factor is that every year there have been efforts to add to the garden, such as expanding into new garden plots, developing tiered raised beds on the slopes, adding fruit crops, berry plants, and native perennial flowers, and building a greenhouse.
While our future on this property may not be clear, the success and hard work to create and maintain this market garden oasis can only be celebrated.
