Indigenous Teaching Garden
Bickford Centre, Toronto, Ontario
Timeline: 2018: design and install | 2018-present: garden maintenance, public education, and seed saving | 2021: expansion
Goals: Design and build a demonstration garden within a small, high-traffic urban space; showcase and celebrate Indigenous plant medicines; support biodiversity and urban pollinators.
Before and after
Our work at Bickford
This small and meaningful demonstration garden in downtown Toronto showcases pollinator plants that are also healing Indigenous medicines. In 2018, with enthusiasm from Bickford staff, we designed and planted four plots: pollinator plants, the sacred medicines, herb garden, and sun garden.
We established the new garden beds using a sheet mulching method with cardboard. This regenerative soil practice simply smothers the grass, which means we don’t cut into the earth with tools. This protects the soil life and saves our backs from digging! The result was transforming sections of lawn at Bickford to a biodiverse garden.
In 2021, with support from the World Wildlife Fund’s Seed Orchard Project, we expanded to a fifth plot for seed saving.
Most people in Toronto have little to no green space that they can access. We hope our demonstration garden is an inspiration that even within a small square footage, you can create something valuable and bring the space to life.
Miinikaan's role: Garden design, installation, opening celebration, maintenance, and seed saving.
Collaborators: Local volunteers, Friends of Bickford Park, and members of Project Swallowtail have watered, tended, and promoted the garden.
Ceremony
In 2018, we celebrated this Indigenous Teaching Garden alongside the unveiling of the Indigenous Murals Project (Phase 1) and the first-ever Indigenous Harvesters and Artisans Market. Over a thousand people attended the event to celebrate and learn about urban Indigenous culture.
As part of celebrating the new garden, people sang, drummed, and gave thanks. People were invited to plant seeds, sing to the plant medicines, and put down tobacco as an offering to the land.
Gallery: building the garden
Work with Us
Our speciality is Indigenous garden consultation, design and installation. In creating our gardens, we are revitalizing traditional AgroEcology and Indigenous ceremony. We’re experts in growing food, container gardens and rooftop gardens, and we love transforming public spaces.
Get in touch to hire us for your project!