GROWING HEALTHY FOOD, GROWING
HEALTHY COMMUNITY
VISION: Inclusive, intergenerational and community-led action for sustainable development
MISSION: To create a thriving community hub where neighbours of all ages, experiences and backgrounds gather to grow healthy food and healthy community
Our Gardening Model
Hopewell Community Garden envisions a strong supportive environment enabling participants to plant and harvest food collectively. Registered gardeners are assigned to day teams which are responsible for all activities in the garden on a given day. On Saturday mornings we encourage larger numbers of people come together to both garden and socialize. The community garden is tended every day from late May, through summer, and into fall.
In the spring of 2021 we will launch the Hopewell Pollinator Garden. Day teams will also be responsible for the maintenance of this native plant pollinator garden.
About Us
GROWING TOGETHER
Two distinct groups of people made proposals to the City to convert an unused bocce pit to a community garden space. The City met with both groups in a public consultation in the summer of 2016. Out of that meeting and others in 2017 Hopewell Community Garden was established in the west end of Walter Saunders Memorial Park with our first planting in spring 2018.
To inquire about registering to participate in the Hopewell Community Garden, please email us. There is no fee to join the community garden. However, you must register to participate.
We always welcome financial contributions to help maintain and improve the garden. Donations can be made to Hopewell Community Garden via cash, cheque, or e-transfer—please email us. Any amount is greatly appreciated!
We thank the Toronto, Parks, Forestry & Recreation for funding the initial construction of the community garden through its Community Gardens Program, and for providing a grant through the PollinateTO Program to purchase plants and materials for the pollinator garden. We also thank Landscape Ontario for its generous grant and TD Bank for financial contributions through its TD Bank Volunteer Grant Program.
Pollinator
Garden
COMING SUMMER 2021!
The pollinator garden expands the capacity of Hopewell Community Garden, allowing for increased participation and alternative horticultural learning opportunities for participants. The goal is to become a local resource for the public, schools and community groups wanting to learn more about horticulture, pollinators and the importance they play in our urban ecosystem.
Creating Pollinator Habitat
Hopewell Community Garden was one of thirty-five grant recipients from the City of Toronto through its PollinateTO Program. Our group consulted with a garden designer and native plant nurseries to determine the best plants and features to have in the pollinator garden as a sustainable local information resource.
Master gardener Katherine Mathewson has designed the pollinator garden and selected over 50 varieties of 300 plants, small trees and shrubs to be placed within the 130 square metre area. There will be a rain garden, cedar paths, log-end seating, stepping stones and plant identification signage. We would also like to include an Indigenous medicine garden.
In July 2020 we covered the ground to kill weeds and grass, and will amend the soil in the early spring once the covering is removed. Landscaping and planting will begin in April 2021. To inquire about registering to participate in the Hopewell Pollinator Garden, please email us.
Donations: We always welcome financial contributions to help maintain and improve the garden. Donations can be made to Hopewell Community Garden via cash, cheque or e-transfer—please email us. Any amount is greatly appreciated!
This project is supported by the City of Toronto through Live Green Toronto and the PollinateTO Community Grants Program.
News &
Events
PERSPECTIVES
Each few weeks we will report on happenings inside and outside of the community garden. Informative teaching, artistic expressions, wild exaggerations and total fabrication may find their way into this section.
Did you know…
Our community garden was the site of one of the biggest fires in Toronto’s history.
There used to be three lumberyards in the area where Walter Saunders Memorial Park is located: the Oliver yard, the Ziner yard and, the biggest one (where our garden is located), the Fairbank yard.
And, just in case you were wondering, lumberyards are companies that manufacture timber, boards and the other pieces of wood used to build houses and other structures. Let’s just say, with all of that wood lying about, the worst thing that can happen is… a fire.
But, on August 28, 1969, a fire started in one of the wood piles at the Oliver lumberyard. And it spread quickly. To all three lumberyards. And to the Coats-Patons yarn factory, where Forest Hill Lofts is now located.
The whole area was on fire, and the heat could be felt several kilometres away. All the houses along Hopewell Avenue were affected by the smoke and water, and even a local grocery store, across Dufferin Street where the Audi dealer is today, was damaged by the heat.
All in all, it took fire crews from across the city about two days to put out the fire completely. But, thankfully, only four firefighters were slightly injured while battling this blaze. And no one else was hurt in what was one of the worst fires in Toronto’s history.
May 22 – June 5, 2021 • Pollinator Garden (landscaping)
May 29, 2021 • Community Garden (first planting)
June 5, 2021 • Community Garden (second planting)
June 5 – June 13, 2021 • Pollinator Garden (coordinated team planting)
July 3, 2021 • Community Garden (first harvest)
August 7, 2021 • Community Garden (second harvest)
August 14, 2021 • Summer party
October 2, 2021 • Community Garden (Fall cleanup)
October 30, 2021 • Halloween party
November 6, 2021 • Community Garden (over-winter planting)
December 11, 2021 • Holiday party-fundraiser for 2022
Resources
LEARN AND GROW
Below are links to resources relating to planting, growing and maintaining vegetables, fruits and herbs in a community garden; and native plants and pollinators in a pollinator garden. We update and amend these links occasionally but do not ascribe to specific methods or information presented on the websites.
Community Gardens
Gardening guides torontomastergardeners.ca/fact-sheets/
Better gardening growveg.com/gardening-videos.aspx
Vegetable growing tips savvygardening.com/tag/vegetable-crops/
Growing vegetables thespruce.com/vegetable-gardening-4127744
About vegetables gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables
Growing herbs thespruce.com/herbs-4127740
Organic seeds and Garden supplies damseeds.com
Pests and control measures thoughtco.com/worst-vegetable-garden-pests-4097358
Pests savvygardening.com/guide-to-vegetable-garden-pests/
Insect Identifier earthbox.com/bug-chart
Ontario Community Gardens sustainontario.com/initiatives/community-garden-network/
Toronto Community Garden Network tcgn.ca
Foodshare foodshare.net/resources/printable/
Old Farmers Almanac https://www.almanac.com/gardening/growing-guides
Pollinator Gardens
Native wildflowers ontariowildflowers.com
Native and drought-tolerant plants guelph.ca/wp-content/uploads/droughtTolerant-NativePlants.pdf
Native plants in the Carolinian zone inthezonegardens.ca
Pollinator gardens torontomastergardeners.ca/guidecategories/pollinator-gardens/
Bees thoughtco.com/most-important-native-pollen-bees-1967994
Butterfly facts thoughtco.com/fascinating-facts-about-butterflies-1968171
Pollinator Protection cerestrust.org/pollinator-protection-and-proliferation/
Contact
NEW PARTICIPANTS WELCOME!
We are always open to welcoming new members to the community garden. Have questions? Want to join? There is no cost to join. Just send a message to the email address below and we’ll get back to you with details.
We are a volunteer organization so it may take a few days to respond. – Thank You
Location
We are located at the west end of Walter Saunders Memorial Park next to the York Beltline. The nearest public transit is the Dufferin 29 bus which stops at Whitmore (northbound) and Bowie (southbound) Avenues. There is limited street parking on Hopewell Avenue next to the community garden.
Copyright © 2021 Hopewell Community Garden. All rights reserved.