SJHS

2023 GARDEN GUIDELINES FOR ST JAMES HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY GARDEN MEMBERS

1. All gardeners must be paid members of the St James Horticultural Society. Children under the age of 18 are welcome and do not require a Membership. Please inform the Garden Committee of changes to your contact information.
2. Garden fees of $50 per plot must be paid by January 15th. While fees help cover a portion of the garden operating costs, the Society relies on garden members to volunteer their time for various garden tasks.
3. Water will be turned on mid-May and turned off mid-September, weather dependent.
   a. Please use water wisely.
   b. Garden hoses must not be connected to the community water taps.
   c. Garden produce can be washed at home or within your garden plot, but not at the community water taps.
4. Gardeners must start work in their gardens by June 10. After this date, the garden plot will be forfeited if garden work has not begun. At the end of the growing season remove tools, barrels, and ropes. Please compost your vegetable material in your garden plot.
5. Gardeners can choose to manage garden plots using no-till or tillage practices. Gardens should be kept free of weeds, insects, and diseases. Synthetic pesticides (insecticides and herbicides) are not permitted. Organic fertilizers are recommended.
6. Gardener practices to promote community, gardener enjoyment and safety: Please respect your neighbours' plots and the hard work they put into their gardens. Do not walk through or pick flowers or vegetables from other plots. Dogs are not permitted in the garden. Please pick up after yourself.

Questions? Contact the Garden Committee: stjameshortgardeners@gmail.com

Test Plot Gardening in St. James, Manitoba
by J. P. DE WET – excerpt from "The Prairie Garden" (1966)

During the summer of 1965 the St. James Horticultural Society provided a number of test plots for interested suburban home owners. Several promising new vegetable varieties under trial at the University of Manitoba were grown in co-operation with the Plant Science Department.

This has given the Society a broader field of general usefulness, and its members a fresh keenness in their hobby. Here was an activity whose ends went further than the home kitchen and the freezer. It directed their interest into knowledge of the new varieties as well as some of the scientific factors involved in the breeding and production of varieties superior to the presently known ones.

St. James Gardeners organized themselves into a society in 1914. This was the year of the outbreak of the First World War when the call went out that all should supply their own individual needs with Victory gardens and many plots were put under cultivation during the war years. In November 1929, the Society applied to the Manitoba Government for a Certificate of Organization under the Manitoba Horticultural Societies Act, and received Certificate No. 8, dated December 1, 1929.

Through succeeding years Society members had their garden plots in different areas of the municipality. The present location on Silver Avenue was secured under a long term lease from the City of Winnipeg.