Grow Regina Community Garden

Spring has sprung at Grow Regina with a majority of the plots planted we are well on our way into a new growing season.

Unfortunately, due to the importance of social distancing during COVID19 the gardens are not open to the public this summer. Normally, we love to show off the beauty of the garden and welcome visitors but for this year, please do not enter our garden unless you are a member of Grow Regina.

Below are the protocols that must be followed by all gardens as established by the City of Regina and Saskatchewan Health Authority. Gardeners must adhere to the guidelines to help keep everyone safe and to help ensure the gardens can remain open. Thank you for your cooperation. Please visit growregina.ca for more information. 

• Do not enter the garden and return home if you have: 

– cold or flu-like symptoms (cough, sore throat, fever, shortness of breath); 

– travelled outside Canada within the last 14 days; or 

– been in close contact with a COVID positive person in the past 14 days. 

• All gardens are closed to the public and only accessible to members. 
• Garden members may only be accompanied in their garden plot by immediate family members, no more than four people. 
• Physical distancing of two metres must be adhered to. 

If someone is too close, create the necessary space and kindly remind the person of the distance requirement. If physical distancing becomes a problem due to too many people in the garden at one time, schedules may need to be created. 

• Gardeners are encouraged to bring their own hand sanitizer and sanitize hands upon entering the garden and before leaving. 
• Clean and sanitize taps and hoses after each use with the provided sanitizing wipes. 

There are no garbage facilities on site. Used wipes must be taken home. 

Leave hose stretched out on the ground next to the cribbing to minimize handling of the hose in many places. 

• No sharing of tools or equipment is permitted. Benches will be put away and not available for use. 

The Grow Regina tool supply will remain in the locked sheds. Gardeners will need to bring their own garden tools, hose nozzles and chairs. They must be removed from the garden or left in a safe place within the plot upon leaving. 

• There will be no in-person start-up meeting or work bees allowed. 

Information to gardeners will be “electronic.” Please notify Grow Regina if you need information to be mailed. 

• Only one person can access a shed at a time and each gardener must clean door handles after leaving the space. The locked garden sheds are not accessible to the gardeners at any time. Sanitizing wipes are available for those authorized to enter the sheds.

Note: To print these Guidelines go to Guidelines – COVID-19 look for print button at the bottom of page. 

Applications for new gardeners will open up March 1. There will be an application form on the website Sunday March 1 2020.  Fill out and submit the form from the web-page. Applications will be accepted on a first come first serve basis. Applications will close when both the garden and the wait list are full.

Grow Regina has a limited number open plots this year apply as soon as possible. We will try to place you in your preferred plot but if that is not possible you will placed in what we have open. Next year as a returning gardener you can request your preferred plot location and size. Large 20×20 garden plots are only available for returning gardeners.

Grow Regina will maintain a wait list of people who can not be placed this spring. The wait list is used when a garden opens up during the year as well as the following spring. People still on the 2020 wait list in the spring 2021 will be contacted and allotted plots before the garden is opened to new gardeners.

When you are allocated a plot you will be contacted by email with a plot number, a map and a request of payment for garden fees. You will be contacted if you are placed on the wait-list.

All returning gardeners and those on the 2019 wait list have been contacted and allocated plots.

IMPORTANT Returning Gardeners — Fees are due March 15, 2020. If we have not received payment by March 15 we will assume you are not returning and will give your plot to someone on the wait list.

Any questions or concerns please contact us through the website.

The garden may be sleeping under the snow but Grow Regina is already planning for the new gardening season. Returning gardeners will be invited by email to apply in January for their plots.

Applications will be open for new gardeners  March 1 – 31, 2020. Plot assignments will be on a first come first serve basis, you may be put on a waiting list depending on availability.  An application form will be posted on the website March 1. For information about our garden plots go to The Garden

We have a new accessible garden for people who can not garden at the ground level. These will be available this spring. Accessible Gardens

The gardens are now closed.

Applications for 2020 garden plots will be posted March 1, 2020. Returning gardeners in good standing will be contacted January 2020. Applications for new gardeners are processed on a first come first served basis until the cut off date March 30 2020. New gardeners may be placed on a wait list.

MACKENZIE ART GALLERY  –  IN PARTNERSHIP WITH GROW REGINA

Invite the public to

An Evening in the Garden

Join the MacKenzie Art Gallery and Grow Regina for Garden Sketching and performances, in conjunction with our current exhibition,

Victor Cicansky: The Gardener’s Universe!

THURSDAY, 22 AUGUST | 7 PM
Join us for a storytelling session with artist Victor
Cicansky and author Trevor Herriot.

THURSDAY, 29 AUGUST | 7 PM
Join us for a storytelling performance by Vincent
Murphy and garden sketching with artist Madeleine
Greenway.

Meet the artists at the entry sculptures (Victor Cicansky’s “Planters”) on 3500 Queen St by 7 PM.
Events will take place rain or shine! In the event of inclement weather, join us in the church next door to the gardens, (St Mark’s, 3510 Queen Street).
Enter by the most North-West doors off the North parking lot.
Please bring a lawn chair if you feel you will need one (programs are 30 – 45
minutes in length. There is limited bench seating available in the garden).

Photos courtesy Maxine Earl.

Join us for dinner prior to the event at the MacKenzie café, Craft Services! Dinner specials every Thursday evening.

Beautiful clouds full of moisture hung over the garden this morning just before a very welcome rain.

A good rain will get the weeds growing.  It is very important to get a good start on weed control in June. If the weeds are not managed now they will take over the garden.

The clay in our Regina soil forms a crust on the surface when you weed and dig around the plants the crust is broken up allowing water to seep into the soil.

One of the toughest weeds in the garden is quack grass, it takes patience and persistence to control this grass eliminating it can be a yearly struggle.

Quack grass rhizomes are very hardy and often grow further than you expect. Lift the exposed roots out of the soil and check to see that you got the whole plant. Any broken roots likely will sprout a new patch of quack grass.

Found these two foes in the garden today. The first photo is of potato beetles and the second is of a cut worm, both of these insects are very destructive and they must be removed. I put them in a small plastic container and threw them away.

Grow Regina is a pesticide free garden no herbicides or insecticides permitted. Our community garden values chemical free food and nurturing the natural environment.

What a lovely rain this afternoon! The hail was dramatic but did not cause any damage. The last few days have been very busy at the Grow Regina Gardens as many of you are already finished planting. If you are not finished yet no worries there are still 2 more weeks of planting time left this spring.

I would like to remind all of the gardeners to respect your neighbor’s garden do not walk on it or take anything from any plot that is not yours. There are tools and wheelbarrows for all to use at both sheds just put them back after use.

May is finally here! There is lots of activity in the garden already. The soil is still too cold to plant but the dandelions and the chives do not mind. Best to plant later in the month because the soil is not warm enough yet, but clean up and roto-tilling can be started anytime.