Fairfield Community Gardens

We have several Garden projects on the go. See below for details and ways to get involved!

Contact: fairfieldcommunitygardens@gmail.com

Facebook: Fairfield Community Gardens

Please check the Fairfield Community Gardens Facebook page before attending the events. We will post more detailed and up to date info on the events on our Facebook page (you don’t need a Facebook account to view the page). 

Upcoming Events

Herbal Tea Plants Planting!

When:   Wednesday, May 17th, 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm | Tuesday, May 23rd, 3:00-4:00pm

Where:  Fairfield Food Forest, Porter Park on Thurlow St

What:   Come learn how to prep, plant, and care for herbal tea plants like Lemongrass, Sage, Stevia, and more! We’ll be laying compost and leaf mulch, and be planting some new tea ingredients for everyone to enjoy. No experience needed. We will provide tools, drinks, and snacks. Participants will go home with Strawberry and Comfrey plants! Everyone is welcome, No registration required!

Invasive Species Removal & Native Plants Planting!

When:    Saturday, May 27th, 9:00 – 10:30 am

Where:   181 Olive St (Olive St Commons)

What: Invasive removal, site prep and planting of native species. Snacks, drinks, and tools provided!

How: Preparing areas by removing invasive blackberry and others.

Help us restore this hidden little green space nestled in our neighbourhood! Remove invasive species and plant native plants to help restore this wetland ecosystem in the city! No experience necessary. Everyone welcome, no registration required!

Snacks and drinks will be provided, along with a gift of Camas to the first 5 participants that make it out there

Leaf Print Scavenger Hunt Workshop:

Come for a scavenger hunt in the Food Forest where you make leaf prints of plants that live there and then take your art to go and find the plants in the forest. Find them all to get a prize. Different difficulty sheets for different ages. All ages welcome. Children under 13 years old must be accompanied by a guardian.

When: July 2nd, 9:30 am – 10:30 am

Where: Fairfield Food Forest, Porter St Park on Thurlow St

Who: Recommended Ages 2-10 (and guardians)

Make Your Own Tea! Workshop:

Learn about how to select, pick, dry and store plants from the food forest to make your own tea. Participants will be given a tour of the Fairfield Food Forest, then shown how to make a tea blend of their choosing. Each one will be given a kit that includes: sheers, herb drying rack, jars to store teas, a recipe book for different teas and their uses, and bases for mixing the ingredients. Participants will be able to keep their kits to make teas from the food forest anytime they want!

When: July 29th, 10:00 am – 11:30 am

Where: Fairfield Food Forest, Porter Park on Thurlow St

Who: Adults, children are welcome to come with their guardians

Fairfield Food Forest

Location: Porter Park, on Thurlow Rd between Kipling & Durban Streets.

Fairfield Food Forest is a permaculture garden growing a wide variety of small trees, berry shrubs, herbs and more! 

Everyone is welcome to visit the Food Forest at any time to grow and harvest food while following permaculture techniques. This is not meant to be a vegetable garden but instead be a garden where anyone can come to and cultivate plants for the whole community can enjoy for years to come.

Some things that need to be done in this garden include: tree pruning, weeding, compost mulching, under-story planting, irrigation revamping, preparation for installation of a second fence to encircle the rest of the garden.

There are many edible and medicinal plants in the Food Forest including:

• Olallie berry (like blackberries but better)
• Oregano (the one in Spaghetti sauce)
• Parsley (great for pesto)
• Goji Berry
• Goumi Berry (like Goji berries but better)
• Strawberries (two varieties)
• Garlic chives
• Haskap berries
• Desert King Fig
• Thimble berries
• Calendar flowers
• Red Flowering Currant
• Autumn Olive (a silver berry)
• Saskatoon Berry(yes that one!)
• Evergreen Huckleberry (like tiny blueberries)
• Sorrel (a very lemony salad green)
• Chinese Chestnut (these trees will soon make fruit big enough to eat)
• Raspberries (two varieties)

Fairfield Community Garden Proposal 2012
Map of Porter Park with proposed commons location
Community Garden Design
Garden Timeline

The Fairfield Food Forest receives financial support from the City of Victoria

Garry Oak Restoration Project

Location: Robert J. Porter Park along Fairfield Rd.

There are specific plants that grow in healthy Garry Oak eco-systems that each help keep that area in balance and provide an important habitat for Indigenous animals. We have an opportunity to reintroduce species that are lacking in the meadow and foster healthy soils to make those plants thrive. Increasing the biomass in the Garry oak meadow will also greatly reduce the flooding experienced in the lower fields of Porter park and also reduce the dryness seen in the summer months.

An important part of this project will be community education through activities in the meadow as well as signs and barriers. You can be an influential part of this project just by helping a few weekends a year.

Ross Bay Native Plant Garden

Location: Between Ross Bay Cemetery and Memorial Crescent. It will extend from Dallas road to Bushby St.

The southern section of the garden has been approved by the City of Victoria and we are now in the planning stages of the garden.

Salt-spray and wind resistant native plants will be planted on the site. It will be a natural community gathering area where anyone can come and learn about coastal plants that thrive in our area.

Some plants that we know will thrive in this area include:
Ocean Spray, Oregon Grape, Nodding Onion, Sword fern, Junegrass, Seablush, Evergreen huckleberry, Snowberry, Pearly Everlasting, Woolly sunflower and more

More information on this project here

Fairfield Community Gardens are generously supported financially by the City of Victoria