Yara Community Gardens digging into new season with updated safety guidelines

Yara Community Gardens isn’t letting coronavirus stop the gardens from flourishing this summer, as all three of the community gardens locations have implemented a variety of safety measures to keep gardeners in their plots this year. Gardens coordinator Cassidy Bochek from Hunger in Moose Jaw, the parent organization of the community gardens, shared the number of ways that staff are making sure gardeners remain safe while they attend to their plots. “It’s certainly been interesting this year,” said Bochek.” With the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve had to make sure that we put enough precautions in place to keep everyone safe while they’re using the gardens.” For starters, only the 140 ground plots were made available to gardeners this year and not the plant boxes, as the boxes are located too close together to ensure proper social distancing. The community gardens communal tools are also not available for use, and access to the sheds is restricted. Staff are visiting each site regularly to sanitize all of the communal public surfaces — such as tap handles and gates. There is also plenty of signage posted throughout the gardens, reminding everyone to keep their recommended two-metres of distance and to avoid attending to their plots if they have travelled recently or are feeling ill. Gardeners are also asked to wear gloves at all times while using the communal watering taps, and hand sanitizer is also being made available to all gardeners on site.

The community gardens are also currently operating on specific hours, to ensure that staff are able to keep up with the sanitation routine. All of the new changes have been implemented following recommendations from the Saskatchewan Health Authority.

Bochek said there was just as much interest in community garden plots this year as any other year, with lots of people returning and new gardeners alike.

Because of the unusual nature of this season, Yara Community Gardens gave returning gardeners the option of leaving their plots for staff to maintain and return to next year with no penalty, but most gardeners chose to plant as usual. “We gave everyone the choice, gave them all of the new rules and said if you’re not comfortable because of the pandemic, if you don’t think you want to be in public or if these new rules aren’t going to work for you, we have [this option],” said Bochek.

Bochek also noted that there were lots of new gardeners interested in getting a plot within the gardens this year, as the popularity of growing one’s own food products continues to rise amid the pandemic.

“I think the returning gardeners are business as usual in what they’re growing, but we have heard from quite a few people that are interested this year that have never gardened before,” said Bochek.

Despite all the new changes, the Yara Community Gardens are set to thrive once again this year, with safety remaining top-of-mind for everyone.

“Health and safety have been our biggest priority,” said Bochek. “Any changes that we’ve made, we’ve made sure that we’re using the information provided by our provincial government and the Saskatchewan Health Authority. We just want to make sure that everyone is safe this year.”