Garden & Outdoor Hub - Lake Trail Community Education Society

Community Garden

LTCES is excited to welcome our community to the Lake Trail Community-Educational School Garden. This is a welcoming space for both the school and broader community, which supports a broad range of activities and events. Garden infrastructure includes garden boxes, a greenhouse, irrigation, and a waterproof shade sail structure which further extends the use of the garden for the school and the community into the shoulder seasons.

Garden Education

2026 Garden Workshops

AUGUST:

AUG 11th 4:30-7:30 IRRIGATION WORKSHOP

Water’s getting more precious worldwide. There’s no better time to celebrate rain and get smarter about using it.

Place:
Lake Trail Community School Garden, 805 Willemar Avenue, Courtenay

This is a free event. Drop in anytime.

Snacks, drinks, and freezies provided, plus a water conservation art activity for the kids. It’ll be a casual, hands-on session, and the YCCBC (Youth Climate Corp BC) will be there to talk through their rain barrel design.

We’ll be:

– Hooking up to the newly installed orchard main line
– Cutting pipe and installing drip line
– Discussing the benefits of micro vs. drip irrigation
– Touring the greenhouse irrigation setup
– Talking PSI basics, home installation materials and tools

See you there!

Big thanks to Garrett from Sprinkler Medic Irrigation & Gardens for sharing his knowledge and donating his time to this project!

Garden Gnomes

We gather to grow food, share meals, and build community. Come dig in, connect, and celebrate the joy of gardening together.

🌱 Free and open to all ages

🌿 No gardening experience needed

Thursdays from 5:30 PM–7:30 PM

We cook and harvest from the garden, and potluck contributions are welcome—only if it feels fun and easy to bring something along. Somehow, there’s always enough to go around.

Just show up, or email foodandgarden@ltces.ca for more info.

2026: YCCBC

We’re excited to share a fantastic partnership this summer!

Thanks to the Youth Climate Corps (YCCBC) a dynamic group of young changemakers has joined the LTCES team. Their energy, creativity, and commitment are helping breathe new life into underutilized areas of the garden. It’s an incredible gift to have such passionate youth contributing to this work.

School Garden Programming

The Lake Trail Garden is a vibrant, living classroom where students can connect with the land, their peers, and the rhythms of nature.

Lake Trail students engage with the garden through lunchtime and after-school programs, while teachers bring classes into the space for hands-on, outdoor learning.

We believe that the garden is a natural extension of the classroom. That’s why we’re working hard to expand outdoor learning opportunities.

Project Goals

Building a safe outdoor space that is welcoming for both the school and broader community, and which supports a broad range of activities and events.
Offering a natural garden environment for the many residents in our surrounding neighbourhoods that do not have access to backyards.
Inclusion of Indigenous knowledge through plantings, programming, and plant interpretation.
Teaching tools and methods to grow food locally and contributing towards a more resilient urban neighbourhood.
Building hope and food security in the face of climate change.