Frequently asked questions about community gardens

What is a community garden?
A community garden is a piece of land shared by friends and neighbours for growing vegetables and flowers, and providing opportunities for positive social interactions and recreation. It may be sandwiched between two buildings, on the outskirts of a city, in an apartment building courtyard, on hospital grounds, alongside railroad tracks, or even in your own backyard.
Community gardens can take on diverse forms. Designated land can be divided up among neighbours for personal use or developed into school gardens where subjects including biology, environmental science, and mathematics can be taught and explored in the garden environment. Other community gardens have been used for growing food for food banks, educational and training workshops, youth gardening programs, and integrated into senior centers. A garden’s theme and program possibilities are virtually endless.

Why does our community need a community garden?
Along with providing a source of food, a deeper understanding our interdependence with natural systems can result from community gardening. Gardens in the urban environment contribute to increasing diversity of land use, activities, cultural traditions, and bio-diversity. The resulting learning about ecology as well as a variety of cultures besides our own may, in turn, result in behaviors positively impacting social well-being and environmental and public health.

How many community gardens are there in Toronto?
Toronto now boasts over 90 community gardens, plus 20 allotment gardens of approximately 2,500 plots. The total number of individual plots probably totals well over 4500, with new gardens starting up all of the time.

What can you grow in a community garden?
Community gardeners grow many things, not just vegetables. You can grow fruit, herbs, flowers. East York community garden will include individual vegetable gardens and have communal areas where trees, shrubs and flowers, both annual and perennial, are grown.

How much time do I need to spend in the garden every week?
Most gardens require that every gardener must spend enough time in his or her garden so that each plot is kept properly maintained and as weed-free as possible. Everyone participates in spring and fall clean up days, and harvest celebrations. Often there will be an improvement project that the garden committee organizes, like building a seating area or a children’s garden area. The community garden participants set their own rules about required participation for these group work days.

Who is organizing this project, and paying for it?
The East York Community Garden network has been working closely with the City of Toronto’s Community Gardening Department and Foodshare, a local food security organization specializing in community gardening. Through Foodshare, some members of the EYCG network have completed training in establishing community gardens, how to make a project successful with the right attitudes and community connections. The EYCG network also includes many knowledgeable gardeners and grassroots community-building experts.

The City of Toronto has the goal of having a community garden in each Ward within the next few years. This project received final City approval, after being enthusiastically accepted through the local public consultation process. The City has arranged plot digging, fencing, water supply and the provision of soil and compost for the use of the community garden. The gardeners are engaging in fundraising activities for tools and supplies, as well as plant materials.

What are some Benefits of Community Gardening?

Community building tool--create opportunities for neighbours to work together
Grow fresh, nutritious produce in urban areas for community members or food banks Clean up and use vacant and unsightly lots
Provide safe learning space for children and adults
Reduce crime and vandalism
Preserve urban green space
Economic empowerment—provide income opportunities
Reduce city heat from streets and parking lots
Enable positive human-earth connections and the cultivation of environmental stewardship
Reduce stress and improve mental health of community members
Beautify and enrich neighborhoods and enhance their sense of identity
Provide opportunities for intergenerational and cross-cultural connections

(With thanks to Utah Community Gardens Network)