Community Gardens and Orchards
Community gardens create a healthier and more livable community. They allow people to grow nutritious food while connecting with their neighbours. We recognize the positive impact they have on our communities and the environment.
We support these gardens through our Community Gardens Program. The program aims to provide education and resources on starting your own garden and encourage the creation of gardens on City-owned land. Learn more about our Community Gardens Program Policy.
Community gardens
Community gardens provide a shared space to grow and harvest fruits and vegetables, herbs, flowers or native plants.
We worked with community partners to create the Kingston Community Garden Network. This network helps make new community gardens on public or private land and keeps existing gardens in our city going strong.
The Community Garden Program includes:
- Growing annual and perennial food plants, medicinal plants and flowers
- Planting Indigenous, cultural and native plants
- Creating pollinator gardens
- Establishing little forests
- Growing orchards and edible forests with fruit trees, nut trees and shrubs
- Designing landscapes with edible plants
Program features
Gardens that are in the program may have the following features:
- Allotment plots
- Communal plots
- Donation plots or gardens
- Amenities such as access to water supply and shared tools
- Accessible compost bins
- A tool storage shed
- Signage and other provisions necessary for the operation of the garden
Benefits of the program
- Promotes the production of local, healthy and fresh food
- Enhances local food security
- Offers education on gardening and the environment
- Encourages schools, youth groups and older adults to get involved
- Creates positive social interactions among community members
- Works with other organizations in the community
- Donates extra food to local food pantries, food banks and meal programs
Join a community garden or orchard
For information about joining an existing community garden or orchard, or starting a new one, contact:
Kingston Community Gardens Network Coordinator
Phone: 613-507-8848
Email: gardens@lovingspoonful.org
Contact Us
City of Kingston
City Hall
216 Ontario Street
Kingston, ON K7L 2Z3
Canada
contactus@cityofkingston.ca
Phone: 613-546-0000
Fax: 613-546-7816
The City of Kingston acknowledges that we are on the traditional homeland of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and the Huron-Wendat, and thanks these nations for their care and stewardship over this shared land.
Today, the City is committed to working with Indigenous peoples and all residents to pursue a united path of reconciliation.
Learn more about the City's reconciliation initiatives.
