2020 - Chard Your Yard Dates to Be Announced
We filled up our 2019 list and will be at it again in 2020. Keep your eyes here for details.
Frame Build and Delivery - Early May
Soil Delivery and Install - Early May
Chard Your Yard - Volunteer
We will install 27 raised beds in 20919. Please join us as a volunteer, we have so many ways you can help!
We need TRUCKS! Do you have one we could use? Can you join us?
Chard Your Yard Program
(All garden beds were claimed for 2019)
Fresh food from a home garden improves a family's health and a community's food resilience. That's why victory gardens were promoted in WWII. Add in the benefit of reducing the miles your food needs to travel (its carbon footprint) and the improved taste and nutritional value of a vine-ripened tomato, a sun-warmed strawberry or a super-sweet carrot and that's why Transition Longfellow has developed the Chard Your Yard program!
Chard Your Yard is neighbors helping neighbors add a 3' x 5' x 12" raised bed vegetable garden to their yard. This all-volunteer project has added 184 raised beds in the 55406 zip code area since it began.
Volunteer Spots Open Now
Chard Your Yard is only possible because of the help of wonderful garden installation volunteers! Join us for Build Night and Install Day in early May. We encourage all garden recipients to help as they can with this project.
Our most pressing need is for a few more Pickup Trucks for the Build Night and Dirt Day. If you have one we can use, please use the volunteer form below!
If you can't physically help us, you can donate food and beverage items for our volunteers. Use the Volunteer form make a food or beverage donation.
This activity is a great way to meet your neighbors while also decreasing our neighborhood carbon footprint. If you would like to help make Chard Your Yard happen, fill out the Volunteer Form.
Get a Garden Bed
Chard Your Yard provides a 3' x 5' x 12” raised-bed garden for $74*.
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Each bed is constructed from treated pine lumber
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Filled with a soil/compost blend
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Each bed includes a Chard Your Yard sign!
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Each property is eligible for One bed per yard (per year).
Chard Your Yard prioritizes neighbors in the 55406 neighborhoods but others may apply. Renters can receive a raised bed but we need a letter from the building owner stating that they have given their permission.
To reserve your Garden Bed, you must complete the signup for AND pay for your Garden Bed. Payments are accepted via check or PayPal. You will receive payment information once you complete the signup form.
Low Income, Senior and Double-Height Garden Bed Prices
Thanks to a grant from the Longfellow Community Council we have offered a limited number of beds at half-price for low-income and senior citizens, and double-high beds for persons with disabilities.
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Standard bed for Low Income and Seniors - $37
4 beds -
Double high bed for Persons with Disabilities - $74
2 beds
Discounted beds are only available for people in Longfellow, Cooper, Howe and Hiawatha neighborhoods (click on the neighborhood name to see a map of that neighborhood boundaries). Discounted beds are available on a first-come first-serve basis.
Soil Quality and Garden Depth
Note: Because the bed is only 12" high, the roots of plants will go deeper into the soil below. If you have a concern about soil quality, you may wish to have a soil test done for the area where you believe you will place your bed. You can have this done at the University of Minnesota soil testing lab. It does take several weeks to get results back.
Site Visits
Once you have registered for a garden, a Hennepin County master gardener will visit you in your yard and talk with you about the best location for growing. At this site visit, you can ask questions about what kinds of food to grow and how to care for your new garden. The site visit is mandatory. If the master gardener determines there is no suitable location (usually due to too much shade), the order will be cancelled.