Carrot Common garden a bright spot on Jackman Avenue

Wellness emporium has transformed, maintained vacant space for 20 years

Thank goodness for people who transform vacant public spaces into gardens that are a neighbourhood oasis and demonstration of community spirit.

You can count the Carrot Common, a health and wellness emporium and Danforth Avenue landmark since the 1980s, among the good neighbours that pitch in by building a garden to improve their community.

My July 18 column was about how retired lawyer Tracy Warne, his wife, Barbara Murchie and neighbour Jan Dattels went to work on a small garden that the city built on Roxborough Avenue, but then abandoned.

It’s now a showpiece, thanks to the new plants and effort they’ve put into it, and a shining example of what a few good people can do to make a positive difference in their neighbourhood.

It prompted several emails from readers about others who have done the same thing, including a note from David Walsh about the Carrot Common’s efforts to turn a neglected public space into a blooming garden.

Walsh said Carrot Common went to work about 20 years ago on a strip of land in the road allowance, between the parking lot behind their building and a sidewalk on the east side of Jackman Avenue, to turn it into a garden.

“In 2017 we tried to get the city to take some responsibility for the garden but they declined,” said Walsh, who noted that entreaties from the Carrot Common were not entirely in vain; the city provided about $5,000 in plants that year.

Before then and ever since, Carrot Common has maintained and improved the garden by adding a range of flowering perennials that attract bees that are domiciled in hives on the roof of their building, said Walsh’s brother Tom, the property manager.

“We hoped the city would take on more of the responsibility for it, but they didn’t, so we just kept doing what we’ve done all along,” said Tom Walsh, adding, “it’s good branding for Carrot Common.”

In dry summers, one of the neighbours helps out with watering and weeding, said Walsh, but otherwise it’s up to Carrot Common to maintain it, right down to benches they installed for people to take a load off.

While I was there taking photos last week, a friendly mom and her two small boys were seated on one of the benches and licking away at ice cream.

They said the garden is a neighbourhood jewel and has been there for so long that they take it for granted and didn’t realize they have the Carrot Common to thank for it.