By Chris Koo

New comm garden

In the face of annual wildfires, local planting bed at UNBC supports food security

Apr 24, 2024 | 3:03 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — The president of the Botanical Garden Society says they’ve set up 22 vegetable planting beds, such as lettuce and carrots, at the left side of the main UNBC campus, after seeing a lot of interest from people in having their own gardens.

Though there hasn’t been a specific request, there’s been a need for a new community garden after the biggest garden on Queensway had full planting beds according to Linda Ness, the president of the David Douglas Botanical Garden Society.

People are also moving towards more organic foods and food they can grow themselves because it tastes better, she says.

However, another big reason for the new garden is to prevent the food insecurity Prince George faced between 2017-2018 after wildfires that greatly impacted the region.

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“This isn’t going to solve the problem, but it’s a step in the right direction,” says Ness.

Dr. Annie Booth, an Environmental and Sustainability Professor at UNBC, says investing in people who are growing broader scale farms, such as local producers, is the realistic solution to the complex food security issues.

“You need to invest in both. And that means the government, both provincial and federal, really need to step up and start investing in training, and the opportunity to access land. So one of the bigger issues, of course, is that the land isn’t readily available to younger farmers without a whole lot of credit,” says Booth.

With water available on site, Linda says the beds have been filled with soil and organic compost will be available soon.

There are currently no plans to build another community garden in the city.