canadian gardeners

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If you want to live in a city where your neighbour is likely to pass you a basket of fresh tomatoes over the fence, consider living in Peterborough, Ontario. In 2013, 77 per cent of households in the the census metropolitan area said they grew fruit, herbs, vegetables or flowers for personal use within the last twelve months.

The Statistics Canada data released Tuesday looked into Canadians who gardened, whether it was in their yard, at a community garden, on a rooftop, inside their own homes or anywhere else. In 2013, about 57 per cent of households in Canada reported growing their own greenery in the last year.

Not only were the two cities with the highest percentage of green thumbs in Ontario (Peterborough and Kingston), but five of the top ten metro areas were also from the province. Take a look at how the 33 largest census metropolitan areas in the country compare:

CMA Percentage, 2013
Peterborough, Ontario 77
Kingston, Ontario 71
Winnipeg, Manitoba 68
Victoria, British Columbia 68
Sherbrooke, Quebec 67
St. Catharines-Niagara, Ontario 66
Guelph, Ontario 63
Barrie, Ontario 63
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan 63
Edmonton, Alberta 63
Thunder Bay, Ontario 62
Oshawa, Ontario 61
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Ontario 61
Abbotsford-Mission, British Columbia 61
Saint John, New Brunswick 60
Trois-Rivières, Quebec 60
Hamilton, Ontario 60
Brantford, Ontario 59
London, Ontario 58
Ottawa-Gatineau, Ontario/Quebec 57
Kelowna, British Columbia 56
St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador 54
Halifax, Nova Scotia 54
Greater Sudbury, Ontario 54
Regina, Saskatchewan 54
Calgary, Alberta 54
Windsor, Ontario 53
Vancouver, British Columbia 53
Toronto, Ontario 52
Québec, Quebec 50
Saguenay, Quebec 49
Montréal, Quebec 48
Moncton, New Brunswick 39


Unsurprisingly, 81 per cent of households who reported growing activities gardened in their yards, while 30 per cent did so on their balcony and 22 per cent were indoor gardeners. Only 4 per cent said they went to community gardens to get their hands dirty.

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