COMMUNITY GARDEN EXPANSION 2007
BEFORE Containers used in 2006 including green boxes donated by FoodShare. Each child claimed 1 green box. Perfect size for cucumbers and cabbage. Tomatoes were a bit stunted though.	AFTER Our new kid-size garden.

In 2006, our first year, our herb garden and strawberry patch were grown in makeshift wooden boxes. These did not look so nice after their first winter. Taking preventative measures against any garden nay-sayers, we decided to build a permanent garden area to match the rest of the courtyard (which is over our underground garage -- did I mention that?) It will add 75 square feet of permanent garden space.

The new area, raised about 1 ft high, will be ideal for our pint-sized gardeners. Our other larger garden area, raised about 2 ft off the ground and with a makeshift fence, posed safety concerns; children were only allowed in that garden with an adult. In the future we may fence the larger/higher garden so that children will be able to freely and safely participate in all of the garden activities.

With financial support from the Toronto Community Housing Corporation, we are getting our chainsaw ready. Did I mention the support we are getting from Brillo, our build-it-yourself guy? Boy, every community garden needs one of them.

Our garden extension was completed in May 2007 and was celebrated with a planting of green beans, carrots, romaine lettuce, eggplants, brussels sprouts, celery, coriander and peppers.