Rochester Street’s Sweet Willow Garden will be back in action in spring 2025 thanks to funding from Just Food and the hard work of the DCA’s Public Realm Committee.

31 Rochester Street was the home of the Sweet Willow Garden for approximately two decades, where it sat atop a CMHC demonstration underground heating plant built in the early 1980s. The garden beds were removed when the heating plant was decommissioned in 2018 and the land has been fallow ever since.

Volunteers have been working behind the scenes to prepare the garden. Here’s what we’ve been up to:

• Consulting with Just Food on the best organization of the space. We’ve planned for 24 raised galvanized steel beds.
• Grading the site and covering it with wood chips
• Installing a shed in the back of the garden on a levelled foundation of gravel, sand and patio stones
• Preparing the beds according to the hügelkultur method: a centuries-old sustainable way of building a garden. Find more about hügelkultur here: https://www.almanac.com/what-hugelkultur-ultimate-raised-bed
• Organizing water access to the site (water will be provided from the building south of the garden with a new hose and two rain barrels utilizing the downspout from the adjacent building).

Join us!

Creating a successful community garden takes community effort! Volunteers with a variety of skills are needed:

• Construction and assembly
• Collecting materials for the hügelkultur beds
• graphic design for flyers and signage
• Communications and outreach
• Coordination once the garden is up and running

We’re hosting a community build day on September 28 at 9 am! Help us build and fill the garden beds.
To participate, please contact sweetwillowcommunitygarden31@gmail.com. Rain date: September 29.