Earlier this year, UBC Botanical Garden’s Food Garden underwent an essential upgrade to replace the worn wooden borders around its raised beds. Replacement borders were needed for the Food Garden to continue to optimally grow produce to support educational display and non-profits community donations. Thanks to Western Forest Project’s donation of lumber, the project is now complete.
UBC Botanical Food Garden with freshly completed borders for raised beds and thank you signage.
From Western Forest Products, Erik Ostensen, Director, Marketing and Product Management stands in UBC Botanical Garden’s Food Garden after the project is complete.
The Food Garden grows a variety of fresh produce annually. The produce is distributed to organizations to support individuals and families in need. Its beds also provide a vibrant learning space for students and guests, who are encouraged to explore connections to food through display and demonstration of food crops.
Student inspecting colourful and flowering plants in UBC Botanical Food Garden.
Students study a patch of plants at UBC Botanical Food Garden.
Friends of UBC Botanical Garden (FOG) volunteers de-shell beans harvested in the Food Garden in Fall 2020 for the Harvest Hampers Program, an initiative that saw 515 pounds (234 kgs) of fresh produce distributed to UBC students facing food insecurity issues.
While soft fruits are grown in the ground-level beds, vegetables and culinary herbs are cultivated in the Food Garden’s raised beds. The raised beds allow the soil to heat up in the spring, provide needed drainage and are easier to work than ground-level beds.
Wood for the new border upgrade being lifted upon delivery to UBC Botanical Garden.
Wood being lifted to the Food Garden upon arrival.
The existing wooden borders were well-worn and crumbling in places and were in need of replacement in order to continue functioning and providing the effective space to grow our produce. With the installation of the new borders crafted from durable western red cedar, operations will continue to run smoothly for a long time.
Thank you to Western Food Products for the generous donation of western red cedar that made these improvements possible.
Food Garden with completed new borders for raised beds.