The Community Gardens of Santa Clarita first broke ground in 2011 with the support of Garden Club of Santa Clarita and the city of Santa Clarita.

Seven years later the Community Gardens continue to thrive by offering the residents of Santa Clarita a community facility where individuals can come together to promote the benefits of locally grown, organic food that is environmentally friendly, sustainable, and cost effective and which delivers economic, health and educational benefits.

Since 2011, the Community Gardens has doubled in size offering 131 garden plots, 5 Universal Access raised beds, as well as two 4’x 4’ raised beds and a u-shaped raised garden bed for children. We currently have over 10 Santa Clarita Valley residents on our waitlist, which can get as high as 30 plus people throughout the year.

Valley residents can still get involved with the Community Gardens through volunteering, attending events and workshops, or by requesting a free garden tour.

Our community grounds are home to a large composting area, greenhouse, chicken coop, Monarch Way station, pollinator bee garden, herbal garden, native garden, and orchard. We also have one Bluebird nesting box and two Barn Owl nesting boxes inside the gardens. We participate in the Bluebird restoration program helping both College of the Canyons (COC) and the Santa Clarita Environmental Education Consortium (SCEEC) restore the population of Western Bluebirds.

The Community Gardens is involved with different community members including LARC Ranch, Partners for Potential, and Diverse Journey’s whom all rent and maintain plots for their organizations.We have donated hundreds of pounds of fresh organic produce to the Food Pantry in Newhall and Helping Hands for the Children with the volunteer work of the Garden Club of Santa Clarita. The Community Garden has continuously hosted many community events throughout the past six years, including Arbor Day, the Memorial Garden Tour, and multiple gardening education programs for all ages that are advertised and open to all residents of the Santa Clarita Valley.

In 2015, The Community Gardens of Santa Clarita Education Committee was formed, offering free organic gardening classes to valley youth and low cost organic gardening course to adults. Each year over 100 youth sign up to participate in our classes, workshops, and events. We offer weekend workshops, private classes for homeschoolers, girls scouts, and boy scouts, as well as events. In the past two years, we have welcomed over a dozen Eagle Scouts and Girl Scouts into the gardens to complete their projects.

This year our Education Committee was fortunate to be one of 600 recipients to receive the The Whole Kids Foundation Grant for $2000. This grant is being put towards the Farm to Table Children’s Program. Our goal is to educate valley youth on all aspects of growing healthy organic produce as well as how to prepare healthy food.

On April 14, children ages four and older got to experience how to grow plants from seeds, the importance of good soil and compost, the use of chickens in the garden, and how to use a greenhouse. Our upcoming spring workshops will focus on pollinators in the garden and how to prepare a healthy meal for their families. Our upcoming fall workshops will focus on solar energy for cooking and the medicinal and cosmetic benefits of native plants and herbs. Information on workshops are posted on our website as well as our Facebook page.

“My family and I joined the gardens in 2014, at the time my daughter, Charlotte, was four years old. I felt it was a good opportunity for her to learn to garden and eat healthy. Today, my daughter is nearly nine years old and can be found leading new families and children through out the gardens. She knows everything about the gardens from composting to Monarch butterflies. She was fortunate enough to spend an afternoon last Fall with Mayor Weste at the gardens, were she talked about chickens and how she loved to grow healthy produce. I feel the gardens has evolved from a place to plant healthy organic produce to a community that works together to provide one another with the tools to succeed in a healthy lifestyle.” – -Gisa Seeholzer-Haggin CGSC Council President 2016, 2017 & Education Committee Chair 2015-2018

For more information:
Children’s Farm-to-Table Spring Dates:
– Saturday, May 5: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., at the Community Gardens inside Central Park Pollinators: Honeybees, Monarch Butterflies, & Bluebirds
– Saturday, May 19: 10:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m., at The Community Gardens inside Central Park

Cooking a healthy Springtime Meal: Lemonade, Guacamole, Salsa & BBQ

For more information, visit communitygardensofsantclarita.org.

Getting involved at the Gardens
The Community Gardens of Santa Clarita currently has a waitlist with a 6 to 12 month wait.

Community valley resident’s can still get involved through volunteering, garden tours, and workshops.