Gardeners celebrate vote to allow growing food on city boulevards

Almost three years ago, Andrew Fyfe began a battle to save his verge garden.

He planted daisies, tomatoes and herbs on the narrow strip of land between the sidewalk and the curb of his home in New Edinburgh. But that strip is part of the city-owned right-of-way boulevard, where gardening was forbidden under the Use and Care of Roads Bylaw.

Someone complained, but Fyfe didn't dig up the plants. Instead, he launched a petition. His councillor, Rawlson King, got on board — and the dispute triggered a massive rethink of the rules.

A council vote legalized the daisies in 2023, but not the tomatoes and herbs, since the initial rewrite of the bylaw didn't cover edible plants.

But council's public works and infrastructure committee voted on Thursday to change that. If a full meeting of council agrees next month, Fyfe and his fellow verge gardeners will achieve near-total victory.

"I'm super pleased," he said. "The intention was to have things that I could eat from this space, so that's really great."

The Use and Care of Roads Bylaw applies to more than verge gardens on plots between the sidewalk and the road. The right-of-way boulevard also includes the section of city-owned land that encroaches into most residential front lawns around the city.

Across the street from Fyfe, his neighbour Sarah Richardson was raking her expansive garden on Thursday. She grows chard and artichokes, interspersed with other plants, and finds the corner near the sidewalk one of the prime growing spots.

"This is actually one corner where we get some sun," she said. "The chard is there all summer, and it's pink and purple and gorgeous."

Like Fyfe, she welcomed the committee's vote.

"Honestly, I didn't know it was illegal," she said.

Still, the committee heard concerns from food security and environmental advocates who worried that, despite the changes, the bylaw changes don't go far enough.

Kate Veinot of the group Just Food said the vote to allow food on the boulevards was "absolutely critical for equitable access to food production." But she questioned a one-metre limit on the height of plants.

"Tomatoes, peppers, many herbs, basil plants, dill, eggplants, a lot of these plants, especially in a raised container or raised a movable container, these will far surpass those height limits," she said. "That is limiting food of choice for people to grow."

Rob Maclachlan, program manager of the city's right-of-way branch, said the height limit is about visibility and safety.

It is something that factors into account driver height while pulling out of the driveway," he said. "It ensures that even though there may be a garden, they can see over it, so they can be aware of any pedestrians, cyclists or motorists."

For her part, Richardson doesn't mind that restriction.

"Look, it's all about compromise," she said. "Personally, I wouldn't worry about that rule too much. It means that you're not gonna be growing big tomato plants... but there's a lot you can choose from and there's a lot of great plants that you can pick that are under a metre that will be fun to grow and will look great."

Maclachlan and his staff had also worried about food safety when drawing up the recommended changes to the bylaw, since soil quality could be an issue in some parts of the city.

They're also recommending that the bylaw allow raised garden beds or planters, where soil quality can be more easily ensured. The committee agreed.

But raised beds will also face restrictions. Their maximum height will be set at 45 centimetres and they have to be set back from the roadway by 1.5 metres, and from sidewalks by 60 centimetres.

Those limits are meant to protect city snow removal equipment, as is a ban on concrete or stone garden beds.

The rules for temporary or removable planters are more permissive, though they have to be moved every year on Nov. 15.