Community Garden

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WHAT IS A COMMUNITY GARDEN?

The Stonebridge Community Garden is an allotment agreement between a registered community member and the City of Saskatoon. Allotment means that a plot of land is rented by an individual for growing vegetables or flowers for their personal use. The garden provides an opportunity for city residents to grow food, and to meet new friends, share knowledge, and build community. The food grown in each plot belongs to the registered gardeners, and cannot be used or sold for any commercial purposes.

Take a virtual tour of our Stonebridge Community Garden (video courtesy of the Saskatoon Horticultural Society).

The Stonebridge Community Garden Committee (SCGC) is a small group of volunteers who manage the Stonebridge Community Garden. Our primary work is to:

• oversee plot rentals
• process yearly renewals
• maintain the waitlist for the gardens
• organize seasonal work bees and review gardener adherence to the City of Saskatoon Allotment Garden Plot Rental Agreement
• organize tool purchases and mulch and compost deliveries
• act as a liaison between gardeners and the city
• collect feedback from gardeners and the broader community to carry out future projects and programs and improve the gardening experience

Gardeners are provided with deliveries of bark mulch, compost and other soil amendments or supplies annually or as needed. A large storage shed was donated by North Ridge Developments Corp. in 2018. Basic gardening tools such as wheelbarrows, shovels, rakes, spading forks, and some hand tools are available for all registered community garden members to use while working in the gardens and are safely stored in the locked tool shed at the site. We keep the community garden rules up to date and work to ensure that they are honoured in order to maintain the garden as a vibrant, safe, community space.

The annual community garden plot fees pay for a portion of the costs of running the community garden program. Plot fees go towards procuring and maintaining supplies such as tools and equipment, annual rototilling, and garden improvements. As a not-for-profit group, we continually seek additional funds to enhance the garden and for special projects, such as adding new plots, signage and irrigation. 

WAITLIST

Currently, there is a waiting list for the garden plots. If you are interested in gardening with us, please review the rules and agreement section and contact the SCGC by email: stonebridgecommunitygarden@gmail.com.  

We are always looking for more volunteers!

RULES AND AGREEMENT

The Guidelines for Community and Allotment Gardening in Saskatoon ensure that the community gardens are maintained as vibrant, shared green spaces within the City of Saskatoon. 

The SCGC and garden plot users are required to agree to, and to honour these rules and sign a gardener’s agreement each year in exchange for the privilege of gardening on public land. The SCGC reserves the right to make exceptions to these rules in extenuating or justified circumstances.  For a full description of guidelines and to understand their application and interpretation, please see the Garden Agreement Rules below and Appendix 3.

Please ensure that this program is right for you, no refunds for plot fees are provided. Theft unfortunately is a common issue and will most likely occur at some point in the gardens. 

GARDEN AGREEMENT RULES

1. Gardeners will attend the Spring and Fall AGM meetings. 
2. Gardeners will participate in the full garden season. This includes planting their plot by June 1st, maintaining it all summer long, and leaving their plot clean in the fall after harvest (approx. Oct 15^th deadline).
3. Gardeners will participate in the spring and fall work bees of the garden. 
4. Gardeners must sign up for tasks which include green bin management, watering and weeding of community spaces.
5. Gardeners will keep their plot weeded, weed the adjacent pathways, and harvest their produce when it is ready. 
6. If gardeners are away on vacation, they will arrange for friends or fellow gardeners to care for their plot during their absence. 
7. Gardeners will shut off the water when finished watering. 
8. Gardeners will return tools and equipment to the proper unit and ensure the unit is locked. 
9. No gardeners will use synthetic herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers in the garden. 
10. No gardeners will sell their produce. 
11. Gardeners will refrain from planting invasive species, tall plants or other structures that will shade their neighbours’ garden. 
12. Gardeners will respect common areas by walking on paths only and will only harvest produce from their own plot and not from plots belonging to others. 
13. Gardeners will supervise their children when they are in the garden. 
14. To prevent vandalism, gardeners will assist in promoting the security of the garden. 
15. If a gardener cannot continue to garden, they will inform the Stonebridge Community Garden Collective. If a gardener’s plot is not maintained, a member of the garden committee will attempt to contact that individual. If contact cannot be established, or conditions have not improved within two weeks, the plot will be considered abandoned and may be reassigned. 

GARDEN PLOT REVIEWS

Plot users work hard throughout the year to nurture the beauty and diversity of their community gardens. Garden reviews are conducted periodically to maintain the appeal and neatness of the gardens; to foresee, address and prevent any safety issues; and to deter the proliferation of pest habitat due to cluttering. During reviews, the SCGC will visit each site, and assess the condition of each plot to ensure plot users are following the mandates outlined. 

It is expected that:

• plot and pathways are free of weeds
• plot has been planted and is being actively used
• gardening and/or non gardening materials are not placed or stored within the pathways or in common areas
• non-permanent structures are properly built and safely maintained if deteriorating 
• garden green waste is properly composted
• there is no garbage in plot and surrounding area 

GARDEN PLOT INFRACTIONS

By reading these rules & agreement, you indicate that you understand and agree to follow all rules set out by the SCGC and the City of Saskatoon. This is further agreed upon by paying for and registering as a tenant of an assigned garden plot.

• In case of an infraction, the first notice will be a written email notice with explanation. Plot holders will be given 7 days to correct the identified issue(s). Follow-up reviews will be conducted on plots that had a previous violation.
• If there are no significant changes, you will receive a second notice via email with a date that the plot rental is cancelled and you must forfeit your plot.

Forfeiting plots is done on a case by case basis.  Our intention with this process is to ensure that people gardening at the community gardens are using the land to grow food for themselves and their families. We understand that circumstances change throughout the growing season and if something has come up please let us know by contacting a member of the SCGC at stonebridgecommunitygarden@gmail.com to explain your specific situation. We can often find resources to help!

COMMUNITY GARDEN PLOT PAYMENT

2022 PLOT FEES

Small	Less than 75 sq ft	$30/year
Large	Approximately 150 sq ft	$40/year

THEFT IN THE GARDEN

Community Gardens are wonderful places for city residents to come together in a healthy past time that is good for them and the planet.  Sadly, theft of produce does happen. The SCGC attempts to engage in various ways to inform the public that community means community led and managed and not free for the public to harvest in this case. Only registered gardeners should harvest from plots with the exception of C1, C2, A24 and the fruit orchard (see map above). We encourage registered gardeners to place signage in their plots to indicate they are private and are working on improving overall communication. We hope that the public respects the hard work of gardeners and does not take what they have not helped to grow or maintain. 

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