SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Rony and Liza Roy couldn't find any spicy green chili peppers in Yellowknife grocery stores when they moved to the city last year, so they decided to grow their own.

Last summer they grew 21 chili plants in their condo, watching them thrive in the long hours of sunlight.

Rony and Liza Roy weed red spinach on their plot at the Yellowknife Community Garden. The couple started gardening in May. - Katie May/NNSL photo

"We distributed it to our friends and they were very happy," said Liza.

The couple, who moved here from Toronto, then decided to work their green thumbs outdoors and applied last January for a plot at the Yellowknife Community Garden, which has 46 plots and about 100 members.

After two and a half months on a waiting list, the couple got a plot near the left side of the Woolgar Avenue garden when the previous gardener went to Mexico.

"I was really lucky to get this," said Rony.

Now they've got a whole garden full of chili and other veggies, from radishes and cucumbers to swiss chard and red spinach, which grows abundantly in Rony's home country of Bangladesh.

Rony's father was a farmer and his brother is an avid gardener, so he figured he'd give it a try in Yellowknife, despite long winters and short summers.

"It's in my blood," he said. "The hard part was waiting so long (for winter to end.)"

He said maintaining the garden is a good way to meet new people.

"We often meet each other here," said Rony. "It's a nice place where we can build a network."

They've got the plot until the end of the season and Liza said they will keep working the soil.

"Next year we'll grow better," she said. "This year we're just getting started."

Garden executive co-chair Tasha Stephenson said the garden has been getting more popular and organizers found a plot for nearly everyone on the waiting list except for a couple of late applicants.

"Over the last decade it's been growing steadily more popular," Stephenson said.

"I expect that it will grow as fuel prices go up, bringing food prices up, and people realize they can grow their food right in Yellowknife."

The collective received a city grant to start another garden in Old Town. They hope to start construction in August and have plots ready for next summer.