Community Gardening Network of Ottawa is an information and resource-sharing network that supports the sustainable development of community gardens within the City.

The central activities of the CGN are:

• to assist two or more community gardens to get established each year, including building skills and capacity through our "How to Start a Community Garden" workshops and resources;
• to work with private and public landowners to increase access to land for community gardens in the city;
• to keep food and gardening information flowing between Just Food, the community garden coordinators, and the gardeners;
• to build gardening skills in the city through our beginner level gardening workshops;
• to encourage food preservation of the summer's harvest through our canning and food preservation workshops;
• to raise awareness in the city about community gardening through online newsletters and special events such as the annual Urban Agriculture Bike Tour;
• and to celebrate the season through a harvest party.

Community Garden Development Fund

The Community Garden Development Fund was established in 2009, as a collaboration between Just Food, the City of Ottawa and members of the Community Gardening Network, each providing representation to the annual allocations committee.  The annual $76,000 fund is used to start new community gardens, and to expand and enhance existing gardens, within the City of Ottawa.

Gardening Workshop Series

Just Food delivers an annual workshop series that parallels the growing season.  All workshops are $5.00 or pay-what-you-can and are free to all community garden members in the network.

Starting in the spring, the Beginner Level Organic Vegetable Gardening Workshops teach the basics in growing common variety vegetables in the Ottawa region without the use of pesticides or herbicides. This workshop is offered between mid-April to late-May at various locations around the City.

Typically held in the month of July, we offer a Natural Pest Control Workshop to help the novice gardener deal with garden pests, rodents and viruses – all without the use of chemicals.

A Seed Saving Workshop is offered in late-summer.  This workshop teaches you how to save seeds from your favourite vegetable varieties from year-to-year.
Food preservation is an excellent way to save your gardens' bounty while extending the flavours of the season until well after harvest time. Two Food Preservation Workshops are offered each year - "Making Strawberry Jam" is offered in the early part of the summer and "Salsa Making" is offered in the autumn.  

If you would like to:

• participate in a workshop
• help organize a workshop in your neighbourhood or workplace (we will provide the trained facilitators)
• train to become a workshop facilitator (training provided for free)
  

then contact .

We would like to thank Bernardin, who has partnered with Just Food over the years by donating canning tool kits and recipe books to this community initiative.

 

Plant a Row, Grow a Row, Donate a Row

View, print, and post around your neighbourhood, our Plant a Row, Grow a Row, Donate a Row! flyer, available in .pdf.

A program that was created to direct more fresh produce to local food banks and food cupboards, Plant a Row, Grow a Row, Donate a Row encourages every resident with a garden or farm, including members of community gardens, to plant extra rows of vegetables in for donation to the Ottawa Food Bank and its distribution points across the city.

To find out more about the Plant a Row program, please contact .