Calvin Cooperative Community Garden
The Calvin Cooperative Community Garden is managed each year by the season’s gardeners. The garden is organically “farmed” with each garden bed growing one or two crops as selected by the gardeners each year. In this way we grow a wider variety and greater amount of vegetables and herbs for all to share. Surplus produce is donated to our neighborhood Hopelink Foodbank to go to needy families. Hundreds of pounds of fresh organic produce are donated to Hopelink every year.
We are a friendly and inclusive gardening group looking for like-minded and enthusiastic gardeners to join us. Cooperatively, we work together to grow our organic produce through shared responsibilities, tasks and activities, which are assigned by March 15th of each year. After March, all plots are assigned and are in the process of being planted. If you still have an interest in joining the garden after March 15th, please feel to contact the Hospitality & Facilities Director at hospitality@calvinpc.org.
All gardeners are welcome to become a member of our coop farming community. If you have special crops you desire to plant, please join before February of each year. Share your skills and knowledge or learn new ones as you garden alongside other gardeners. Share our gardening labor to share in the abundance of vegetables we grow. The only things required to garden are interest and enthusiasm (and a pair of gardening gloves if you use them!).
Want to join us? Submit your application to hospitality@calvinpc.org before March 15th of each year. After we receive your application, you will be given further information for payment and your community garden assignment. The membership cost is $40 per household per season. Print the application below, then mail it, email it, or bring it to the church office in person.
Crop List
The following crops are usually grown. We make room for one or two new crops each year.
Annual Crops
- Pole Beans
- Kale
- Lettuce
- Chard
- Summer Squash
- Cucumbers
- Cherry and Salad Tomatoes
- Leeks and Onions
- Carrots
Perennial Crops
- Variety of Herbs
- Rhubarb
- Raspberries
- Blueberries
Application instructions: print the form, fill it out, and email it to hospitality@calvin.org or mail or bring it to the church office.
Hügelkultur Bed Installed in Calvin Community Garden
In November 2016, Diggin’ Shoreline, our community garden partner, welcomed King Conservation District volunteers to install an 18 foot Hügelkultur bed in the garden. The technique, new to the PNW, is a centuries-old European gardening practice that works amazingly well to regenerate tired, depleted, and compacted urban soils where water penetration can be difficult.
Hugelkultur Comes to Calvin, 
by Londa Jacques, Diggin’ Shoreline
More info about King Conservation District and a Hügelkultur installation.
COMMUNITY GARDEN ORIGINS
Created in 2011, Calvin’s level, sunny garden plots can grow an abundance of food! In its second season, over 400 pounds of fresh organic produce was donated to the food bank at Hopelink in north Seattle.
In 2016, Diggin’ Shoreline came alongside Calvin Church with energy and passion to help restore our Community Garden as a place where neighbors in our community can gather to help grow food for their families and for the food bank. Thank you, Diggin’ Shoreline!
Visit the Community Garden Facebook Page!