Larissa Kurz
Regina Leader-Post
A recent swath of destruction and thefts at a community garden in south Regina has left growers upset and disappointed.
South Zone Community Gardens president Dale Hjertaas said gardeners reported theft of carrots, potatoes and beets. Cabbages and pumpkins were also cut from the plant but left behind and several plants were trampled or ripped apart.
He said several different plots across the gardens were impacted in the past week.
“Some are extremely upset,” Hjertaas said in an interview Tuesday. “They’ve put a huge amount of work into producing and if suddenly somebody walks away with a portion of that, it can be quite heartbreaking for a gardener to lose.”
‘Very disappointing’
The gardens are located on the south side of Grant Road between Grant Drive and Wascana Parkway and Hjertaas said there are more than active 400 plots this season.
One of those belong to Ruth and Larry Lechner, who noticed some of their carrots had been pulled up Monday morning and left on the ground. Others had their tops ripped off or were trampled down, damaged beyond saving.
That afternoon, Ruth dug out the remainder of the row up early so she could salvage what was left, even if that meant the carrots were smaller than they would be at the usual harvest time.
The Lechners have had a plot at the community garden for about seven years and said this kind of pilfering is unusual for them.
“It’s very disappointing when you put in the hard work and labour and even the cost of the seeds, and then somebody comes and takes some,” said Ruth.
“I just hope that whoever did this needed (those carrots), and didn’t do it just to vandalize our plot,” added Larry.
A growing problem
While it’s unlikely the perpetrators will ever be identified, Hjertaas said it has put a spotlight on an issue gardeners have been experiencing for a few years now.
Instances of people coming to the garden to pick produce without permission have increased and resulted in a growing frustration among gardeners.
“Unfortunately, some people think taking stuff from the garden is kind of like a victimless crime. It’s not, not at all,” Hjertaas said. “There are people of all economic strata out here. For some, this is a really important part of putting food on their table.”
Hjertaas said theft and petty vandalism at the garden spiked in 2023, around the same time inflation drove up grocery prices across Canada.
Hoping to curb the trend, the garden board installed signage last year that reminds people taking produce without permission is theft.
“People have said they had been told they could just come here and take stuff, which is certainly not true,” he said.
Hjertaas and the Lechners said it’s discouraging to see people taking advantage of other’s hard work, especially since many at the South Zone gardens are happy to share their surplus, if asked.
Organizers even run a Harvest With Heart program, where gardeners donate thousands of pounds of extra produce to the Regina Food Bank each summer.
Hjertaas anticipates more incidents as the harvest season continues. He urges gardeners to keep an eye out for each other and offered a reminder to the public about good community garden etiquette.
“Every plot out here is somebody’s private garden, and it’s their produce you’re stealing,” he said.
