Richmond’s newest community garden unveiled in the City Centre

04 April 2022

The City of Richmond’s largest community garden is now officially open. Council members dug in the dirt and planted vegetables and herbs at the new Garden City Lands community garden on Monday, April 4. This community garden site is the largest in the city and one of the largest public community garden sites in Canada, with 200 plots available to Richmond residents.

“Community gardens are essential to the health and wellbeing of the community. They allow residents to experience nature in the city and create community connections. The gardens also support pollinators such as bees and hummingbirds,” said Mayor Malcolm Brodie. “Furthermore, the 200 new community garden plots will play a crucial role for increased food security by providing space for food production in the highly densified City Centre area of Richmond.”

The Garden City Lands community garden is made up of self-enclosed above ground containers—the first of its kind in Richmond. They were repurposed from an urban farm in Vancouver and filled with Richmond-sourced soil, as well as composted material from leaves collected from park sites throughout the city last year. The specialized containers are accessible as they are raised off the ground so gardeners do not have to bend down as much. There is also one metre (three feet) on all sides of the garden plot so wheeled mobility devices can reach across from either side.

This is the 11th community garden site in the city. Urban Bounty, the non-profit organization that manages Richmond’s community garden sites, supported the expansion and continues to work with the City to provide accessible spaces to all residents.

“Urban Bounty is excited to activate this new community garden as it addresses food security while reducing the demand for urban growing spaces,” said Urban Bounty Executive Director Ian Lai. Food security is tied directly to climate change and the Mayor and Councillors’ leadership in supporting community gardens is indicative of an upstream approach to a shifting landscape. Urban Bounty is proud to be engaging a resilient local food system through education, advocacy and community-building initiatives.”

To learn more about the Richmond Community Garden Program and to register for a community garden plot, visit urbanbounty.ca or email info@urbanbounty.ca.