A local garden is a beautiful tribute to the woman who sowed the seeds that got it started.

The late Ruth Johnson started a garden next to her uptown apartment building about seven years ago. Last year, she asked her neighbour Ritva if she'd take it over, as she was getting older.

"Unfortunately, she passed away in February. I made her a little memorial," Ritva said of Ruth's Garden. "It is almost overgrowing. That is nice for the whole block."

While Ritva is tending to the garden, passersby often stop to comment on the garden that's home to veggies and flowers. The urban garden is stretched out between two apartment buildings in uptown New Westminster.

"I had dahlias - they are blooming now. There has been different flower blooming. Now there is fall asters and sunflowers," said Ritva, who asked that her surname not be published. "There have been different plants. I threw in some wild flower seeds - that's why I never know what is coming up."

The garden is so bountiful that Ritva shares the harvest with fellow tenants in the apartment building.

"There is some Swiss chard, collards, zucchini," she said. "I planted some rhubarb."

Ritva, a volunteer at the Royal City Farmers' Market, is pleased to share the produce and flowers with her neighbours.

"Everybody appreciates it," she said. "I give lots of bouquets out. It makes people happy."

Ritva is pleased that she's been able to carry on Johnson's gardening legacy - and even expand it a bit.

"She was my next-door neighbour. She was really lovely," she said. "I used to talk to her when I went by the garden."

Ritva said there are days when she goes to the garden and intends on doing about 30 minutes of gardening, only to find that two hours has passed.

"Time just goes away," she laughed.

tmcmanus@royalcityrecord.com