Community gardeners are taking advantage of the warm spring weather and planting all over town.
The philosophy behind public gardens is to not only make the city prettier, but also to encourage people to grow their own fresh vegetables and promote sustainability.
Prince George has at least six gardens in and around the city.
"The last two years we've been absolutely full, which is nice. I usually fill up the spots right away," said Pam Ellis, who is in charge of the private renters at the Queensway Gardens.
Measuring at an acre of land, the garden was initially run by several agencies, including Carney Hill and Northern Hill, while the rest of the plots were rented out to individuals for a fee of $10 a year.
"The gardeners can plant whatever they want within their plot, which measure 10 feet by 20 feet," said Ellis.
A new addition this year is a demonstration garden that grows apples, cherries, cranberries and currants.
"Our gardeners are welcome to help themselves - in moderation," said Ellis.
The Queensway Gardens and the community garden on Victoria Street both make efforts to give back to the community by donating any extra food to either the Salvation Army or St. Vincent de Paul Society.
"Everyone is encouraged to grow a row to give back to the community," said Terri McClyntock, the executive director of the Recycling and Environmental Action Planning Society (REAPS).
However both Queensway gardens and Victoria Street gardens still experience some vegetable loss due to theft.
"Every community garden has to expect a five to 15 per cent loss... We hope they are taking [the vegetables] because they have too," said McClyntock.
Both gardens also encourage all shades of green thumbs, from novices to expert botanists. "It's a growing experience for all of us, we are all doing different things down there," said McClyntock.
The Victoria Street garden is free, however there is a waiting list to join.
Everything is grown in large decorated barrels, "we've been quite successful growing corn and squashes, pumpkins and tomatoes and beans," said McClyntock.
The containers garner quite a bit of attention because they've been painted like enormous Campbell Soup cans by local youth organizations.
The intention is for the garden to be portable since Integris Credit Union offered to let REAPS use its empty lot until at least 2016, when the company intends to relocate.
Afterward the garden will be picked up and moved to another empty lot downtown.
Integris has to host the community garden because the company would rather have their land "producing vegetables than aspen shoots," said Dan Wingham, communications officer with Integris.
And Integris intends to remain involved in community gardens around the city after they relocate as well.
