The third annual St. Albert Edible Garden Tour is a guided event that presents the diversity of edible landscapes brought about by dedication and hard work.
This year the tour of neighbourhood gardens and backyards features innovative organic style fresh veggies, fruits, raised beds, vertical gardens, lasagna gardening and something completely new – chickens.
These food producers have turned their yard space into something more than grass. It shows how various local edible food gardeners are continuing traditional farming practices and in some cases, improving on them.
Taking place Wednesday, July 31 the tour encourages people to grow their own food while bridging information gaps.
For tour participants it’s an opportunity to learn what grows in our climate, get ideas about design planning and chat with gardeners first-hand and ask questions. For gardeners, it’s a chance to share their newfound knowledge with like-minded individuals.
“In general people are curious about what goes on behind our neighbour’s fence,” said tour organizer Jill Cunningham from St. Albert Urban Agriculture.
“There’s also a movement to grow our own food. There’s no need for plastic packaging. Just pick it from your garden. It not only tastes better and you’re saving the planet, but it’s very empowering. And I can tell you, people are very excited about it.”
Cunningham first developed an interest in edibles more than a decade ago when Roy Berezan, an Edmonton expert in permaculture started offering tours.
“I looked forward to it every year. We did it as a mother-daughter thing for a variety of years. There were so many interesting gardens. Some were made from lattice. Some had raised beds and others were a bit wild and clandestine. Some people had bees or they grew wild flowers or fruit trees. One guy even had a science project to see how early he could get going in spring. It was entertaining, informative and there was a lot of eye candy.”
When the Edmonton operators retired, Cunningham assumed the responsibilities as organizer and brought the tour to St. Albert. Under her leadership, the tours offer practical guides to growing food.
In the previous two years, the tour consisted of four stops. In the 2019 tour, attendees will visit five distinctive yards each with their own special charm. New this year are two visits to homeowners involved in a city pilot project raising backyard hens.
“They are part of us growing food. They lay eggs and they can eat grubs and assist in turning kitchen scraps into compost.”
The tour also includes a visit to a master organic gardener with an innovative style garden.
“She did sheet mulching on her lawn and put layers of anything she could find in her cupboards to decompose and keep nutrients in the soil.”
Another gardener located in Pineview has created a tidy garden specifically for growing edibles that is accessed with an archway.
And in Lacombe Park another food advocate has created raised beds for the vertical structuring of an organic garden.
The tour runs from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Participants will meet at the Local Community Food Forest on Meadowview Drive by the baseball diamonds at 6:15 p.m. A total of 40 people will be accepted on the tour and divided into two groups. Cunningham will lead one group while Sandra Casson, the treasurer of St. Albert Urban Agriculture, will guide the second group.
“We go counterclockwise so we’re not 40 people tramping around a yard at one time.”
Single tickets are $25 or $40 for two people. Visit eventbrite.ca.
