COVID-19 and hot weather keeping community gardens busy

Community gardens have seen a growing interest this year in people testing out their green thumbs, thanks to COVID-19.

Chris Hambleton, a civil lawyer for the provincial government, has gardened at the Cathedral Area Community Association Community Garden for the past nine years.

He said this year, the garden is looking better than ever.

“So far, I’ve never seen this place in better shape,” Hambleton said. “It’s great.”

While the weather may have started off a little chilly in the early spring, the recent heat has brought life to the garden.

Hambleton’s cucumbers, which thrive when growing in heat, are growing like weeds with the recent Regina temperatures.

“We started off extremely dry (in May and June),” Hambleton said. “You had to water almost every day … then the rains came.”

Perfect rain amounts and the new heat in the province will make for a great garden yield this season, Hambleton expects.

Chris Hambleton’s Spanish onions in the Cathedral Community Garden on July 29, 2020. Hambleton says the recent hot temperatures in Regina have helped his garden flourish. (Libby Giesbrecht/980 CJME)

Part of the reason the community garden’s plots are looking extra lush this year can be attributed to the weather, but it’s also because gardeners have more free time to spend tending to their flowers and vegetables.

New gardeners have also emerged to try their hand raking and trowelling.

“I’m more avid maybe than others,” Hambleton said.

The lawyer spends about an hour a day tending to his plot, averaging about six or seven hours each week through the spring, summer, and into fall at the community garden.

Hambleton said to him, it’s not work to be out with a spade in the soil.

“I view it as a place of solace. I love having my hands in the dirt and I’d rather be here than looking at my computer screen,” he said.

“It’s a lovely place and a great community of people.”

That community, a new hobby, free time, and the allure of fresh air are the reasons Hambleton believes the garden has garnered more interest this year.

“People (will be) walking by, asking how they can get in here,” he said.

“We do have a waiting list.”

Hambleton’s eight-year-old twin daughters also love spending time with their father in the garden.

He estimates about five new gardeners joined their community this year.

“It’s always a bit of a challenge because you never know what you’re getting into if you haven’t gardened in the past,” Hambleton said.

The Cathedral Community Garden first sprouted in the 1970s and offers plots of land like Hambleton’s, around 25 feet by 30 feet, for development.

“Even though it’s very close to downtown … it has a rural feel to it,” Hambleton said.

Hambleton grows an assortment of vegetables and flowers, including Spanish onions, corn, beets, cucumbers, yellow zucchini and sunflowers. He also plants Italian parsley, sweet peas, green beans and carrots.

Birds like swallows and ravens will often flock to the gardens, alongside honey bees, enjoying the urban garden.

“I like to incorporate some flowers because it’s good for the bees,” Hambleton said.

Peppers and tomatoes are his favourite to grow and Hambleton even makes his own chili flakes by grinding up his hot peppers.

Hambleton said he gardens because of his love for the great outdoors and fresh food.

“I like to cook so I love producing my own food, vegetables,” Hambleton said.

“And then just the people here, too, the community. It’s such a gorgeous community of people … it’s a big part of my life.”