Friday, July 4, 1997 — Narth Shore News - 11 home garden auto ORTH SHORE ] JFE lot of one’s own eee eeeeesaeeatensoes Den eseeeeseesseseeenens Roy interests, One or two townhouse on the North Shore, More and more people are being . OBRD ee Gt Bee SAK eitex cocrices -cEcha a A solitary gardener goes about her work in the Argyle Village Gardens in West Vancouver, one in a handful of allotment gardens on the North Shore. NEWS photo Cindy Goodman ON a recent trip to France I was able to ubserve one region’s approach to gardening. While they are not up to our standard of landscaping, the French certainly surpass us when it comes to home vegetable and fruit produc- tion. The old villages in the hilly, pastoral area of central France were usually built on hill sides or rocky outcrops for defence, The houses were dghtly packed inside protec: ~ tive walls and several stories high with little yard or garden space. ‘To supplement their income and guarantee a food supply, the local inhabitants had allotment-type gardens on whatever flat land they could find outside the walls, Some of the plots have been used by the same family for hundreds of years and have been made into highly pro- ductive garden sites. Many gardeners had a bench with a simple grapevine uellis or roof above it to pro- vide some shade or a litde protection from the rain. It was a place they could sit and rest alter a morning’s work and have their bread, cheese and wine for lunch. Often this site had a great view out over the valley or village below. With the high price of land and the rapid urbanization in our own area, J can see a par- allel situation developing here packed into tight clusters of condos of high rises with no space available for traditional gardening, We now have “hill vil- fages” of concrete and glass that are “pared and walled” for the residents’ protection, A whole generation of people may grow up and never have the pleasure of growing some- thing or getting their hands into the soil, As our popula- fon ages and people retire, they will undoubtably have More time for gardening. However, seniors in the community often find they have difficulty maintaining, a large home and garden in their later years and are au“ almost compelled to move into an apartment or townhouse. They could benefit from hav- ing a small plot of ground some place close by where they could still pursue their interest in growing plants. Getting out of a confining apart- ment and working ona piece of land for relax- ation and 4 feeling of accom- plishment may be the therapy a lot of people need. With the growing interest in “organic produce” more peopte will be looking at the possibility of giusving some of their own food. Growing your own food, whether it is organic or not, can also help to reduce the cast of food. For instance, a dollar package of tomato seeds can produce a hundred dollars worth of tomatoes. Experienced gardeners are generally keen to share their knowledge with new garden- ers and having an allounent garden beside an old pro might be a good way to get started. It is also a pleasant developments on the North Shore have already taken the initiative to incorporate small plot gardens in their land- scape plans and J think this is an idea that will grow in pop- ularity. Hopefully, mare devel- opers will see the benefits of providing personal garden spaces for the residents. West Vancouver, with its relatively high apartment pop- ulation, has three allotment community garden areas and a waiting list for the 72 spaces available. All three are along the waterfront and managed by the municipality but one is | located on land leased from A whole generation of people may grow up and never have the. pleasure of growing something or getting their hands into the soil. ” B.C.Rail. : North Vancouver City, with its own rapidly growing - apartment population, has one small allotment site on city land but it is privately managed by the residents. North Vancouver District has no allotment gardens in spite of the growing number of multi-family dwellings. Some of the marginal park land across the Nonh Shore might be put to betrer use if it was developed into allot- ment gardens, : People, by choice or necessity, who have been denied the opportunity to garden in single family homes would then have a place to place to meet peuple of like grow things. 1 Watch the birdie .SIX-YEAR-OLD Caitlin Potter (left) squints into the sunshine iri search of osprey at the Wild Bird Trust land off Dollarton Highway in North Vancouver. The organizatioi\ lends binoculars and telescopes ‘o visitors to get a closer look at the seeming wildlife that inhabit the waterfront area.