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Midway Community Garden boasts more planters than ever in 10th year

Build it and they will come: ‘It’s a bit of a ‘Field of Dreams’ phenomena’
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Evelyn Biro tosses away some rocks as she prepares soil to plant potatoes. (Jensen Edwards/Boundary Creek Times)

It’s twice the size and likely feeding more people than ever; the one-acre Midway Community Garden continues to grow into its tenth anniversary.

For 2020, volunteers have added four new raised beds to the plot, just west of the village’s arena, and they’ve already been snapped up by avid gardeners.

“It’s a bit of a ‘Field of Dreams’ phenomena,” said volunteer and Midway village councillor Richard Dunsdon. “Build it and they will come,” added fellow gardener Evelyn Biro.

Armed with a new shiny orange tractor that was bought in large part with money Biro has made through bottle collections, Midway’s volunteer gardeners are ready too feed the community. As usual, corn and squash are planned, and this year they’re also hoping to add asparagus to their weekly Thursday sales out front of the Midway Library. While the crop isn’t ready yet, Dunsdon was able to collect a handful of springs for dinner on May 2, while touring the plot.

(The two key asparagus gardeners are in quarantine right now after travelling, Dunsdon said, but they’ll be shaping up their crop soon.)

Beyond keeping some volunteers away for the moment, COVID-19’s biggest impact on the garden this year will be the modification of the 10-year celebration. The province has already said that large gatherings will effectively be “off the table” this summer, but, from the gardeners’ perspective, at least there will be lots of food to share nonetheless.

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Gardeners are already weeding sewing seeds to get some fresh spring vegetables. (Jensen Edwards/Boundary Creek Times)
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Gardeners are already weeding sewing seeds to get some fresh spring vegetables. (Jensen Edwards/Boundary Creek Times)