Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................................................ 1

Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................................................ 2 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................... 4

Community Gardens in Waterloo Region ...................................................................................................................... 4

Purpose of the Study .............................................................................................................................................................. 5

Analysis: main reasons and themes that emerged .................................................................................................... 6

Gardeners’ Words: How Gardening Contributes to Health, Inclusion, and Learning.................................. 8

Health ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 8

Gardener Profile: James ...................................................................................................................................................... 14

Inclusion .................................................................................................................................................................................... 15 Gardener Profile: Ghada ..................................................................................................................................................... 23 Learning..................................................................................................................................................................................... 24 Gardener Profile: Joanne .................................................................................................................................................... 29 Gardeners’ Words: What makes Community Gardens Work .............................................................................. 30

Community Gardens as Part of a Healthy Community ........................................................................................... 32

Conclusions .............................................................................................................................................................................. 33

References ................................................................................................................................................................................ 35 Appendix 1: Additional Gardener Profiles .................................................................................................................. 36

Gardener Profile: Gilbert .................................................................................................................................... 36 Gardener Profile: Maurie and Donna............................................................................................................. 37

Gardener Profile: Sarbast ................................................................................................................................... 38

Gardener Profiles: Waterloo Region Homes for Mental Health ......................................................... 39

Gardener Profiles: WRHMH (Continued) .................................................................................................... 40 Gardener Profiles: Clark....................................