Green Leagues Home   >   Local Food, Community Gardening, Sustainable Food

Urban Farming & Community Gardening

Urban farming, simply put, is growing food in the city.

One form of urban farming is community gardening. The community garden movement as depicted today in North American urban communities can be traced back to 17th century England, where landowners leased plots of land for others to garden. Community gardens are one of the most popular programs run by community leagues across Edmonton. Many Community Leagues throughout the city offer low-cost plots of land where residents who don’t have access to garden space can grow vegetables and learn from other gardeners.

Continue reading to learn more about community gardening, urban farming, and other sustainable food practices you can bring to your community.

Community Gardens

If you’re interested in building a community garden at your Community League, Sustainable Food Edmonton can help! Through their Community Gardens program, they provide $30,000 per year in grants for community garden projects in the Edmonton area. 

Pop-up Gardens

The City of Edmonton continued its Pop-Up Community Gardens Pilot program in 2021. Community Leagues can apply to have the City of Edmonton bring temporary raised garden beds designed for community food production to help reduce barriers to increasing local food growing spaces. 

Yard Sharing

A different spin on the community garden model is yard share programs, where neighbours can share extra yard space with those who don’t have space to grow their own food. Visit Yard Share YEG to learn more and bring yardsharing to your community.