Growing your own food can be done in a variety of ways and places: backyards, front yards, community gardens, balconies, patios, indoors, window boxes, etc.
We are here to support you however you choose to grow food, and we encourage you to optimize your growing space.
Here are some resources to help you on journey of gardening in Algonquin land/Ottawa:
CGN Garden Guides for Gardening in Ottawa
CGN Garden Guide – English (pdf, 2.5 MB)
Le guide du jardinier – French (pdf, 2.2 MB)
Guía para huertos – Spanish (pdf, 2.1 MB)
دليل البستنة – Arabic (pdf 2.4 MB)
渥太华菜园指南 – Mandarin (pdf 2.5 MB)
A Product of the Community Gardening Network of Ottawa, this is an easy beginner guide on the basics of gardening in the Ottawa region. Start with the basics needed to set up a garden – from soil, composting and seeds, to harvesting and preparing for the winter.
Upcoming Gardening Workshops
Our goal is to enable as many gardeners as possible to grow food successfully in the region. We invite all growers to join our workshops.
All facilitators are experienced growers who have teaching experiences and understand growing conditions in the region.
Head over to our upcoming workshops page to see what we have scheduled!
Is there a topic that you’d be interested in learning about?
Do you have experience that you would like to teach others about?
Please get in touch with communitygardening@justfood.ca to connect about potential workshop topics or signing up as a workshop facilitator.
Pre-Recorded Gardening Workshops
These basic gardening online recorded sessions are FREE, so everyone who is interested in food gardening can get started.
These online workshops are produced by Community Gardening Network at Just Food, in collaboration with community partners and garden instructors.
Topics include:
- Container and Small Space Gardening
- Indoor Seed Starting
- Natural Pest Control
Front Yard Edible Gardening
Growing edible plants in front yards is becoming an increasingly popular use of urban space.
This information site will provide an understanding of the benefits to having a front yard edible garden, the rules surrounding the establishment of a front yard edible garden in Ottawa, and things that one should avoid or be cautious of when gardening edible plants in their front yard.
Plant-A-Row, Share-A-Row
We encourage all gardeners to consider allocating a space in their garden to take part in Plant-A-Row Share-A-Row (PARSAR). While this is a feature of many community gardens, home gardeners are also able to contribute! Learn more about what this could look like in your garden here.
Local Support Groups
Ottawa local gardeners formed these groups on social media so gardeners new and experience can ask questions and exchange.
Click the links below to find out more and to join:
Ottawa Plant Cycle facebook group.
Edible Ottawa Gardens Group on facebook.
Additional Gardening Guides
Interested in diving deeper into the world of gardening?
Head over to our page with additional guides where you can learn more about:
- Harvesting
- Seed Collecting
- Soil Testing
- Pest Control
- Native plants
- and more!
Calendar of Events Across the Region
Head over to GardeningCalendar.ca to keep up to date on all kinds of gardening events happening across the region!
