From perennials to potatoes, the new square foot gardens at Vernon鈥檚 Blair Apartments will allow residents to grow and care for their own plants.

Briteland President Dave Weatherill, said that square foot gardening was invented in 1972 by an efficiency expert, designed to make gardening simplistic and underwhelming.

Erin Rivard from Turning Points said that Blair Apartments had a garden before, but it wasn鈥檛 structured and ultimately didn鈥檛 end up working out.

鈥淚t gives them something to take care of,鈥� said Rivard. 鈥淟ots of these folks have come over from the homeless shelter so they haven鈥檛 had the opportunity to have their own garden.鈥�

A compost system has been set up at Blair Apartments for the new garden.

Weatherill said that plants don鈥檛 like cold water, so they鈥檝e also set up a sustainable water system at Blair Apartments where the rainwater is harvested off the roof and then warmed in a tank.

All 18 square foot gardens have flowers in them.

鈥淚t鈥檚 good for the soul,鈥� said Weatherill. 鈥淔lowers are beautiful, so let鈥檚 keep beauty in our lives.鈥�

Sprinklers have a tendency to waste water, so Blair Apartment residents hand water their plants.

鈥淓very drop is precious, so you learn the value of water, as well as you are right in there with your plants,鈥� said Weatherill. 鈥淵ou will find that people talk to their plants, they鈥檒l actually sing to their plants. It鈥檚 very good for the soul.鈥�

Weatherill said that they thought there was no point in planting a whole package of seeds at once, as they would all be ready at the same time but couldn鈥檛 all be eaten at the same time.

鈥淲ith the the square foot garden concept, every square is a different crop,鈥� said Weatherill. 鈥淪o when that crop is harvested, you will replace it with a new crop.鈥�

Rivard said that they want to foster a sense of community between the residents at Blair Apartments.

鈥淲e cook probably once a week together,鈥� said Rivard. 鈥淏ut this year, we can pull from our own garden, and they can reap the success of what they鈥檝e worked hard to do.鈥�

The new garden is a collaboration with Turning Points and Briteland.

Vernon Home Hardware helped supply materials like a shed, Kindale helped build the garden squares with kits provided by Briteland, and Hill Landscaping (Olympic snowboarder Kevin Hill and his brother Matt Hill) helped with construction.

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