Nita Ross, a member of the Robert McClure United Church, started up the community garden in 1998 to make use of the church land in an environmentally friendly way to benefit community. In the beginning, a few intrepid church members carved out little plots in the church lawn and grew vegetables in the ground.
In 2000, Nita applied for funding to build 30 raised beds and to add a large water collection system off the church's roof. Apple trees, grapes and raspberry bushes were added to start the community orchard. Clean Calgary put in a "Composting Trail" to demonstrate different composting systems and a strawbale shed was built to house the garden's tools. The plots were rented out to the wider community and the garden become only one of three community gardens in the city that did not have a residency requirement.
In 2005, Karen Holmes lead a major revival of the garden by coming up with a garden plan and by getting funding to make much-needed improvments. Over the next two years the Composting Trail had dismantled and moved and large perennial flower beds were planted to add beauty to the garden. The strawbale shed was taken down because it had become infested with pigeons and had become unusable. The raspberries were encroaching on the plots and were moved. Weeds, which had become a major issue, were tackled and mulch was added to control them. Karen started up a board of directors for the garden to meet and make decisions.
2008-2009 saw a major expansion of the garden with the addition of 20 new raised beds, a new patio and shed and a fence along the back of the garden. The community orchard expanded and additional area a perennial herb patch was added. Gardening projects and programs sprouted up and grew. In June 2009, the garden formally incorporated as a registered non-profit society.
2010 - The McClure garden has 50 raised garden beds for rental and programs. Our programs and plots rentals are open to city-wide participation. We are on the steering committee of the Community Garden Resource Network.
In 2000, Nita applied for funding to build 30 raised beds and to add a large water collection system off the church's roof. Apple trees, grapes and raspberry bushes were added to start the community orchard. Clean Calgary put in a "Composting Trail" to demonstrate different composting systems and a strawbale shed was built to house the garden's tools. The plots were rented out to the wider community and the garden become only one of three community gardens in the city that did not have a residency requirement.
In 2005, Karen Holmes lead a major revival of the garden by coming up with a garden plan and by getting funding to make much-needed improvments. Over the next two years the Composting Trail had dismantled and moved and large perennial flower beds were planted to add beauty to the garden. The strawbale shed was taken down because it had become infested with pigeons and had become unusable. The raspberries were encroaching on the plots and were moved. Weeds, which had become a major issue, were tackled and mulch was added to control them. Karen started up a board of directors for the garden to meet and make decisions.
2008-2009 saw a major expansion of the garden with the addition of 20 new raised beds, a new patio and shed and a fence along the back of the garden. The community orchard expanded and additional area a perennial herb patch was added. Gardening projects and programs sprouted up and grew. In June 2009, the garden formally incorporated as a registered non-profit society.
2010 - The McClure garden has 50 raised garden beds for rental and programs. Our programs and plots rentals are open to city-wide participation. We are on the steering committee of the Community Garden Resource Network.
