An ambitious community gardener is working to improve a long-abandonned street verge on the West Side. This particular strip of street edge is the neglected “back” of a large institutional lot that fronts the next parallel street. Their front side is, of course, manicured.
Here is a view back along the curbside towards the few houses on the block:
And looking further along the street edge …
Folks, this is one very long block of guerilla gardening done by a local heroine, or hero, or heroic group of people who care.
Eventually, the gardening does peter out as the curbside space becomes solid rock, but it does look like the gardeners cannot be stopped:
I’m back to blogging, bugging you or entertaining you. But the site got almost 800 views yesterday, which makes me think maybe I should just not write anything at all. Some stories get only a few hundred views; a few get over a thousand. There should be a subscribe button somewhere on the top right of the landing page, enter you email and you’ll get every new story straight to your mailbox.
Dear Eric- PLEASE keep writing. Where is this community garden?
All my best, Glen
Please keep writing. I, for one, thoroughly enjoy your man-about-Ottawa writing style, sense of humour, and topical focus.
Eric, checking in on West Side Action is part of my morning routine. I suspect 799 others have the same habit.
Eric, I too enjoy your blogs. Keep up the energy and determination to find the many topics you cover…
Great that others are also trying to green the city.
In front of my condo on Main street we are fighting the city plans to “widen the sidewalk” and take away our green area we have so carefully maintained all these years.
The city’s consulting engineers do not seem to get any instructions on greening…
Ben: your condo issue is a classic case of conflicting public goods: greenery vs cycle track. It may be time for out-of-the-box thinking, like making more space by (further) narrowing the car lane, or rerouting it, or merging the cycle and pedestrian facilities, or introducing greenery through other means, like a vertical garden or trellis, both beside the building or freestanding green fence across the street. Or even a green trellis that becomes an arbour over the sidewalk to make a green arch, arcade, or tunnel … now wouldn’t that give the planners conniptions!
Eric as someone who grew up in Wellington West, went to University at Carleton, has been living in Centretown and moving to Lincoln Fields, and works on Preston… your blog covers my physical world on a day-to-day basis. In Seattle today and trying to remember to look out for the swales!
As one who is part of a team here in Carlington doing community gardening, I think all efforts like this need to be applauded. Community gardens add so much to the look and feel of a neighbourhood, and model the type of behaviour we wish more residents would adopt. Having properties and “empty” space looking a bit like they are being cared for can make a huge impression on others who live in or visit the neighbourhood. Kudos to this team or person.
As a resident of the street and not much of a gardener, I am so very grateful my neighbours are. Thanks to them our street is so lovely! ❤️