For information about joining our community garden,
contact Community Gardens of Tucson.
Come grow with us!
Scholarships for reduced fee plots are available.
Come meet your neighbors and grow your own food.
Photographs courtesy of Kha Dang, Garden District Resident.
Garden District has a community garden located at 1933 Bell, one block west of Swan, two blocks north of Pima. All plots are currently taken, but the site coordinators do maintain a waiting list or will help you find a vacancy in a nearby garden in another neighborhood. If you are interested in gardening at the GD2 Garden, please contact maryann.harlow@gmail.com
Garden fees are $18 per month per garden plot. The fee covers the irrigation system, all water costs, and a shed full of tools for your use at the garden. Plot sharing is a great way to reduce costs and labor and to make a new buddy. Reduced fee garden plots are available on a limited basis for low-income gardeners. If you are interested in learning more, visit the Community Gardens of Tucson https://communitygardensoftucson.org/
Plots are 3 X 20. Even half a plot grows a substantial amount of food. The gardener supplies plants/seeds and soil amendments. No chemical herbicides or pesticides may be used, though chemical fertilizers are okay. Herbs, flowers, and vegetables may be grown, but not mint, trees or shrubs.
HISTORY OF THE GD2 GARDEN
In 2011, US Representative Gabrielle Giffords was a Garden District resident and lived in a townhome across the street from the property that would one day become the GD2 Gardens. Her Tucson office was within walking distance on the southeast corner of Pima and Swan in Garden District. She could often be seen bicycling around Garden District, sometimes in the company of her good friend, Brad Holland who lived across Bell Ave. from Gabby.
In 2011, Gabby Giffords and 18 others were shot during a constituent meeting held in a Safeway parking lot in Casas Adobes. 6 victims died. After the shooting on January 8, Brad who owned the vacant lot across the street from Gabby’s townhome decided to honor his friend Gabby and donated the use of his property to Community Gardens of Tucson.
The GD2 Garden opened in the Spring of 2011. With the help of numerous residents and Community Gardens of Tucson, the 21 plots were soon dug, filled in with new dirt and compost and planted. The joke the first year of the garden was that if you drove, you better lock your car door or you would come back and find your car stuffed to the roof with zucchini and tomatoes.
All the flowers and plants from the 3 memorial sites to the victims of the Jan. 8 shooting were donated to our GD2 community garden. Close to 100 very large boxes were delivered to our garden and volunteers worked for weeks to compost, reuse, or repurpose the floral items left at the memorials. The bulbs and live plants were planted in the first bed as you entered the GD2 Garden. All the remaining plant material was composted. The vases, pots, and planters were distributed to nursing homes. The ribbon and floral picks that hold cards were given to an Art teacher. Paper products were either recycled or cut into squares for use in an origami project by a local artist. The GDNA volunteers tried to reuse or recycle everything they could from the bouquets and floral offerings.
Over the years, the GD2 Gardens has become a green space for neighborhood events and for residents to gather. Once a month, a Master Gardener used to present to large groups of interested gardeners, some of whom gardened at GD2, some gardened at home. Renowned Master Gardener and past garden columnist for the Daily Star, George Brookbank was a frequent speaker. The GD2 Garden has also been the site of many potlucks and “Stone Soup” feasts where gardeners contributed items from their gardens for the soup pot and others brought dishes to share.
As Cicero said, "If you have a garden and a library you have everything you need." In May, 2022, a Little Free Library was added near the entrance to the GD2 Garden. Thanks to builder, Mary Force, and artist Kevin Pawlak for creating our library and to Brad Holland for allowing it to be placed on his property.
Garden fees are $18 per month per garden plot. The fee covers the irrigation system, all water costs, and a shed full of tools for your use at the garden. Plot sharing is a great way to reduce costs and labor and to make a new buddy. Reduced fee garden plots are available on a limited basis for low-income gardeners. If you are interested in learning more, visit the Community Gardens of Tucson https://communitygardensoftucson.org/
Plots are 3 X 20. Even half a plot grows a substantial amount of food. The gardener supplies plants/seeds and soil amendments. No chemical herbicides or pesticides may be used, though chemical fertilizers are okay. Herbs, flowers, and vegetables may be grown, but not mint, trees or shrubs.
HISTORY OF THE GD2 GARDEN
In 2011, US Representative Gabrielle Giffords was a Garden District resident and lived in a townhome across the street from the property that would one day become the GD2 Gardens. Her Tucson office was within walking distance on the southeast corner of Pima and Swan in Garden District. She could often be seen bicycling around Garden District, sometimes in the company of her good friend, Brad Holland who lived across Bell Ave. from Gabby.
In 2011, Gabby Giffords and 18 others were shot during a constituent meeting held in a Safeway parking lot in Casas Adobes. 6 victims died. After the shooting on January 8, Brad who owned the vacant lot across the street from Gabby’s townhome decided to honor his friend Gabby and donated the use of his property to Community Gardens of Tucson.
The GD2 Garden opened in the Spring of 2011. With the help of numerous residents and Community Gardens of Tucson, the 21 plots were soon dug, filled in with new dirt and compost and planted. The joke the first year of the garden was that if you drove, you better lock your car door or you would come back and find your car stuffed to the roof with zucchini and tomatoes.
All the flowers and plants from the 3 memorial sites to the victims of the Jan. 8 shooting were donated to our GD2 community garden. Close to 100 very large boxes were delivered to our garden and volunteers worked for weeks to compost, reuse, or repurpose the floral items left at the memorials. The bulbs and live plants were planted in the first bed as you entered the GD2 Garden. All the remaining plant material was composted. The vases, pots, and planters were distributed to nursing homes. The ribbon and floral picks that hold cards were given to an Art teacher. Paper products were either recycled or cut into squares for use in an origami project by a local artist. The GDNA volunteers tried to reuse or recycle everything they could from the bouquets and floral offerings.
Over the years, the GD2 Gardens has become a green space for neighborhood events and for residents to gather. Once a month, a Master Gardener used to present to large groups of interested gardeners, some of whom gardened at GD2, some gardened at home. Renowned Master Gardener and past garden columnist for the Daily Star, George Brookbank was a frequent speaker. The GD2 Garden has also been the site of many potlucks and “Stone Soup” feasts where gardeners contributed items from their gardens for the soup pot and others brought dishes to share.
As Cicero said, "If you have a garden and a library you have everything you need." In May, 2022, a Little Free Library was added near the entrance to the GD2 Garden. Thanks to builder, Mary Force, and artist Kevin Pawlak for creating our library and to Brad Holland for allowing it to be placed on his property.
