Kensington Community First Garden was conceived in 2010 to address the community’s increasing demand for a collective space to grow vegetables and flowers. That year, a visioning session was held to collect ideas on garden elements and principals. These ideas were combined into a successfulI application to the City of Calgary for permission transform the area West of the Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Association’s Facility from an under utilized area of grass and trees to a community garden. In the Spring of 2011 thirty five volunteers armed with shovels and table saws transformed the space into a functioning garden. In subsequent years, corporate volunteer grants have enabled us to build a garden shed, a four bin compost system, a boundary fence and additional plots.

Today the garden has 22 individual plots and a communal area used to grow vegetables such as potatoes and zucchini for donations to HSCA’s food programs. It also has the beginnings of a small orchard,a picnic area and a berm that bounds the northern portion of the garden planted with raspberries, saskatoons and gooseberries.

The principles that constitute the garden are democratic, inclusive of both persons and ideas as well as organic gardening practices. The garden welcomes all from the novice to the experienced and seeks to enable individuals to have the best growing experience in our challenging climate.