At 8 a.m. on Wednesday, the wedge of property at Eighth Avenue and Commercial Drive was an unsightly patch of dirt. At 2 p.m., cedar-boxed beds sprouted tomato plants. A woman watered perennials including sage and echinacea alongside a chain-link fence, and a carpet of rich, black soil waited to receive flowers, vegetables, trees, fruits and shrubs. By 4 p.m. on June 23, workers and business, municipal and non-profit leaders celebrated Vancouver's newest community garden.

It's an activity the TV sitcom Parks and Recreation might poke fun at, but turning a strip along the edge of the Grandview Cut into a community garden in a single day appeared to be invigorating work for the crew of 70 volunteers, especially on a seemingly rare sunny day in Vancouver.

"I'm looking forward to the [reactions of] people coming home from work," said Cinthia Pagé, project coordinator for the non-profit PosAbilities Can You Dig It! initiative, which helps people with developmental disabilities and nearby residents transform urban spaces into gardens.

Fiskars, an international company that manufactures garden and other tools, initiated the local execution of Project Orange Thumb. Canadian Tire donated the plants, the city provided the land while PosAbilities, offering services to 800 people with developmental disabilities across the Lower Mainland, will manage the community garden.

PosAbilities teaches people with developmental disabilities gardening and woodworking skills, gets neighbours and other organization involved in their group home and public gardens, and gives a percentage of its crops to food depots and programs. "And that's really important because we tend to see the people with disabilities as the ones in need, the ones that need assistance [and] services," Pagé said.

Nearby residents and adults and youth connected to MOSAIC, a non-profit that serves immigrants and refugees, will tend garden plots along with participants in PosAbilities nearby life skills program on Venables, which will use some of the produce in its nutrition and cooking program.

"It's an opportunity for community connections to be made, friendships, real friendships," added Gerry Fremming, team leader with PosAbilities. "A lot of folks that we support have a lot of paid professionals in their lives, and so this gives them the opportunity to make friends."

Edward Ng, who's patronized PosAbilities since 1994, said he's built "big huge boxes" through PosAbilities that have been planted with flowers, fruit and vegetables.

"Gardening's a pretty fun thing to do. It's also pretty relaxing," said Ng, who spent Wednesday digging, raking, pushing a wheelbarrow and planting vegetables.

Can You Dig It! is starting eight edible community gardens this year, involving more than 80 people with disabilities.

Vancouver is one of three North American sites selected by Fiskars for 2010. The company founded Project Orange Thumb in 2002 and has donated nearly $1 million to more than 115 community gardens through the program.

crossi@vancourier.com