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Garden Co-op page
To contact the garden co-ordinator: gardens@dufferinpark.ca
the circle garden, August 2023
The two-year temporary garden was set up by the city's technical services staff, just south of the park field house, at the end of March 2021. It is now the permanent circle garden, beside the nettle garden. The pollinator garden and picnic area garden are just south of the renovated rink building. The children's garden is west of the playground beside the cob kitchen.
Park gardens history 1993 to 2007 (ARCHIVE)
The first community garden began in Dufferin Grove Park in 1993, one year after the City took out the last Parks-planted flower bed, citing lack of funds. The park looked so sad without any flowers that the first garden was dug by some mothers and little kids near the sandpit..... read more
Wild plants (mostly edible/medicinal) in the park
wild plants in the park
Some of the wild plants that came to the Indigenous garden beds on their own:
- burdock - "gobo" food plant in Asia, pollinator, inspiration for velcro
common thistle -- (an important pollinator)
shepherd's purse -- cultivated as a commercial food crop in Asia
lamb's quarters -- used as a food plant worldwide; amaranth family and related to quinoa
- sow thistle edible and medicinal plant, not related to the common thistle
- vetch -- under cultivation for at least 9,500 years, contributes to soil fertility as other legumes do......
Garden Diary, 2025
From Skylar to Parks plumber staff: "The Dufferin Grove Park field water source cover is broken again. It is a hazard. Someone could put their foot through and break an ankle...Hopefully not!....
Note: The City auditor's very critical report on parks says that there are too many delays in addressing problems in parks.Good news: the problem Skylar reported was fixed within days.
read more
Garden Diary, 2024
For this year, we put together more details than usual, to give an idea of the activities/joys/frustrations involved in a typical "year in the park community garden co-op".....read more
Garden Diary, 2023
From Skylar: "The Dufferin Grove Park Garden Co-op got a TO Pollinator Grant for 2023! We're planting a pollinator garden near Dan's Tables, the picnic area just south of the DG community centre reconstruction. At 4:30 pm I'll be talking about pollinators. Thanks to the kindness of a DG-area world master of bees, I'll have amazing local and world bee specimens to show. Around 5pm, we'll switch to activities - lots of ways for kids to run around the park and have fun. Maybe your kids could make a seed ball or be in the treasure hunt?" .....read more
Garden diary 2022
From Skylar: "Again this year, many park users stopped by to admire and tell us that the circle garden was very beautiful and an important park feature. This year the sunflowers seeded themselves all around the circle garden which brought many yellow finches and a wide variety of bees. At the end of the garden season we collected native and pollinator seeds to spread around the park next year. Again, one of the Co-op gardening session highlights was harvesting stinging nettles, and making stinging nettle soup"..... read more
CELOS Public Space Award for Skylar
Garden diary 2021
The temporary gardens, coordinated by Skylar Hill-Jackson, look lovely, and volunteer gardeners have planted a wonderful variety of vegetables, native plants, and flowers. But there's a problem -- it appears that the triple-mix the city put in there contains quite a bit of street rubble, including lots of asphalt bits -- all of it kind of working its way to the surface. (Have a look.).....read more
Garden diary 2020
There have been a lot of new plants planted, some plants stolen, new gardeners, not enough water (bad), lots of wood chips (good) from a branch that came down in the playground, and way too much burdock. Today, the premier said Toronto will be declared at "stage two" of the covid response, as of June 24. An email went to the Ward 9 park and recreation supervisors....read more