Our Gardens
Read on more more information on our diverse campus gardens!
During the growing season, we come together for two 2 hour work days each week. Want to join us at our gardens? Then be sure to sign up for our listserv here so you’ll receive emails about our work days and updates on our programming!
Dig In! is comprised of autonomous growing projects rooted in particular colleges, student unions, academic departments, and campus organizations. Operating as a decentralized collective amplifies opportunities for student engagement, learning, and leadership.
Each project is happily guided by the unique needs and interests of its members. At the same time, we know that communicating and collaborating with like-minded campus groups facilitates knowledge transfer, resource-sharing, and community-building. By working together (for example, by coming together during community workdays and planning meetings), we become much more than the sum of our plants.
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Campus produce is consumed by volunteers, munched on by passersby, and donated to the UofT Food Bank. Our focus on heirloom and native plant varieties aims to help cultivate a biodiverse learning and living environment for the entire UofT community.
Anthropology Garden and Greenhouse
Did you know there’s a greenhouse in the Anthropology building? Not many people do – sticking out of the south side of the building on Huron Street you can spy a little glassed-in room. It hasn’t been put to its intended use for over 30 years…until we refurbished it in 2011! The Anthropology Greenhouse was refurbished with the help of Anthropology staff and Dr. Brad Bass. Dig In! starts our seedlings every spring in this space, and holds composting and soil block workshops here. The space is unheated, but we still manage to keep hardy plants like kale and collards alive over winter. Learn more about the history of the Anthropology Greenhouse here.
We also maintain a garden on the east side of the Anthropology Building at 19 Russell St. It was established in the spring of 2012, and extended the following year. Perennials like sage, yarrow, mint, lemon balm, pink clove carnations, garlic chives and Egyptian walking onion are firmly established. Other crops frequently self seed year after year, making this garden a breeze to maintain.
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Campus Co-op Garden
In partnership with the Campus Co-op community and Gardening Committee, Dig In established a garden behind 96 Spadina Avenue in June 2018. With the help of funding from the Community-Engaged Initiatives Grant from U of T Student Life, we built two raised beds to start or garden. In 2019, we obtained grant funding from the World Wildlife Fund and Taking it Global. This funding allowed us to intensify this garden space, by adding two more raised beds. We also purchased a rolling composter for the site. In June 2019, we added a double rain barrel system to catch rain water to use as irrigation. Special thanks to all our volunteers and the funding agencies that helped create this space!
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New College "New Roots" Gardens
Inspired by a seminar course at New College on local food systems, first year students reached out to Dig In Campus Agriculture and administration at New College to transform unused spaces into productive gardens. Together, we started the "Human Biology" garden in a small walled courtyard on the corner of Classic Avenue and Huron St.
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In 2019 New College generously contributed $400 so we could intensify our growing space here through the addition of raised beds and a rolling composter, which quickly breaks down garden waste into nutrient rich fertilizer. We now grow many different plants at the Human Biology garden, including kale, tomatoes, beans, garlic, and two perennial black currant bushes donated by staff! Beautiful milkweed plants also spring up around the garden each summer, attracting monarch butterflies and other pollinators.
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In addition to the Human Biology garden, we also maintain a small herb garden on the Wilson Hall balcony where we grow sage, basil, lavender, parsley and more!
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Lash Miller Garden
After the Chemistry graduate students who helped start this garden graduated, we reached out to the key staff members involved to see if they wanted to help with growing at this garden. Together, we've been maintaining it since the 2019 growing season! Our first step that year was to do some major weeding. We spared a few garlic chives (which still grow there to this day), and we added a layer of compost to add nutrients to the sandy soil. This garden provides ample space for our larger crops, including squash, corn and amaranth. The sandy soil has proved to be great for root vegetables such as beets, parsnips, carrots, and radishes. Finally, our sun-loving plants such as tomatoes and peppers grow well here ever year due to the large amount of light Lash Miller receives.
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Sid Smith Garden
The Sidney Smith Campus Garden is now our longest-standing garden, and probably one of the most productive too! With the exception of Lash Miller, it is our only garden that benefits from full sun, and a sprinkler system. In past years, we have grown peas, tomatoes, peppers, basil, carrots, spinach, and beets here.
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UTSU Garden
The UTSU Equity Garden is located at the UTSU building in front of Hart House, and was co-created by Dig In! and the UTSU Sustainability commission. This small garden encircles the sides of the building and has hosted shiitake mushroom logs, a herb garden, strawberries, rhubarbs, a Three Sisters Garden, and a beautiful old raspberry bush.
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Faculty Club Rooftop Pollinator Garden
In 2018 and 2019, Dig In! collaborated with UofT BEES to create a temporary pollinator garden in semi-hydroponic containers to complement their bee hives. Using EarthBox Organic Garden Kits donated by Young Urban Farmers, we grew 6 containers of edible native flowers on the rooftop of the faculty club
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