Backyard Gardens & Recycled Treasures

Tucked away a few minutes off Lucknow’s main drag is a hidden trove of local produce frequented by locals in the know and shoppers in search of the best price for seasonal produce.

 

Backyard Gardens and Recycled Treasures at the corner of Havelock St. and Hamilton St. is the go-to place for the first lettuce of spring, abundant zucchini in summer, fall pumpkins in every possible shape and size and the proud cabbages of winter. If it’s in season, you can find it at Backyard Gardens. In fall and winter, you can still find the bounty of summer here in the form of homemade preserves like strawberry jam, bread and butter pickles and corn relish.

 

Traditional recipes made with local ingredients aren’t any kind of mandate for Backyard Gardens, it’s just how they do things there.

 

Owner Maggie MacPherson has slowly been building her produce stand up into a great source of one-of-a-kind home and garden decor made of upcycled materials, much of which she makes herself. She has an eye for the salvageable, and is able to take a table on the way to the landfill, infuse it with care, and end up with a Pinterest-worthy shelf for the garden. She also sources unusual pieces from the local Mennonite community. 

 

While the art side of things is MacPherson’s passion, the produce market was born out of her recognition that Lucknow locals needed a reliable source of fresh fruits and vegetables, a need that was compounded by the closure of the town’s only grocery store. 

 

There is little to no artifice surrounding the available produce at Backyard Gardens, if local farmers aren’t growing it, then they tend not to carry it. MacPherson is a member in good standing with the local produce auctions, and uses that connection to pass savings on to her customers. She’s also open almost every day of the year from dusk ‘til dawn, a real godsend for those who work all hours, veg-heads with evening cravings and the town’s many post-urban transplants that struggle to adjust to a lack of late-night fruit options.

 

If you need a pumpkin, a cool planter, or just want to know what’s in season, every season, come by Maggie MacPherson’s little slice of produce heaven in Lucknow, any day, any time, and regain your sense of connection to Lake Huron’s ever-fascinating food network. 

 

Backyard Gardens and Recycled Treasures is open 7 days a week, 365 days a year, from morning to night time. At the corner of Havelock St. and Hamilton St., Lucknow.