Garden Network
Garden Network
Announcement
The Garden Network is comprised of community gardens, locally-managed green spaces, urban farms, and non-profit greening partners.
Rooted in a community-planning effort that formed the GPCC, the Garfield Park Garden Network is a resident-led effort to enhance local green spaces and engage more community members in the local food system. Local gardens that are providing multiple benefits for the community: increasing the availability of fresh produce in one of Chicago’s food deserts, supporting service-learning opportunities for local teens through the Youth Garden Corps, and creating productive spaces that enhance climate resilience efforts.
The Garden Network encompasses more than three acres on formerly vacant lots, most of which have been placed in a land trust for the purpose of preserving the space for community use. Garden Network members share resources, including tools, workdays, and a community greenhouse, built in 2011. The greenhouse offers year-round planting opportunities and the ability to start more than 2,000 seedlings. Gardeners grow a variety of flowers and vegetables. Several gardens also grow berries cultivate fruit trees, and have contributed to community planning efforts for the Garfield Park Eco-Orchard.
Gardens
Garden Network members and associated urban farms and supporters include:
- Adams Garden
- Al Raby Environmental High School Garden
- Beidler Elementary School
- Deans Garden
- Fulton Street Flower and Vegetable Garden
- Fulton Parkways and Garden
- Friends Garden
- Garfield Park Conservatory Urban Demonstration Garden
- Herban Produce
- Keeler Garden/Tilton Elementary School
- Key of Life Garden
- Kuumba Tre-Ahm Community Garden
- Leif Ericson Garden
- Madison Ave. Allotment Garden
- Monroe Street Garden
- Maypole Garden
- New Horizons Garden
- Roots Community Garden
- The Boulevard
- and more gardens at homes throughout the community!
Grow with us
If you would like to volunteer at a community garden, would like to start or reactivate a garden on your block, or are a current gardener seeking assistance please contact Angela Taylor, Wellness Coordinator, at angela@gpcommunitycouncil.org.
To learn more about community greening initiatives in Garfield Park, please join GPCC and Garden Network members at our monthly Open Space and Land Use Committee meetings - more details are available on our website calendar!
Gardens
Garden Network members and associated urban farms and supporters include:
- Adams Garden
- Al Raby Environmental High School Garden
- Beidler Elementary School
- Deans Garden
- Fulton Street Flower and Vegetable Garden
- Fulton Parkways and Garden
- Friends Garden
- Garfield Park Conservatory Urban Demonstration Garden
- Herban Produce
- Keeler Garden/Tilton Elementary School
- Key of Life Garden
- Kuumba Tre-Ahm Community Garden
- Leif Ericson Garden
- Madison Ave. Allotment Garden
- Monroe Street Garden
- Maypole Garden
- New Horizons Garden
- Roots Community Garden
- The Boulevard
- and more gardens at homes throughout the community!
Grow with us
If you would like to volunteer at a community garden, would like to start or reactivate a garden on your block, or are a current gardener seeking assistance please contact Angela Taylor, Wellness Coordinator, at angela@gpcommunitycouncil.org.
To learn more about community greening initiatives in Garfield Park, please join GPCC and Garden Network members at our monthly Open Space and Land Use Committee meetings - more details are available on our website calendar!
Support the Garden Network at the Neighborhood Market
As local gardens became more productive, gardeners determined to start a local community market on a vacant lot at the Lake and Kedzie intersection to reach the wider Garfield Park community. Through a City-supported Kickstarter campaign, gardeners raised more than $7,000 to start a Neighborhood Market in Garfield Park selling produce and other products from local growers.
The Neighborhood Market has grown in size and scope, and is now located on the plaza of The Hatchery, a new food business incubator developed on the vacant lot where gardeners launched the project in 2012. More local food businesses sell prepared foods and innovative products, and several gardeners offer homemade pickles, jellies, and salsas alongside fresh produce. The Neighborhood Market accepts SNAP benefits and Link Up Illinois Double Value Incentives to ensure that families of all incomes can enjoy vegetables grown by local gardeners. Join us this season to purchase hyper-local produce and value-added products created in Garfield Park!
