Tucked away within Saskatoon’s North industrial area, lies a beautiful garden that is home to a wide variety of plants and is maintained by community members with a passion for gardening. However, those community members are growing frustrated as a series of thefts have squandered the hours of work that go into caring for the garden. “It’s just very frustrating and disheartening to see your hard work undone by someone who comes and just tears through your space,” gardener Paul Miazga told CTV News. Gardeners at the City of Saskatoon’s allotment garden on Gladstone Crescent share that theft has always been an issue, but this year has been particularly difficult. “People that are coming and destroying that sense of community, they’re taking something that doesn’t belong to them, which is theft, and it becomes vandalism when entire fences are ripped out and taken along with entire crops of tomatoes or corn ... entire summers of labour and love, from many people here who are seniors, or low income. So, it has a huge impact on people,” Miazga said. The garden is home to roughly 90 plots. Residents pay around $80 annually for the space and spend countless hours caring for their plants. “I like gardening and I have a backyard garden at home, but there wasn’t enough room to grow everything I wanted to grow, especially things I take lots of room, like squash,” Leona Domshy, a gardener said. Domshy emphasized that theft and vandalism are unfortunately recurring issues within gardens like this one. However, she has noticed a significant increase in the issue in the past year. “It didn’t really affect my plot, but there were others that were mentioning that there were things that were being taken and it was just it was mild. But this year it’s really accelerated,” Domshy said. Both Domshy and Miazga shared that the issue is very disheartening for gardeners, and some have discussed not returning to the garden next season due to the problem. That prospect is concerning, as the gardeners explained how the space is much more than just a place to grow plants. “It makes the community stronger, and we exchange ideas and exchange how to grow things differently, better or what grows, what doesn’t grow, what works, what doesn’t. And it’s a way of getting to meet other people with the same interest,” Domshy said. Miazga added that he believes it’s important to preserve spaces like this one in cities like Saskatoon. “The sense of community has to be maintained in a city that’s growing and becoming more urban. We have to have places where people can still get together the way they would at a community garden plot, anywhere in the world,” Miazga said. “To understand where, you have connections with other people that might not otherwise be visible.” Currently, the garden is without a fence or security cameras. Several gardeners have reached out to the City of Saskatoon in the hopes of having more security measures put in place to address the root of the issue. “At the end of last season ... there was a city cop that came here near the end of the season and was asking us what issues that we had. I don’t know whether anything came of it,” Domshy said. In a statement, the City of Saskatoon said it is currently reviewing on-site signage to discourage theft at the community gardens. “This will include replacing the existing sign board and installing new signs,” the statement read. “While the current target for installation and replacement is next spring, please note that these timelines are tentative.” Domshy shared that while she has frustration towards those who trespass in the garden and take or destroy plants, she would still be happy to work towards a solution that would make gardening more accessible for the culprits. “We need something to maybe educate the public as to the purpose of this area or maybe set aside some of it for people that don’t have gardens and don’t have the money, and they could start their own garden with help, education or whatever,” she said. “They could then get interested in gardening and want to do their own instead of just wandering around and taking it from wherever they can find it.” Miazga shared that the root of the issue is about much more than just stolen produce. “Who doesn’t want to be able to enjoy the fruits of their own labours to be able to have a tomato or a cucumber or something else that you’ve grown for yourself and for your family out of love,” Miazga added. “It’s an act of greed and selfishness undoes all that.”
