COMMUNITY GARDENS IN THE PARKS
Gardeners take initiative and responsibility for the community garden and in effect, the park as a whole. The Chicago Park District offers an array of community garden options and programs. Please join us in Chicago's vibrant community gardening movement.
Existing Community Gardens
The Chicago Park District currently has over 40 Community Gardens spread throughout our park system.
They range from the basic to the sublime; from simple pots of flowers planted by school children, beautiful naturalistic perennial beds, annual beds which bring color to our summer days, to the complexly layered and extravagant beds and planters at Wicker Park.The oldest by far is the Rainbow Park Victory Garden which was established by Rainbow park neighbors during the second world war. People came together and created a place to support the war effort by growing their own vegetables and foster an important sense of community at the same time.
Neighbors Garden is actually a small park which is entirely devoted to Community Gardening.
The gardening group at Wicker Park represents a multi-year effort by many dedicated people who contribute in various ways to the neighborhood through not only their gardening, but also by creating programs for kids and fundraising efforts.
We welcome your participation in the continuation and development of community gardening in your Chicago Park District.
Download Acrobat Documents
- List of Community Gardens
- Registration Manual
- Registration Form
- Letter of Commitment
- Liability Waiver
- Schedule of Deadlines
Developing a New Community Garden
Chicago has already made great strides toward becoming one of the leading "Green" cities in the country! The Chicago Park District is helping to promote and expand the greening efforts in our city by providing valuable outdoor space for communities in Chicago to garden together.
Designing, planting, and caring for a garden can yield very rewarding results. Gardening gives us opportunities to be active, creative, and social, as well as establish a direct connection with nature. Gardening also promotes good overall fitness and health.Building the foundation for a successful community garden is also a long-term responsibility which requires community support and dedicated, ongoing commitment by all members of your community gardening group. In order to form a community garden in a Chicago Park District park, the following documents are necessary. You may click on them to read, review and print.
Download Acrobat Documents
- To Do Checklist
- Manual for Development
- Application
- Petition
- Site Survey
- Letter of Commitment
- Liability Waiver
- Schedule of Deadlines
HARVEST GARDEN
The Harvest Garden program gives children a three season in-depth experience with organic vegetable gardening. The program started in 2000 with a few parks, and has grown to reach 16 parks throughout the city. While our primary goal is to help children appreciate nature by giving them a broader understanding of it, we also aim to incorporate other areas of learning. We read books, do creative writing and visual art activities, and play a lot of games. The five week spring afternoon session kicks off with garden planning and preparation. The children will really dig in and get their hands dirty as they learn all about seeds, seedlings and planting. Spring culminates with a "tea party," rewarding the children for all their hard work with samples of their harvest.
The eight week summer session runs in succession with Camp Chicago, the Park District's Summer Day Camp program. During summer, Harvest Gardeners learn about vegetable garden maintenance and learn to use their garden herbs and produce for craft projects, including flower arranging and soap making, and for a variety of cooking projects, including making salsa, pickles, and even ice cream!
The summer session culminates with a Harvest Festival, where Harvest Gardeners from all 16 parks gather for some real county fair fun, filled with live animals, story telling, square dancing, and all sorts of fun and games. All 16 parks show off their produce and compete for prize ribbons. The day concludes with the ribbons ceremony, with the final announcement of the Best in Show winner.
Finally, the five week fall session reconvenes. During this time, children do a lot of harvesting while learning the importance of sharing when they pick a basket of produce to be donated. Fall also comes with a lot of fun art activities, such as flower pounding and fall flower arranging. As the gardening season comes to an end, gardeners learn about putting the garden "to bed" for the winter.
2007 SCHEDULE
Spring Session (5 weeks): May 14 - June 15
Summer Session (8 weeks): June 25 - Aug. 17
Fall Session (5 weeks): Sept. 17 - Oct. 19
Download Acrobat Documents
JACKSON PARK - URBAN FARM
Plans are fast underway for an Urban Farm and Education Center at Jackson Park. This space will be managed under a partnership with
Growing Power, Inc. The Urban Farm will include an area to raise produce year round (in hoop greenhouses and raised beds), training and education of community residents who use allotment plots, youth development, community outreach through education programs and the availability of locally-grown, fresh, safe and healthy food that exceeds certified organic standards.
The special focus of this partnership with Growing Power will be the youth and family involvement programs, where youth garden and community allotment plots will allow youth and their families to grow food for consumption and income generating activities at local farmers' markets.
Download Acrobat Documents
- Program Schedule - Urban Farm & Education Center Program schedule. Note: the schedule may be updated from time to time.
- Location - Location map of the Urban Farm & Education Center
Links
There are hundreds of resources and information available through your local library and the internet. Below are some links to resources that may be particularly helpful to community gardeners in the Chicagoland area.- GreenNet is a coalition of non-profit organizations and public agencies committed to supporting community greening in Chicago. Their website lists guides, other community gardens, ideas, resources, organizations and potential funding
- GreenCorps, which is found under the Dept. of Environment, City of Chicago, suggests grants, resources, and support
- Friends of the Parks has mini-seed grants available
- Kilbourn Park Organic Greenhouse offers workshops and lectures, as well as their annual plant sale and Harvest Festival. They provide horticultural ideas, resources, and programs: (773) 685-3359 or www.chicagoparkdistrict.com (under "Parks & Facilities," look for Kilbourn Park)
- Garfield Park Conservatory holds workshops, lectures and even has horticultural vendors onsite. They provide a wealth of information, ideas and resources for horticulture
- Wicker Park Garden Club is a highly successful community garden that provides many resources, workshops, lectures and events
- Openlands supports community gardens under their Urban Greening program
- Chicago Botanic Garden has an extensive line of lectures, classes and workshops available. They also have wonderful demonstration gardens of various types and designs: http://www.chicagobotanic.org
- University of Illinois Extension website supplies a wealth of resources. They have a plant clinic based at the Garfield Park Conservatory where they can troubleshoot many individual plant/gardening problems. Master Gardener and Master Composter certification classes are also available.
- American Community Garden Association works to create new resources for community gardens, coordinates an annual conference, and has online resources and informative lists of all topics involving community gardens.
- National Gardening Association promotes the environment, is a resource of plant information, has a free newsletter, and provides links for gardeners. Periodically, they provide information about grants and other funds available