A strange way to tell about community gardens
Here’s an odd one from the CBC. It’s a 1982 historical archive piece telling about how some Montrealers got a ‘thrill’ from growing their own vegetables. The video and text piece tells how people got a community garden plot and grew some of their own food, and how excited they all were.
But this isn’t quaint history. It’s still true. Try to get a community garden plot and you’ll be put on a list and may have to wait years, depending where you live: in Villeray there are several gardens at a distance east of here, but for all of Park Ex and my part of Villeray there is a single garden, on the west side of the tracks from Jarry Park. I’d love to have a plot there, but I do have a tiny back yard where I can do some container gardening, so I haven’t applied for one, figuring it’s fairer to leave that garden for Park Ex folks with no outdoor space at all. We really need more community gardens in this part of town, though.
Chris 12:37 on 2019-08-03 Permalink
Looking at the google satellite view of Park Ex, there seem to be a lot of big roofs with nothing on them. I wonder if most of them could support the weight of a rooftop garden?
Kate 15:42 on 2019-08-03 Permalink
If they could it would not be for community gardens.
Chris 20:53 on 2019-08-03 Permalink
True, but could take some pressure off the waiting lists maybe.
Kate 22:57 on 2019-08-03 Permalink
Chris, nobody is going to build a rooftop agricultural garden to give the plots away for free. All the city garden plots are on disused oddments of land, unused portions of parks, that kind of thing.
…In fact, I was pleased to see that the Mile End community garden where I had a plot more than 15 years ago is still there. I half expected the city would’ve seen potential profit in selling it off by now. But the city doesn’t often repossess community garden areas: in 2015 there was talk about removing the one on St-Antoine near Lucien-l’Allier, but in the latest Google views of the area in 2018 it’s still there.
MarcG 07:42 on 2019-08-04 Permalink
It’s a pretty big deal to put a ton of dirt on a rooftop, you can go visit Santropol Roulant and see for yourself what it took for them to have a garden up there.
Michael Black 09:14 on 2019-08-04 Permalink
I never gave it thought until the ice storm of 1998, but suddenly I saw warnings about clearing roofs of snow, especially if they were flat. And I’ve seen similar warnings since then.
So yes, a lot of dirt can get heavy.
I suppose like a lot of things it’s easier and even cheaper to build strong roofs in the first place than reinforce existing ones,. I suspect that means rooftop gardens, other than a few planters, will never be common. Too bad, because people with even small yards often suffer because the yard diesn’t get useful sunlight, whike a roof may see less obstruction.
Michael
Blork 09:21 on 2019-08-04 Permalink
It’s not just the weight of the dirt — it’s the weight of the water that falls on it when it rains. Dirt with a root system acts like a sponge and retains water, so rainwater doesn’t just drain off.
It’s the same with snow on a flat roof; the problem isn’t so much the snow, it’s the snow combined with rain, which is why roof collapses happen more when the temperatures are turbulent and you get a big snowfall followed by rain.
Chris 14:30 on 2019-08-04 Permalink
Kate, who said anything about giving them away for free? If peoples’ own apartments had rooftop gardens, they wouldn’t put themselves on waiting lists with the city (possibly).
I know it’s a lot of weight, said so in my first comment. I tried to put one on my own roof, but reinforcing everything would have been way too expensive. 🙁
Kate 19:42 on 2019-08-04 Permalink
Chris, the subject was community gardens, and except for maybe a $10 or $15 annual fee, those are free.