Montreal City Weblog

Kate 18:49 on 2022-08-10 Permalink Reply  

• John B 21:04 on 2022-08-10 Permalink

  I don’t have inside knowledge, but I suspect this is part of the $10 million announced earlier this year.

• Kate 09:21 on 2022-08-11 Permalink

  That’s how it’s described in the articles, John B.

• John B 09:38 on 2022-08-11 Permalink

  Somehow I missed that.

• Jonathan 09:50 on 2022-08-11 Permalink

  Oh hmm. I like the idea of a new collective garden, but the site of the new one in Villeray seems a bit problematic. This is a small public square that was previous used by some people experiencing homelessness. Residents complained and so the city removed some furniture and made it more inhospitable. Then more complaints since it obviously doesn’t solve the housing issue… and then a ‘collective garden’ project popped up, taking up some of the space. I pass by there often and can tell you this is not well taken care of since it is just a fake project to kick out marginalized folks.

  It’s just sad to see that this is what ‘community efforts’ end up being. It’s just gentrification by exclusion.

• Kate 10:35 on 2022-08-11 Permalink

  This is the space Jonathan is talking about.

  Wow, that used to have a sort of shady pergola over it. I’ve actually sat there a little while – in the past – to read. They’ve really messed it up, and besides, there’s barely room for half a dozen garden plots on that single lot. Thanks for pointing it out. I did a little search for “Parc Azellus‑Denis” yesterday but didn’t get around to mentioning it.

• John B 11:55 on 2022-08-11 Permalink

  In Montreal language, “collective garden” = 1 garden managed collectively by a group, where everyone shares in the work and shares in the harvest, where “community garden” = a bunch of small plots each gardened by (usually) a single household.

  The city has been pushing the collective garden concept recently, and the pessimist in me thinks it’s because they can fit more gardeners per square foot, thus claiming that all those people “have garden space.” I haven’t really looked into how much demand there is for community vs collective but I also suspect there’s less demand for collective gardens. Some people in power also believe that community gardens are a privatization of public space.

  I believe that both kind of gardens have a place in the community. Despite claims that Montreal has the “biggest” or “best” community garden system of any major city, that’s often selective measuring – for example community garden plots in Montreal are generally 10% the size of plots in London, England. I’m on the board of a garden in Verdun, and I’m working to get more garden space, (I think it’s possible, without turning parks into gardens, we just have to be flexible in what we allow spaces to be used for).

  At the same time there’s a perennial problem where 5-10% of people who sign up to garden don’t really use the garden, so the garden board has to nag them to use the garden, and sometimes kick them out, which is no fun as a volunteer.

  Back to the space, it’s not that big, and appears to be mostly shaded by the brick wall and mature-ish trees. It’s not an ideal garden space, but, if the whole are gets turned into a well-managed garden, (as opposed to just those bins), it could produce some great summer & fall vegetables for a few families – hopefully it works.