Meet Our Plots
Mutual Aid Gardens offers FREE fresh local produce to the Katarokwi (Kingston) community. We have garden plots all over town that our network tends to. After harvest, the produce goes back to the community through the Free Veggie Markets. Keep reading for an overview of each garden plot we care for and how you can get involved!
Oak Street Community Garden Plot #7E-F
The Oak Street Community Garden is home to plots sown by community members and collectives alike. With a dedication to fostering “a place for everyone and anyone to grow food for themselves and others and to learn about food gardening,”(Oak Street Garden, Kingston) the Oak Street Community Garden is the perfect location for an MAG plot.
In this garden, Mutual Aid Gardens (MAG) has planted lettuce, carrot, parsley, swiss chard, chinese broccoli, red beets, golden beets, rapini, and marigolds (to protect the crops from being eaten). By chance, we also have onions, comfrey, mint, lemon balm, horseradish, and garlic growing in our plot!
Horseradish?
Some surprise horseradish has popped up in the middle of our plot! Marigolds were placed on either side to keep hungry critters from a spicy shock…. and from the rest of the crop.
An ideal Picnic spot
Perfect place to have a little picnic in the shade overlooking our beautiful plot. Lots of space to rest between weeding and watering. Stop by Thursdays at 2PM for weekly drop-in community gardening.
Comfrey comfort
We’ve had lots of comfrey plants (left foreground and right in the background) growing by themselves in the plot. According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, comfrey is great for our pollinator friends (specifically bees!).
Plot Map
To help keep our gardens organized, our network has created various maps of our plots.
This is the most recent map of the Oak St. Gardens plot. We have lots planted! Some were direct sown, some were put in as seedlings.
When weeding, it’s important to look at the plot map so we don’t accidentally weed out our crops! There are lots of tips and tricks to weeding and our team is more than happy to help out.
Pro tip: Check for red or yellow/orange stems on two-leaved sprouts. These colours are helpful to identify beets (red or yellow/orange stems) against crab grass (green) in the Oak St. plot.
Weekly Drop-In Gardening
Every Thursday at 2PM our community gardener will be at MAG’s Oak Street Garden plot (#7E-F) weeding and watering. Drop by to help out and learn more about MAG and how to get involved, or just to have some fun gardening for the afternoon.
Oak Street Park, Kingston, ON
@mutualaidgardens
mutualaidgardens@protonmail.com
Friendship Park Community Garden PLOt #11
The Friendship Park Community Garden is located at Friendship Park, nestled in the Inner Harbour area. the garden contains multiple plots tended to by various community members.
In MAG’s plot, we have planted brassicas (below left), lettuce (below centre), a tomato walled in with parsley (below right), and coreopsis.
Plot #11
We are always looking for people to help us keep on top of watering and weeding our plots. The Friendship Park Plot is great for folks who want to get involved but have limited time. This teeny plot can be weeded and watered in half an hour. Reach out to us over email (mutualaidgardens@protonmail.com) or on instagram @mutualaidgardens. Ask to join the WhatsApp group or for access to the watering schedule if you want to help out!
