Photo: Bob/Flickr
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.
