Canada: Food Bank greenhouse provides fresh produce all year round
During the summer, fresh fruit and vegetable donations run aplenty at the food bank but in the winter, those dry up. So the solution was simple, why not turn the shed into a greenhouse?
“We’re the recipient of a lot of generosity with community gardens but once it snows, we start talking about that short growing season. Would there be something we could use the structure for? Grow some food of our own,” said Steve Compton, CEO of the food bank.
The result was the food bank applying to the Co-op Community Spaces Program and receiving a $100,000 grant which was used to purchase supplies to build the greenhouse.
The greenhouse consists of 48 garden towers each holding 72 plants. There are fluorescent lights along the ceiling of the shed and red and blue LEDs placed around the garden towers. The red light helps with flower development and the blue light helps with stem lengthening.
Read more at the Regina Leader-Post