SP0184: Giving Garden

The Giving Garden project aims to create a physically accessible gardening experience to the McGill community. Currently there are no on‐campus gardening projects that provide physically accessible gardening experiences. This prevents the inclusion of some members of the McGill community from all the benefits associated with community gardening.

This project will focus on utilizing self‐watering planters (25 SPF‐owned planters, formerly used by the Santropol/Edible Campus project), retrofitted to make them accessible to people with physical disabilities (wheelchair/mobility‐aid users, etc.). This will be done by following principles of Universal Design to raise the planters using wooden frames, ensuring approachability and ease of use. We intend to acquire composters that are equally physically accessible, and also a selection of adapted gardening tools. We will host workshops, facilitated by Ca Pousse, (a community organization associated with the NDG Food Depot), on topics such as composting, herbalism, seed saving, and ecological methods of pest management. Workshops will be open to all members of the McGill community, with the intention of fostering community engagement, knowledge sharing, and interest in food security. Our volunteer gardeners will be mainly comprised of members of the Access Ambassadors, who are students registered with the Office for Students with Disabilities, with the mandate of volunteering in projects related to accessibility initiatives on campus.