What's New at the
Community Garden Network Website?

September 18th 2005: The list of Ottawa's community gardens has been updated.

April 3rd 2005: The CGN has evolved since its inception several years ago, so it was about time to update the Frequently Asked Questions Page to better reflect what the CGN has become.

October 27th 2004: Community Gardening Program

It is truly a time of wonderful and abundant harvests! For the past three years, the CGN has been working on the development of a municipal policy to support community gardening in Ottawa. Since 2003, we have been collaborating with city staff, representatives of the Nepean and Gloucester Allotment Gardens as well as dedicated community members to bring this vision to fruition. We are happy to share with you that on October 27, Ottawa City Council agreed to support the establishment of a Community Gardening Program within the City of Ottawa, in collaboration with the Community Garden Network (CGN).

At this time, we would like to thank all of you who participated in and supported this project by attending meetings, giving presentations, writing letters of support and spreading the word. We would also like to give special mention to folks who were committed above and beyond what they may have originally intended: the CGN policy committee, Alexa Pitoulis, Iain Jack, Rosemary Tayler, and Sue Bramley. Also, big thanks to Isya Shawesh, Judy Janes, Mike Souliere, George Bushell and Bill Nye for sharing their thoughts on community gardens at HRSS on October 7, 2004.

The Community Gardening Program will proceed with an action plan that will identify community garden space; assist community garden groups, in collaboration with the CGN, to access partnership sponsors and alternate funding sources; and provide operational support in areas such as compost techniques, water efficiency and healthy gardening practices like pesticide free gardening. Community gardens provide a benefit to the community by increasing community involvement, self-reliance and contributing to more liveable, safer neighbourhoods. To see the full Community Garden Program Action Plan, please go to the About the CGN section of our website.

September 10th 2004: Info on how to join the CGN announcements list has been added to the Contact the CGN Page.

June 19th 2004: More events have been added to the Events Page, and a "Thank You" section has been added.

May 2nd 2004: More events have been added to the Events Page, and Master Gardeners of Ottawa have been added to the list of resources.

April 12th 2004: The site has been updated to allow for easier surfing (the menu bar is now along the left side of the page rather than at the bottom). Also, this "What's New" page has been added so that you can see what has been added to the site and when.