Ways to get gardening, from work parties to special events
Photo via Campus Community Gardens.
I’ve recently decided it was time that I develop a green thumb. I’ve spent the winter testing my skills on small houseplants, but I think I’m ready to level up. If you’re like me — a student living in rental housing — and you’re looking for some more experience with plant care, you should attend one of the many activities held at UVic’s Campus Community Garden (CCG).
I first learned about the garden, located across the road from CARSA, when I attended a Garden Party put on by UVic’s Live Music Club. If you’re at all mesmerized by Finnerty Gardens, or the other beautiful forested areas on campus, the effort poured into the CCG garden will amaze you. During the spring, vegetable plants crawl in thick vines up trellises, and in the summer, the garden blooms bright with bunches of wildflowers.
The CCG was created in 1996 by Environmental Studies volunteers at UVic, making UVic the first university in Canada with a community garden for growing food. In 2012, the space expanded from 50 to 90 plots, and now encompasses 1.5 acres.
If this sounds like your thing, you’re in luck: there are many different ways to get involved with the garden. The most well-known is to rent a plot by joining their waitlist, but there are other, more cost-efficient ways to get your hands dirty.
The easiest and most accessible way to join in the fun is by attending a weekly Work Party at the garden, which are currently on Fridays from 2-4 p.m. These events are hosted by CCG staff and volunteers, with the intention of assembling to “show the garden some love.” Tasks change with the seasons, but may include pruning, harvesting, planting, raking, or mulching.
Accessibility is a priority for the CCG. They say there will always be low-physical capacity or low-energy tasks on the schedule, such as seed saving, to ensure everyone can participate equally. Anyone in the community can attend these two-hour sessions for free — not just UVic students and staff — so these are great opportunities to make new friends.
The intention of the CCG’s Work Parties is to teach new skills and build community, but also to encourage positive relationships to the land, and learn sustainable food practices. Sometimes, if the harvest is bountiful, participants can even bring home their own plants, herbs, or produce!
Another way to get in those photosynthesizing hours is to look out for volunteer opportunities, which can be delivered to your inbox via the CCG email list. By contacting ccgoutreach@uvic.ca, or filling out the “Contact Us” form on their website, you can receive volunteer callouts, which are sent out any time they need extra hands with a gardening project. It’s a great way to learn new skills with a flexible schedule.
Those interested can also volunteer as a member of their Board of Directors, helping oversee site infrastructure, tools, composting, and many more behind-the-scenes efforts.
During this semester, as the weather warms up, a more casual way to enjoy the sights of the garden could be to attend a club event hosted there. Since the scenery is so beautiful, and also incorporates picnic tables and a gazebo, it makes perfect sense that the CCG team offers up their space for many local groups.
Some which have held events here in the past include: The UVic Sustainability Project, the Live Music Club, UVic Wizards of Beer, the African-Caribbean Student Association, The Students of Colour Collective, Community Cabbage, Curbside Farms, the Ecological Restoration Club, UVic Tea Club, the Society for Students with a Disability, UVic Pride, and the GEM.
The garden also collaborates with the UVSS Food Bank and Free Store — ten plots at the CCG are allotted as “giving gardens,” meaning the produce is donated to the campus food bank. In 2023, these giving gardens produced 900 lbs of produce.
Finally, the CCG has two events to look out for, which will likely take place closer to the summer months — poetry picnics, and the Sprouts program. Poetry picnics are free outdoor poetry readings, which run open-mic style, encouraging local writers to share their work.
The Sprouts program — also free — is a small workshop of 3-6 people where Lyndsey, the garden coordinator, leads a small lesson about a topic of interest for the group. This could be surrounding specific techniques or plant types, or a general walkthrough of how to keep your own foliage alive. The goal of this program is to increase food literacy and to educate about sustainable communities. Those interested in Sprouts can sign up via Google form.
Overall, the CCG is both an underrated hangout spot, and an educational and experiential gem on our campus, featuring so many different opportunities catered to the price range and availability of students.
Check out CCG’s event calendar for more information.
