Guides

Are you looking to start a massive garden project? Or perhaps you’re thinking of integrating urban agriculture into your school’s curriculum. Our practical guides offer all kinds of helpful step-by-step information and useful tips. You’ll find them all right here on this page… and free!

Note: It is strictly forbidden to use these resources for commercial purposes without the expressed consent of Alternatives.

Our step-by-step guide is the ideal resource to assist you in the creation of your own rooftop garden, and to ensure its continued horticultural and social success! The guide is written for groups, individuals and establishments that would like to create an urban edible rooftop garden for educational, social, therapeutic or environmental reasons by may not have access to the necessary space to do so in soil. Our objective is to facilitate the process of creation of these edible natural urban oases so that more and more people will learn about rooftop gardening to discover its benefits.

This document draws a portrait of the municipal policies about urban agriculture (UA) in three cities: Seattle, Toronto and Vancouver. The editorial board has studied the avaible documentations on the subject in order to identify the different policies and ways of involvement concerning UA present in these cities. Alternatives, as a member organisation of the working group in UA, has realised this assessment to give a useful information to the interested participants in Montreal as well as to promote the creation of concrete tools and partnerships aimed at integrating UA in municipal policies not only in Montreal, but also in other cities in Quebec.

With the video and measures given below you can easily create your own planter covers in wood that not only makes gardening more handy - and less painful for the back - but it also gives a nicer look to your Alternatives containers.

We would like to thank Joseph Gagne for the design!

Through a series of practical, critical and creative educational activities, our pedagogical guide allows students in the tree cycles of primary school to discover and reflect upon what is at stake in urban agriculture. We have been continuously encouraging citizens to get involved in creating new green, edible spaces for communities, both locally and internationally. At the heart of these communities are their schools, a fertile ground where young citizens “grow”. Because of the genersous and creative nature of edible gardening, we believe it is an excellent way to get students to think about their relationship with their physical and social environment. Beyond explaining how our food goes from “field to table”, we would like to foster a culture of citizen involvement and solidarity. We sincerely hope these educational activities sow the seeds of a community garden project in your schoolyard.

To inspire citizens that may have a little less experience or garden space, we designed premade ecological growers, sold as Alternatives’ “Ready-to-Grow” kits, made from 95% recycled plastic. Each grower has a capacity of 50 L for growing mix and and a massive 14 L water reservoir at the bottom that will allow you to grow beautiful (and tasty!) vegetables on your balcony, even if you choose to spend most of your weekends away!