The fabulous Savoy Cabbage was selected for the 2025 Growers Plate challenge. This year’s variety is grown on Vancouver Island.
When harvest season arrives in August, , 25+ cabbages will be donated to our local food bank / soup kitchen.
Here’s the best part….. the gardener who’s cabbage weighs the most will be honoured and allowed to display the Growers Plate Trophy in their garden plot as bragging rights.
Gardeners are encouraged to participate in this fun group activity.
NEW expanded Garden Food Surplus Project
Starting Fall 2025 – Two options available to gardeners
1. Continue to drop off their harvested produce in the blue bin marked FOOD BANK
2. Let us help you harvest your produce. Volunteers will assist to harvest and deliver the donated produce.
One of our goals in the Parksville Community Garden is to reduce food waste. Berries and vegetables that are ready to be harvested or have fallen to the ground are still edible. We donate produce to our local food bank & soup kitchen, their volunteers prepare meals, and they provide a service for the hungry individuals in our community.
Seed & Seedling Exchange proved to be a much needed service.
The afternoon event was geared to provide members with an opportunity to not only exchange seedlings but to generate a dialogue between experienced and novice gardeners. Over 50+ seedling were exchanged. We are truly fortunate to have so many green thumb gardeners within our group.
In response to food security in our community, a group of volunteers planted 10 Kg / 4 rows of Yukon Gold seed potatoes. Sometime mid-August the potatoes will be harvested and donated to our local food bank. The members of our community garden look forward to contributing to this annual project.
2024 – A Year of Abundance
POTATOES AND CABBAGES DONATED TO THE FOOD BANK & SOUP KITCHEN
Parksville Community Garden Society strikes gold with potato donation
150 pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes given to food bank
Parksville Qualicum Beach News Staff Aug 16, 2023
Members of the Parksville Community Garden Society dug for gold on Saturday, Aug. 12. Yukon Gold, that is. The society delivered 150 pounds of freshly harvested Yukon Gold potatoes to the Salvation Army Food Bank on Monday morning (Aug. 14).
In addition to members who participated in the “Grow a Row for the Food Bank”, the Community Garden members took on a special project to rehabilitate a portion of the garden area that had served as a catch-all for rocks and old blocks of concrete. The narrow waste land was cleared, tilled and planted with potatoes. The rejuvenated land supported three long rows of potatoes. After three months of weeding, watering and tending the plants, the crop matured and a dozen gardeners came to harvest those potatoes and delivered them to the food bank. The total Community Garden contributed well over 350 pounds of nutritious and delicious home-grown potatoes.
As in past growing seasons, the society members have donated a significant amount of produce to the local Salvation Army Food Bank and Soup Kitchen
It is not all work at the Community Garden though. For the second year the gardeners have submitted entries to the Grower’s Plate competition. This prestigious trophy is awarded to the garden member who grows the largest potato in that year. The presentation is made at the Gardener’s Picnic in late Fall.
The Parksville Community Garden Society is member-funded.
The lot is owned by the City of Parksville and leased to the society for a nominal fee.
To step into the lush green space that is the Parksville Community Garden Society is to almost forget you’re in a city at all. After you’ve been immersed in the greenery for some time, catching glimpses of the nearby stores and gas stations, the community garden on 205 McVickers Street can come as a surprise.
Lyle (Emily Vance photo) has been a member for many years. He built his plot from below the ground up, tilling the soil and hauling rocks and concrete blocks out of the lot. He also brought over two truckloads of manure to use as rich fertilizer for the soil. It wasn’t easy, but as a reward for his effort, his plot is bursting with edible life, including an archway where a crop of fresh peas dangle, waiting to be picked.
The sense of community within the society is strong. Tools needed to tend a garden are available on-site for members to use. Many members will keep an eye on their neighbours’ plots, and will tend to each others’ gardens when someone is out of town.
President of the Garden Society Lois Jeffery grew up gardening in Manitoba. She doesn’t have space for a yard at her current home, and the community garden society provides all that and more. “I like to get out, get a little fresh air, get a little exercise, it’s a nice group of people. I’ve made some good friends,” said Jeffery. The food grown here also travels beyond the walls of the garden and the homes of its gardeners.
Parksville Community Garden Society 