Fresh and nutritious vegetables aren't always in season, but Gleaners Food Bank in Belleville is working to change that with a new growing dome. The dome space, located at their Wallbridge Crescent property, is 42 feet in diameter. Inside the dome is a series of raised growing beds packed with vegetables, along with a gravity-fed watering system, and a pond to help with temperature and humidity regulation.
Between the pond and natural sunlight, inside temperatures fluctuate between -2 Celsius at its coldest to 34 Celsius on a day with clear skies, allowing the plants inside to grow during the cold winter months.
Construction of the dome began in June, 2024. Tammy Hellam, a gardener at Gleaners working on the project, says that once the current crop has been harvested, and temperatures rise, they plan to rotate to warmer-weather plants.
"We're going to have seedlings for tomatoes, peppers, herbs, of course, and anything that's got the heat," said Hellam. "We'll be able to plant that a couple of months earlier than what you would if you were outside."
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