Home-hunting Community Garden thankful for support, shed worries taken care of (6 photos)

What’s left of the Allard Street Community Garden is has been packed up into various storage lockers and volunteers’ homes while the garden plans to spend the winter hunting for a new home and hopefully opening up again at another location in the spring.

Over the weekend the garden was forced to move out of its home of thirteen years at the former site of the Canadian Red Cross on Allard Street after new owners took over the property and the garden could not afford the rent hike.

The garden had to be moved out before Nov. 1.

The move was considered last minute and, originally, one of the biggest concerns the garden had was that they wouldn’t be able to salvage thousands of dollars worth of infrastructure including garden beds and especially a large wheelchair accessible orange equipment shed.

On Saturday a call was put out to the community for help.

“We had some companies come forward however many visited the site and told us the shed was too big too move in the end and it would require special transportation permits and police escorts. So, at first we were a bit dismayed,” said lead garden coordinator Suzanne Hanna.

Two of the people who visited were WINMAR Property Restoration Specialist co-owners Amato and Dino Biasucci and Hanna said her worries about the shed subsided when, instead of moving it, they offered to build the garden a brand new shed when the garden finds a new location.

“My dad (Amato Biasucci) is an avid gardener and really understands how incredibly therapeutic it can be for a person. When he read the article on SooToday he went right away to try and help them save the shed. However, after looking at the situation, we decided we’d be better off building them a new one when they find a new location,” said Dino Biasucci.

With issues over equipment and infrastructure dealt with, the garden’s main concern now is to simply find a home.

Hanna said they have been working with the city to compile a list and will be visiting prospective sites over the coming weeks and months.

Important considerations for a new site, said Hanna, are that it have access to water, lots of sun, street parking, and is easily accessible by public transit.

They hope to find a location north of McNabb Street between Lake Street and Great Northern Road so that they can continue to serve the same parts of the community as before.

Hanna wanted to thank the more than 50 volunteers who showed up to help them on the weekend and in particular Lyons Timber Mart, WINMAR, and Peter Corbett who all provided vehicles and time to help transport items.

“I’m trusting the community will be a big help in the spring setting up the new garden. We’ve now received several offers from community groups to consider locations and to have help setting up in the spring,” said Hanna.

The Allard Street Community Garden has been described by senior city planner Peter Tonazzo as ‘the gold standard of community gardens’ and has won several City Beautification awards over the years.

The garden has historically served around 160 members a year and often has a waiting list.