Garden Profile

Jardin communautaire/Community Garden Campus Saint-Jean

The Jardin communautaire Campus Saint-Jean Community Garden allows Campus staff and community members to garden together, sharing knowledge for the benefit of all, and to produce wholesome food for themselves and to donate to community programs. We garden organically and work to reduce our impact on the environment by composting and responsible water use.

Planning for the garden started in the spring of 2005, and, with financial support and encouragement from Campus Saint-Jean, the University of Alberta, the Community Garden Network and the City of Edmonton, the garden was opened in spring 2006.

The land chosen for the garden was farmed early in the 20th Century by the Fathers of the Juniorat Saint Jean. The garden enjoys unobstructed sunlight and is sheltered on the north and east by trees and campus buildings. A secure tool storage area is located under the stairs of a nearby building.

It is intended that the community, not Campus Saint-Jean or the U of A, will manage the garden but because we are located on University land we must adhere to the University's policies on the use of pesticides and herbicides and maintain our garden to their standards or higher.

The gardeners are a mix of Campus Saint-Jean staff and members of the surrounding community and are both Francophone and Anglophone. We endeavor to provide signage and communications in both languages.

In cooperation with the environmental group at Campus Saint-Jean (Campus Vert), we are developing an innovative composting program which will add food scraps from the Residence to our garden waste to provide high-quality soil amendments and help reduce our impact on the environment.

In addition to getting the site plowed and the garden planted (a major achievement in itself!), we have made a number of improvements to the site. A low fence was installed around the garden to keep out the local rabbits. One of our gardeners built a wonderful four-bin composter, a bench, and some shelves for the tool storage area.

Challenges, Needs, and Barriers:

  1. This is a young garden and most (if not all) the gardeners are new to community gardening so we are learning as we go. Getting members to participate in short monthly meetings and work parties is difficult. We also have some novice gardeners who would benefit from more workshops or mentoring.
  2. Responsible watering is important. The University is subsidizing our water use at present but if we abuse this generosity it will be withdrawn. Education is required.
  3. The initial tilling process dug up a lot of clay and there are many weeds and clumps of grass mixed in to the soil. Removing the quack grass roots and keeping on top of the weeds is critical. We also need to install a weed barrier and mulch around the base of the fence to prevent invasion from the surrounding grass.
  4. We need mulch for the paths to keep weeds down and make walking through the garden less mucky in wet weather.