Urban Eden Community Garden is a wholly independent group of gardeners holding an annual contract with the City of Edmonton through the Partners in Parks program. It is administered by an elected committee consisting of one or two Community Garden Coordinators, Secretary, Treasurer, Event Coordinators, Flower Coordinators and other positions as needed seasonally. http://www.edmonton.ca/residential_neighbourhoods/neighbourhoods/neighbourhood-maps.aspx
Urban Eden gardeners join a cordial community. First year gardeners rent a half-plot and have the opportunity to earn a full plot through volunteer time and their participation in the spring and autumn clean-ups. Each gardener is provided with a contract at the start of each season detailing courtesies, rules and responsibilities for gardening on the site. All are required to contribute a minimum of 8 hours towards site maintenance which includes mowing, trimming, w**d control, filling water barrels, watering and care of perennial beds and fruit trees, picking up litter and participating in work projects. Spring and fall cleanups and renovation projects are mandatory projects. History:
Urban Eden is not a community league project. Many of the original garden organisers were extremely active in community association and league projects. This caused some confusion for new league boards who occasionally tried to take management of the garden. This was resolved with the help of John Helder, then senior City Horticulturist and City Parks management. The garden received its start thanks to help from Bev Zubot and Mary Jane Buchanan, the Downtown Community Coordinators for "Playful Downtown Edmonton." They organised a "Sharing Community Treasures" event and a “Downtown Community Corn Fest” at Dick Mather Park. Based on residents' feedback and assisted by Kim Sanderson from Edmonton Community Services, the coordinators organised a Community Planning Walkabout to view the Warehouse and McKay Avenue Districts to assess how to make the communities more friendly for residents, children, youth and families. Those interested in gardening formed their own group out of this Walkabout and Our Urban Eden, as it was then known, was established in 1999 immediately north of the garden's current location on Bellamy Hill. The garden group applied for and received funding provided by a grant from TD Canada Trust with additional sponsorship by Muttart Conservatory. After seven seasons, the City of Edmonton put the property up for sale and the garden closed. The gardeners lobbied for a new space and were granted a permanent site in the same block on Bellamy HIll in conjunction with Partners in Parks. A generous start-up grant from the Community Garden Network (now Sustainable Food Edmonton), and construction by the City of Edmonton provided 28 new beds in a location immediately south of the old location. Our CRC in 2008, Barb Ursuliak, arranged a community league donation based on their ability to recover the funds through a federal matching program. That, along with a Manasc Isaac donation and NPDP funding enabled the leveling of the south third of the site and the addition of 9 new beds which gives us the 37 raised garden beds we have today. After 10 seasons in the new location, our garden beds and flower containers were in desperate need of repair. We were just sourcing grants when we were absolutely surprised and delighted to receive a 2015 community development grant from Toyota. Exceptional assistance from Mike Nault and Derek Radke at the West-end Home Depot enabled us to overcome the difficulties of having no power on site. We completed over half of our planned projects that year and have been replacing garden beds as needed. Our garden shed was broken into and vandalised in 2022; we received an emergency grant from SFE for repairs and were able to replace our tools and materials from our savings. Sustainable Food Edmonton also matched our contribution to repairs with a renovation grant in 2023. We replaced 16 beds in 2023 and will replace another 5 in 2025. Urban Eden Community Garden has hosted social and learning events for members as well as open community events including potluck suppers, group visits, tours and an annual open house. We have provided garden space for the Inner City Children's Project, and participated in their summer camps with day visits and workshops in birdhouse construction as well as traditional paper-making incorporating cotton and abaca with garden plant materials and natural fibres. We have contributed to the Edmonton Food Bank (grow a row) and Meals on Wheels. We've met many local residents who visit, eat lunch, read or shortcut through the garden as well as out-of-towners who've noticed the garden from their hotel rooms and ventured down the hill.
