Photo Credit: City of Grande Prairie website

By Shane Clausing

Community

Grande Prairie’s Community Orchards ready to bloom for summer

Jun 13, 2020 | 5:00 AM

The city says its Community Orchards are ready to bloom, just in time for the start of summer.

Throughout the year, the city plants seeds in the Community Orchards to help make them come to life.

In the past, the city only planted fruit-based products like apples, berries, plums, and grapes.

Amy Needham a Parks Supervisor with the City, says vegetables will begin to appear in the gardens this summer now that the orchards have been in use for five years.

“This year is a little bit different because we launched the GP Grows program. The way that we’re helping out is that we took some of the sweet potatoes and the veggie seeds and we planted them in there, too.”

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The GP Grows program encourages members of the community to plant their own seeds and help the garden continue to grow.

With the harvesting season for some plants on the horizon, the city is reminding residents to follow some simple guidelines when it comes attending the orchards, which include:

• Being considerate of your neighbors and only take your share
• Being gentle with the plants (rough handling can damage or kill them).
• Close the fence (fenced orchards only) when you leave to protect the trees from animals.
• Wash the produce before consumption.

Community Orchards in Grande Prairie has come a long way since 2015 when the city built its first orchard as a part of the Edible Landscapes initiative. There are now over 30 orchards and edible landscape locations in the city.

Needham says it’s important to have so many edible landscapes and orchard locations because it helps spread the wealth of food among the community.

“It’s hard to keep fruit on the (Community Orchards) because if someone knows if there’s an apple orchard covered in apples, it’s hard just to take a few and leave the rest. They (people) sometimes take more than they need because there are apples there and this is exciting for people.”

“These are grocery store sized apples that are growing on trees in Grande Prairie. There are people that have never even seen this before, they didn’t even know they could grow here. I understand the excitement, but it is difficult for people to seem to take a little bit or take their share. We found (that) by spreading things out and doing more underplanting in a few bushes here and a few bushes there, then everyone gets a chance to shop and take a little bit.”

The city says that half of the orchards will be ready to harvest this summer.

“We are really excited about this initiative,” said Needham. “A lot of people, I don’t think they realize what we can grow here in Grande Prairie. There’s a real perception that we are really far north and this is a frozen, arctic wasteland and nothing will grow here. We are really excited for people to see the things we can grow.”

The first crop that should be ready to get picked is honeyberries, which should be available sometime in June. Not long after that cherries and Saskatoon berries will be available sometime in July. Those looking for apples will have to wait until September.

Information on where you could find Community Orchards can be found on the city’s website.