We invite community gardens located within Shawnee County to sign up as Affiliate Gardens of Topeka Common Ground. (We define a community garden as a shared piece of land gardened by multiple households or groups of community members.) Beginning in 2022, only TCG Affiliate Gardens will be eligible to receive free seedlings or garden seeds from Topeka Common Ground, or to apply for TCG mini-grants.
We are currently accepting applications for Affiliate Gardens for the 2023 garden year!
Click on the link at the bottom of this page to apply!
Benefits of Being a Topeka Common Ground Affiliate Garden:
- Free garden seeds
- Free vegetable starts and seedlings (cole crops, tomatoes, peppers, seed potatoes, onion sets, sweet potatoes)
- Eligibility to apply for funding support through TCG mini-grants
- Free participation in TCG workshops or educational programs
- Volunteer referrals through TCG
- Gardener referrals through TCG (if you have plots available for individual gardeners)
- Information about your garden featured on TCG website
- Signage for your garden identifying it as a TCG Affiliate Garden
- Opportunities to network with other TCG Affiliate Gardens
- Ability to post on our closed TCG Gardens Facebook Group
- Receive monthly TCG newsletter with information and tips on planting, garden management, funding sources, and more
- Opportunities to participate in the TCG Board/ Leadership Team
(Additional benefits may become available as the TCG Board is able to identify resources and negotiate access for our Affiliates)
Responsibilities of TCG Affiliate Gardens:
- Provide contact information for 1-2 individuals who serve as garden leaders or managers.
- Garden leaders will organize and manage their gardens and gardeners.
- Garden leaders will pass along information to individual gardeners from TCG.
- Encouraging your gardeners to employ environmentally-friendly, sustainable gardening methods.
- Periodically provide (minimal) statistical data about your garden and gardeners. This information will be used by TCG to document our community impact, and is helpful when approaching potential funders (photos are also invited and encouraged!)
- Following TCG guidelines for requesting and managing funding support through TCG mini-grants, including a brief follow-up report documenting how funds were used.
- Encouraging your gardeners or your garden group to donate surplus garden produce to local food pantries, kitchens, or other community food assistance programs.
There is no cost to sign up with us, but lots of great benefits. Sign up today!
Our 2023 Affiliate Gardens:
- Bethany House and Garden
- Capper Foundation
- Countryside United Methodist Church
- Crest Garden
- First Congregational Church
- French Middle School
- Garden of Eatin’
- Helen & Walt Laughlin Community Garden
- Hi Crest Community Garden
- Kansas Neurological Institute
- LULAC Senior Center Garden
- Peace Garden (Exploring Life)
- Shawnee County Extension Demonstration Community Garden
- TARC Avenues
- The Gil Carter Food Forest
- Topeka Women’s Correctional Facility
- Topeka Oakland Gardens
- Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Topeka
- Vegetation Plantation (Daryl Hurley Garden)
- Whitson Elementary School
- Williams Science and Fine Arts Magnet School