Border city of Lloydminster united through gardening

Just a block away from the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan there's a garden uniting green thumbs in Lloydminster. 

The Lloyd Public Gardens Society has established a green space on the Alberta side on 49th Street at 51st Avenue where fresh fruits and vegetables are starting to sprout out of raised beds dotting a vacant lot. 

"I had never started a community garden before but I knew I didn't want to organize plots for people to rent individually," said Amy Roper of the society.

The goal was to be open to all, said the mother-of-two who's lived in the neighbourhood for the past 20 years and sits on the Downtown Redevelopment Committee to promote the city's core. 

"I wanted us to tend this land together, to have it very open and see what happens when neighbours just come together and practise gardening." 

The not-for-profit organization, established a year ago, rents the space for $1 a month from the local business next door, Red Bicycle Communications. 

Roper said getting the garden off the ground took about $40,000 in seed money in the way of grants and community donations.

Then they needed to find volunteers to keep it running. Roper, an artisan weaver, enlisted a couple of friends, Brandi Hofer's and Stephanie Lindsay, who shared her passion for all things leafy and penchant for creativity to pitch in.

"There is something almost magical that happens when you get your hands in the dirt and you actually connect with the plant," said Lindsay, who is the operations manager at Pioneer Landscaping.

"It's just a really nice calm space to hang out in," she said, pointing to the apple tree in blossom, the potato patch and the garden trellis archway with twinkle lights perfect for selfies.

She's also established the Lloydminster Keychain Library where "you can leave a trinket or another keychain, or you can take them off the board there."

She takes things like toy cars and building blocks left behind and turns them into more community keychains, "in a revolving door of little art."

Local artist and educator Brandi Hofer contribution frames the space in the form of a colourful mural on the two-storey wall. 

The mother-of-three said it's art imitating life now that kids like hers are playing in the space while half a dozen volunteers putter, plant and water.