The garden is located on a former baseball diamond off Hawkwood Hill. The site includes more than 30 raised garden beds, a cedar garden shed and a beautiful pergola. Artwork by students at Hawkwood School and St. Maria Goretti School transforms the one-time backstop.
The site opened in 2017 and all the garden beds have been rented ever since. The garden is popular with neighbourhood dog walkers. Please remember that the garden and its perimeter beds are off-limits to our four-legged friends, and if you didn’t plant it, don’t touch it, or pick it! The garden area is easily accessed by foot off Hawkwood Hill, The Uplands and via the alley near the Hawkwood Village Shopping Mall.
Building on the first-year’s success, seven new rectangular beds were added at the beginning of 2018. That same year, volunteers built raised beds near the backstop, added ground-level beds and started a “food forest” between the backstop and garden shed.
The food forest includes apple, pear and cherry trees, plus cherry bushes, saskatoons and Haskap shrubs. Food grown in the forest and in the ground-level beds (rhubarb, walking onion, chives, strawberries) are available for the picking! (Again, the raised beds are rented, and food grown in these beds belongs to the renter.)
The perimeter beds, which ring the garden plots, continues to be a work in progress. It was also started in 2018. Over time, these perennials in these beds have attracted pollinators to the garden.
The site is popular with local teachers and their students. Some actively garden at the site, while others use the space to learn about growing food in Calgary.
For more information on how to rent a plot, email: hawkwood.garden@gmail.com
Community gardeners receive a monthly In YOUR Garden newsletter. If you’d like to be included in that e-mail out, please send a request to: hawkwood.garden@gmail.com
1. How does a community garden work?
Gardeners must hold a valid Hawkwood Community Association membership. Each garden bed is rented for one season and each renter keeps the fruits and flowers of their labour. The City of Calgary provides the water and maintains the surrounding grass area.
Gardeners are expected to donate some time to area maintenance, such as picking weeds. Renters have access to tools and watering cans from the garden shed.
2. What happens to extra produce?
If you grow it—it’s yours!
Gardeners are welcome to share their produce as they see fit. In its inaugural year, students at St. Maria Goretti School sent extra vegetables to a local charity that delivers food to vulnerable families.
3. How much does it cost to rent a plot in the Hawkwood Community Garden?
$15.00 for a 4×8 plot or hexagonal bed.
$10.00 for a 4×4 plot
Contact hawkwood.garden@gmail.com and ask about availability. If plots are available, you will be sent a detailed agreement and instructions about where to deliver your cheque and a signed copy of the agreement. If the plots are taken, you can ask to be placed on the wait list.
NOTE: Current renters get first crack at renting a bed for the next season. Cheques will only be cashed after beds are assigned.
