El Paseo Community Garden enhances the quality of life for Pilsen residents through community building, stewardship, conservation, placemaking, partnerships, programming, and community gardening. The converted brownfield site provides opportunities to socialize with each other, plant and grow food, play, or simply be outside and enjoy…
Contributed by Marsha Wyatt, co-president of Maxwell Street Community Garden Maxwell Street Community Garden is in its second season at their new location on the NE corner of Racine and 13th Street diagonal to Fosco Park. They are at maximum capacity this year with a…
COVID-19 has made us all wonder how we’d manage many new challenges during this pandemic, and for many community gardens, the CCGA Resources distributions and plant sales have been the sole source of affordable, viable seedlings and healthy plants this year. The Resources Committee organized…
Another Summer distribution of plant groupings donated and coordinated by Elite Growers is in the works. Open to all Community Gardeners, a variety of ornamental perennials will be distributed Friday, August 21 at New Horizons Garden, 401 S. Central Park Avenue at Van Buren St.…
The Chicago Excellence in Gardening Awards (CEGA) will be honoring gardens for a fourth year—though with a twist, thanks to COVID-19. The timing of the pandemic has made it impossible to ramp up the gardening competition in time to take advantage of the summer growing…
Thanks to the generosity of Matthew Frazel and Adam Peterson at the UIC Plant Research facility, Resources has lots of native milkweed, echinacea, etc., to distribute to community gardeners…
While we all garden for pleasure and the delight in fresh picked foods, we add another dimension when we support pollinators. In Illinois alone there are 500 species of native bees—metallic green and blue bees, nothing like the fuzzy yellow and black iconic honey bee.…
Although medical professions and epidemiologists have made it clear that fresh greens or garden produce cannot transmit the COVID-19 virus, it can persist on different surfaces for a few hours up to an entire day depending on a combination of parameters such as temperature, humidity,…
With our heightened awareness on hygiene, we’re also thinking about how to disinfect our rain barrels before using them for the upcoming season. If there is any concern that organic debris, sediment, or dust entered the barrel during the previous growing season, disinfection will be necessary. It’s…
We’ve been staying indoors to stay safe, children are learning remotely, and any space feels smaller and too familiar when it’s the only space we can occupy. Here’s an indoor garden activity to spark some creativity and make you think beyond the four walls. Make…