Applications for our 2025 Free Garden Program is open now!
Visit https://www.solidarity-gardens-cu.org/free-garden-program for more information.
Plots will be assigned in February 2025 and gardening will begin in March 2025.
Consider making a donation to support our gardens.
Over the winter, we will be preparing our budget to determine what we can afford to do in our gardens next season. We rely on the generosity of community, and your donation will go to providing tools and materials that our leaders need to repair, maintain, and expand the gardens - $10 supports a garden purchasing a new hose nozzle or hand trowel, $35 supports a garden receiving a cubic yard of compost to amend the soil, and $100 supports multiple gardens with maintaining beds or a garden adding a new raised bed - https://www.solidarity-gardens-cu.org/funds
And consider donating in other ways! Every season, we need to restock well-used supplies such as gardening gloves, hand trowels, twine, tomato cages, pruners, hoses, and more. We can take donations directly at the Cunningham Township Supervisor's Office (205 W Green St, Urbana 61801). Please email solidarity-gardens@ctso.org with any questions about what we can accept and where/how to donate.
Solidarity Gardens is a collaborative that works to develop a resilient, community-based food system by promoting gardening in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.
We are #NeighborsFeedingNeighbors #CultivatingCommunity.
We coordinate land access, education, supplies, volunteers, and events in support of gardening and food access. You can get involved by volunteering in one of our Affiliate gardens or sharing produce from your own garden.
Champaign-Urbana has some of the most productive growing soil in the United States, but a very high food insecurity rate. Many residents don’t know where their next meal is coming from or depend on food subsidies that only provide them with $6.40 a day to feed themselves. And unemployment, illness, and loss of housing as a result of the COVID-19 crisis has only made these factors worse.
Solidarity Gardens supports gardeners that grow food at home or in community gardens to grow a little extra and share it with those most in need in our community. We leverage the giving spirit of countless Champaign-Urbana residents - longtime garden pros with expertise to share as well as new gardeners who are interested in learning to plant, tend, and harvest gardens all across town - and help to get local gardeners’ produce into the hands of folks in need through our partnerships with local food banks, advocacy groups, and neighborhoods.
We believe that collaborative gardening can help feed our neighbors, teach useful food production skills, and build community.
Gardeners Unite to Respond to Food Insecurity
