East End resident Miranda Snyder may not admit to being a community gardening expert quite yet, but with her involvement in a second horticultural endeavour this year, she’s well on her way.
Snyder first got involved setting up the Rail Garden, utilizing a patch of semi-wild city land near a pathway under the rail line at the south end of Monarch Park. Lately, she’s been focusing on the Garden At The Rez, where two dozen plots have been allotted in an attempt to reclaim the yard at the Church of the Resurrection, on Woodbine a few blocks north of Danforth.
Snyder, who is a member of the congregation, said the privately-owned space at the ‘Rez’ has “sat sort of vacant and unused for a few years.”
With the help of a steering committee, the church decided to give up on the former planter boxes on the property, and offer land for budding gardeners.
“They’re really excited to gift that land to the neighbours,” she said.
The plots are split between community and congregation members, with about 30 per cent from the church, and the rest from the surrounding neighbourhood. With the support of local businesses and about 40 volunteers on the Earth Day weekend, the garden has started to take shape, and should be ready for planting by the Victoria Day weekend.
Snyder said the crowd that came out to help break ground, as well as the group that will be tending garden plots, is a great mix of demographics.
“It’s a really nice mix of people that normally wouldn’t be working together,” she said.
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