The Kensington Community First Garden is a new community garden for Hillhurst-Sunnyside, to be located on the grounds of the Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Association (HSCA), 1320 5th Avenue N.W. The proposed site will be to the west of the day-care playground, south of the soccer field and parallel to 5th Avenue. Foundation work will be started in Spring 2011.
The Kensington Community First Garden aspires to benefit the community by beautifying the community’s public space, engaging its gardeners and welcoming all its members.
Group purpose
The Kensington Community First Garden aims to encourage inclusiveness and vitality in our community through creating a meeting place that will make the neighbourhood a better place to live. To this end, the garden plans to attract a diverse group of people from Sunnyside, Hillhurst and West-Hillhurst to create and maintain the garden, while sharing in educational opportunities and a community experience.
The garden will engage different groups of people in two ways, through garden-design and garden-activities.
The garden is designed around accessibility, including barrier-free movement, wheelchair accessible paths, raised beds for gardeners with limited mobility, a special area for children, welcoming spaces for meeting and enjoying the garden, and a communal garden area – which will allow people who are interested in the garden, but don’t have allotments, to participate in gardening. Proposed garden activities include workshops, communal events and open garden days.
Educational activities will occur in two levels in the garden.
Firstly among the gardeners themselves, who will learn and mentor on a range of topics including plant propagation, cultivation, weed and pest management, urban pollinators and organic gardening methods. Secondly among the community at large, who will be invited to participate in educational garden activities and who will have access to the meeting areas of the garden to see their neighbours and learn more about the community.
Additional Benefits.
The garden will further benefit the community by revitalising the 5th Avenue access to the community centre and adding a new dimension to how the community centre is used. Additionally the garden hopes to be able to donate surplus food to seniors and community organisations.
For more information, download a portion of the application (PDF, 1.1 MB) submitted to The City of Calgary.