General information

• Location of Garden: 8631 - 81 St
• Number of Plots: 18
• Plot Sizes: 4’x 4’ to 4’x 8’
• Total Garden Size: approx. 74’  x  25’
• Number of Participants:  approx. 20
• Participant criteria: Membership to a Community league, plot priority to those that help build and sustain the garden.
• Gardening Style – raised bed
• Fertilizer / Pesticide use: organic gardening only
• Fee: $10

Snapshot of the Garden
We are thrilled that the Idylwylde Cheery Tomato Community garden will be constructed in May 2012!  No photos are available yet, but have a look at our plan.

We are starting small and thinking big - phase 1 will be completed this spring and we hope to double the garden size (possibly next year) with enough gardeners available.

We are looking for gardeners - especially those ‘hands-on’ people who are willing to be useful beyond their own plot. We have a growing list of interested gardeners but give plot preference to people who are willing to help and be good garden neighbours.

We especially appreciate people who simply want to help the garden get built, so the whole neighbourhood can enjoy walking past it.

Contact Information

Website: www.Idylwylde.org

Email: icl_garden@hotmail.com

• Location of Garden:  10625-96 Street
• Number of Plots: We garden communally so there are no individual plots
• Plot Size:
• Total Garden Size: approx. 2000 square ft
• Number of Participants: 10-14
• Participant criteria (i.e. Community League Membership): Live in McCauley neighbourhood, interested in gardening communally, have limited source of income
• Gardening Style (i.e. raised beds): 8 raised beds, the rest is in the ground
• Fertilizer / Pesticide use: None
• Fee:  None

Our garden accommodates those who do not have the resources to participate in other gardens due to limited funds, lack of transportation and mobility issues.  Peas Be With You provides an opportunity for people who have never gardened before or have a lack of confidence in this area to learn from one another in a communal garden setting.  Developing a sense of community, belonging and team work is as important as the produce we grow.

This garden was first started in the summer of 2010 and is overseen and operated by The Mustard Seed Edmonton.

Peas Be With You has become more than just a garden but a place of acceptance, learning and belonging. From our experiences in the garden we have also started Harvest Dinners that happen on a regular basis as produce is available.  All gardeners are welcome and together we harvest, prepare a meal and eat.  This has included a canning session in which we canned 60 jars of salsa with our excess tomatoes!

We are always happy to add more people to our group of gardeners. If you are interested in volunteering or becoming a part of our garden feel free to contact The Mustard Seed at infoedmonton@theseed.ca or call 780-426-5600. You can also check out what we are doing at www.theseed.ca.

• Location of Garden: The King’s University College
• Number of Plots: 14 individual, one 20” x 20” community
• Plot Size: 10” x 10” indivudual
• Total Garden Size: 30” x 60”
• Number of Participants: 20
• Participant criteria: None
• Gardening Style: Mostly traditional plots, a few raised beds
• Fertilizer / Pesticide use: Composted organic manure
• Fee: $20

Snapshot of the Garden
The King’s Community Garden exists to promote healthy, flourishing lifestyles through the provision of fresh produce and satisfying labor, encourage environmental sustainability by promoting food security and consuming less energy by eating locally, and create a social community by bringing gardeners closer in touch with the source of their food and sharing in collective ownership of the garden.

King’s CG was started in 2009 when a group of environmentally-conscious students from the King’s Keepers student club came up with the idea. The students succeeded in turning a plot of land by the apartments into a garden for the King’s community and surrounding neighborhoods. The garden includes communal and individual plots which are tended throughout the spring and summer. By the time school begins again, a bountiful harvest awaits full of fresh tomatoes, potatoes, beans, squash, zucchini, peas, and spinach.

Some challenges we have faced are fruit trees dying, lots of weeds, and breaks in leadership due to students graduating/moving away. This year, our goals are to install a compost bin, three raised beds, and fruit trees and shrubs.

Availability/Volunteers

The garden has 14 individual plots up for grabs this year. They are each 10' x 10'. Sign up for a plot by contacting kingsucg@gmail.com. Each plot requires a deposit of $20, due by May 1 for returning gardeners and May 4 for new gardeners. 

Contact us soon before all the plots are claimed!

