New Community Garden in East Missoula

Garden City Harvest is opening a new community garden in East Missoula in Spring 2025! We are thrilled to add the first community garden in East Missoula, because it will help community members grow fresh vegetables in a place that doesn’t have a grocery store. A community garden helps bring people together and helps empowers individuals and families by giving them healthy and organic produce options.

We provide the tools and resources

Community gardens are places where anyone can rent a garden plot on a sliding scale to grow food for themselves, friends, and families year after year. Garden City Harvest manages 11 other community gardens and provides participants with a garden plot, tools, water, manure, compost, and educational gardening resources. It is also a beautiful place of respite for anyone in the neighborhood to enjoy. For more information on the community garden program and how to rent a garden plot, click here.

get involved

There are lots of different ways you can get involved and support this project!

Donate to help fund this project
Apply for a garden plot! There are 41 ground-level beds and four sets of raised garden beds for those that can’t work on the ground.
Sign up to stay in the loop about the grand opening next year and other happenings
Spread the word!

Location & background

The new East Missoula Community Garden site is located at Missoula County’s East Missoula Lions Park at 766 Michigan Ave. East Missoula is considered a food desert due to its lack of a grocery store and transportation barriers.

In 2021, East Missoula United, a group of volunteers dedicated to connecting and improving their community, introduced the idea for a community garden at the East Missoula Lions Park to Missoula County Parks and Garden City Harvest. The next year, we surveyed the neighborhood and found that of the 89 neighbors surveyed, 96% of them supported this project. We build community gardens where there is enough density and demand for shared public garden space. A community garden empowers individuals and families to grow their own food whether someone lives in an apartment, rental, or mobile home without land access, or they experience barriers to gardening at home such as the cost of a deer-proof fence, water, and tools.

Thanks to the help of the County’s Parks, Trails, and Open Land Matching Grant Program, Garden City Harvest began construction in 2023 and will open this garden in spring 2025.

construction timeline

Shrub removal - spring 2023
Irrigation install - spring 2024
Fence construction - spring 2024

Till soil and break up sod - June 2024
Build tool shed with the help of Habitat for Humanity - August 2024
Volunteer work days - Fall 2024
Grand Opening - Spring 2025

Here’s what East Missoula residents are saying:

This community is in dire need of collaborative spaces, just like this garden would be. We have a lower income population and the gardens people could grow would help source needed food. Many people don't have yards that allow them to have gardens out here.
I live next to this park and it is such a central location for families in East Missoula. Fresh produce is not accessible in our neighborhood and this park is walking distance for a large part of our community.
Most people don't have a yard or space for a garden. There is something about playing in the dirt and watching plants grow that builds your spirit.
I love watching things grow. Fresh, local produce is also way tastier than shipped. It is a great opportunity for people to learn how to provide food for themselves and others.
It would provide community cohesion, increase sustainability, provide education, and help to increase food security and access to vegetables in a place with very little. I'm ALL FOR IT!