Laughing Seed Community Garden

Located at:  Rutherford School 8620 - 91 Street
Number of plots: 14
Plot size: approx 60 sq ft
Garden size: 980sq ft
Gardening style: In boxes
Number of participants: 15
Fee: $20

Project Description:

In late winter of 2007, Nicole Hiebert decided to see if there was interest in starting a community garden in the area of old Strathcona. She put posters up in the community and within a short period of time was overwhelmed by emails from 40 or more interested people. As such, the Laughing Seed Community Garden was born. People who attended the first meeting expressed a strong desire to begin gardening this summer and made a commitment to do the necessary legwork to establish a community garden. At that same meeting, the chair of the landscaping committee for the nearby Rutherford Elementary School stated that she had included a community garden in the school landscaping plans and thought there was a strong probability that we could have the space. By mid-May, because of strong leadership within the group and strong support from the Community Garden Network, the City of Edmonton, and Rutherford Elementary School, Laughing Seed Community Garden was officially an entity; the community garden  had a committed group of at least 20 people, multiple committees, and a space in which to garden.

Since that time the Laughing Seed garden has flourished!  14 garden boxes were built by a pair of willing volunteers and numerous plants were donated from Salisbury Greenhouse.  With all the voluntary effort the garden is now up and running! 

So far, the garden members are enjoying their new plots for a number of reasons: a chance to get outdoors, an opportunity to teach their children about growing vegetables, meeting some of their neighbours, and promoting healthy, organic food.  The demand to entry into the Laughing Seed garden is so high that surely more gardens will be started in the area in the near future.