We are also looking for volunteers throughout the summer to help care for the communal garden plot. Volunteers will tend the garden in teams in a rotation. Contact kingsucg@gmail.com to volunteer!

Contact Information

Check out the King’s University Community Garden Facebook page!

Contact kingsucg@gmail.com for more information.

• Location of Garden: University of Alberta, South Campus, 118th St (just south of 60th Ave; see our web site (below) for a map)
• Number of Plots: not applicable
• Plot Size: not applicable
• Total Garden Size: 2 acres
• Number of Participants: approx 40
• Participant Criteria: all are welcome
• Gardening Style: no raised beds, in ground only
• Fertilizer / Pesticide use: no pesticide use, only organic fertilizer from compost
• Fee: no fees, but volunteer gardeners donate for produce they take, and we also make the produce available to the public too, for a donation. All donations are sent to a non-profit women’s organization, Tubahumurize, in Rwanda.

Snapshot of the Garden
The garden started in 2009 as an initiative of the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health and Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences. Volunteers operate the garden and most of the seeds, plants and equipment used are also donated.
All of the proceeds from the garden produce – that’s 100% – support Tubahumurize, a non-profit organization in Rwanda that provides socially and economically marginalized women with counselling, life-skills coaching, health care education, and opportunities for sustainable income generating activities. Most individuals who benefit from Tubahumurize are genocide survivors and many are widows or orphans, HIV-infected or survivors of physical and sexual violence.

• We plant, grow, weed, harvest, and market fresh vegetables, herbs and cut flowers.
• We contribute to the local food supply with fresh, pesticide-free produce.
• We send all of the money raised through donations for garden produce to support programs offered by the Tubahumurize Association, in Rwanda.
• We see the garden as a way to act locally, and think globally.

Availability/Volunteers

We are always looking for more volunteers. Occasional volunteers are welcome, but we especially need volunteers who can commit to coming regularly throughout the season. We also need volunteers to help with non-gardening activities, such as communications, maintaining garden equipment, and marketing the produce and handicrafts from Rwanda.

For more information visit the garden's web site: http://bit.ly/greenandgold_garden or contact them via email: green&gold@sph.ualberta.ca

• Location of Garden: 65 Ave and 111 St, on the South side of Ellingson park
• Number of Plots: No individual plots
• Plot Size: No individual plots
• Total Garden Size: 1250 square feet with plans to double
• Number of Participants: 40
• Participant criteria (i.e. Community League Membership): Residents of Parkallen, Parkallen school kids and neighbours are welcome. All ages. Junior gardeners welcome to join the Parkallen Sprouts.
• Gardening Style (i.e. raised beds): Permaculture
• Fertilizer / Pesticide use: Not allowed
• Fee: None

The Parkallen Community Garden began construction in the Spring of 2011. It is a work in progress being cultivated by the Parkallen Diggers and a junior gardening group, The Parkallen Sprouts.

The Parkallen Diggers is a group committed to the ideals and principles of permaculture.
Unlike many community gardens, the Parkallen Community Garden does not delegate separate plots to individual gardeners, rather, the garden is tended and harvested collectively by the group. In Summer 2012, a children’s garden will be constructed in the centre of the garden.

The Parkallen Community Garden is under construction. Its soil is being “built” using the permaculture technique of “lasagne gardening.” Cardboard, compost, water, straw, and a sprinkle of mycorrhizal fungi are layered on top of pre-existing grass. Over time, loamy earth replaces the grass without having to buy and relocate topsoil from another location. Rainwater is gently channeled towards the garden beds via a system of swales dug around the garden. In keeping with the principles of permaculture, the garden strives to be low-maintenance, organic and to contain only beneficial and edible plants.

The Parkallen Community Garden features a community compost, community fruit trees and shrubs, a low-impact and low-maintenance rain water collection system.
We host an annual Harvest Potluck at the Parkallen Community Hall as well as numerous events just for junior gardeners.

Visit our blogs:
http://parkallendiggers.org/
http://parkallensprouts.org/

Visit Us on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Parkallen-Community-Garden/139025639523820

The Parkallen Diggers and The Parkallen Sprouts are free to join at any time.
E-mail sustainability@parkallen.ca

Sponsored by St. Andrew's Centre, Brookfield Residential and the City of Edmonton.