Growing Our Food
The Garden Guides project aims to provide support for community members on growing food. We want your input and ask you to please complete this 7 question survey. Let us know what resources or support you need to grow food.
We grow food in the Riley Park Community Garden (RPCG), through the Yard Garden Harvest Project and in partnership with the UBC Farm Practicum Program and City Beets Urban Farm. Our programs and partnerships improve our community's food sovereignty and allow community members to develop connections with neighbours and learn how to grow their own food. The food we grow also provides healthy, locally grown produce for our Food Distribution program.
The Riley Park Community Garden
Riley Park Community Garden (RPCG) has a communal model of community gardening, which means we share the work and share the harvest. Harvests are shared among volunteers throughout the growing season, for use in our potluck lunches and harvest events and for our LMNHS food literacy programs. There is no wait list to join this community garden, just a willingness to show up and join in the fun of growing your own food. Sign up here!
Yard Garden Harvest Program
We grow food in our neighbours’ back and front yards. The produce is then distributed at our Food Distribution Program. This program is an opportunity to volunteer and connect with people of all ages, learn how to create a foodscape and give back to your community. We also are gleaning in the neighbourhood by harvesting our neighbours’ excess fruit and vegetables.
To offer your yard for production, or if you have fruit or food that could be harvested please contact our Coordinator.
Growing Food Resources
Do you want to learn more about growing food on your balcony, in your yard, in your community garden plot? We can help! There are resources available that we post on this page and also videos and How-To’s that we’ve produced using our community garden for inspiration.
Not all soil is created equal
Planting, Seedlings & Transplanting
Garden Guides
See what is happening in the garden with take-away tips to help you grow your own food!
West Coast Seeds
Sign up for their Urban Garden Series. Here are a few links and resources to help you grow your garden.
Other Resources
Linda Gilkeson’s course notes: Click here to go to the course notes. For beginning gardeners see the class Master Gardeners, with the password: mgbasic Click “Submit”. There are two files. Part 2 has the section on growing food in containers and the second half of that file is a vegetable by vegetable guide
UBC Botanical Garden Forum: A place where people ask specific growing questions.
Grow Green Guide: A great place to start when brainstorming gardening ideas. This guide helps you assess your space and light to help determine what vegetables and plants will be most successful
Canoe Creek Community Kitchen: A learning and sharing space, where like-minded folks come together to cook, preserve, and create using food as our medium. Now offering virtual cooking sessions! Visit the website for more information and resources.
