Job postings

Please Get in touch if you are interested for the 2023 season.

Summer 2022 (Filled)

We are seeking 4 youth (15-30 years of age) to join our team for the summer!


We are hiring one Lead Gardener at $17.00/hour for 16 weeks and three Gardener Helpers at $15.50/hour for 8 weeks.


Please send your resume to contact@SouthLanarkCommunityGarden.org


Job descriptions


Lead Gardener

Role and Responsibilities

This person will work in the Community Garden and will foster a team environment while working with, explaining and demonstrating to the youth gardeners, the procedures necessary to perform the task(s) of the day that are part of their overall community garden duties. In leading, this person will assume that none of the youth gardeners have knowledge of, or experience in gardening or how to work safely in environments associated with gardening and the greenhouse, or have experience working with the public. This person will as one objective instruct and guide the youth gardeners to build their experiences and knowledge to an acceptable level such that they can work in the Community Garden on their own with a minimum of direct supervision.

Under the supervision of the Managing Director of the garden, this person will brief the youth gardeners on the day’s work objectives, including individual tasks, work with them, explain and demonstrate how to carry out the individual tasks necessary to meet those objectives. This person will highlight any safety issues and any required safety equipment associated with the tasks, what  to look for and how to deal with any safety issues that are noticed, The tasks will include any of the following which occur at different times throughout the growing season:

Garden planting tasks to be accomplished; greenhouse production of seedlings including germination processes, field seed bed preparation, direct planting of seeds (spacing, depth), use of seeding equipment, care of planted seed beds (weeding, wire weeding, hoeing, thinning of plants, staking, tying up of plants), transplanting of seedlings .

The application and placement of mulches, including straw or plastic ground covers, (with explanation of their use, care and management in the garden),

Maintenance of plants, rogueing for weeds, scouting for watering needs, disease, infestations, training and pruning of plants, removal of plants after harvest and preparation of beds for successive plantings or regeneration

Planting of beds with green manures for nutrient regeneration, including instruction on the types of green manures utilized and their purposes.

Management of seed saving processes, identification of candidate flowers and application of prophylactics to prevent cross-fertilization between plant varieties, pollination of candidate flowers, identification and tagging of produce which will be allowed to mature and saved for seed,

Harvesting of produce including, what to look for in selecting mature ready to harvest produce, how to harvest, treatment of the produce when handling, procedures for washing, weighing, recording of produce weights, and boxing of produce for delivery on placement at the public produce stand

Management of a public produce stand at the community garden, this person will setup and manage with the assistance of the youth gardeners a produce pickup stand where volunteers and members of the public may receive produce to take home. The operation of this stand will require interaction with the public and will be maintained throughout the growing season.

Provision of guidance and assistance to the public and members of the garden who have come out to volunteer their services in the garden. This person with the assistance of the youth Gardeners will establish a rapport with individuals who come out to the garden, ensure that they are observing Covid-19 protocols for the community garden, identify to them the workload required and areas in the garden where the volunteers may work. Additionally this person and the youth Gardeners will provide assistance to the volunteers to remove produce from the garden that the volunteers have picked for themselves, help them wash, weigh and record the weights of the produce.

Under the supervision of the Managing Director, this person, along with the youth gardeners and other members of the community garden will receive instructions and demonstrations of how to install and inspect for security the component parts of the irrigation system.  At the same time instruction will be given on the care and handling of the irrigation system, and the safety precautions necessary to be observed while working around the pipes when they are pressurized.

This person will become familiar with the Health and Safety requirements of the community garden including observances necessary to comply with the Ontario pandemic Covid 19 requirements and help ensure that these requirements are observed in the community garden. This will also include WHMIS, These requirements are numbered and published as Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), a copy of these procedures will be kept in the garden for review by all persons working in the garden.

The Community Garden will, on a once a week basis, operate a special youth group for persons under the age of 15 to learn about the garden. When this youth group is operating, this person along with the youth Gardeners will help, mentor and assist the youth group members in working in the garden.


Qualifications and Education Requirements


Preferred Skills

Ability to communicate, deal with the public and provide leadership in the garden.


Additional Notes

This is an English essential position

Start date is May 2022


Gardener Helper

Role and Responsibilities

This person will work in the Community Garden under the supervision of the Managing Director of the community garden and within a team environment led by the Lead Youth Gardener. The Managing Director will set the task(s) for this person in the immediate work period coming up and in conjunction with the Lead Gardener explain and demonstrate the procedures necessary to perform the task(s). This person will work with and take direction from the Lead Gardener to accomplish the assigned tasks with the objective to build their own experience and knowledge levels such that they can work in the Community Garden on their own with a minimum of direct supervision.

It is the responsibility of this person to adhere to any safety guidelines and use any identified safety equipment pertaining to the tasks that they have been assigned. It is also their responsibility to look for and be aware of safety issues, should they find safety issues they are to bring them to the attention of the Managing Director of the community garden as soon as they are noticed.

This person’s assigned tasks will vary from day to day and include any of the following which occur at different times throughout the growing season:

Garden planting tasks to be accomplished include; greenhouse seed germination processes, greenhouse growing/production of seedlings, field bed preparation, direct planting of seeds (spacing, depth), use of seeding equipment, care of planted seed beds (weeding, wire weeding, hoeing, thinning of plants, staking, tying up of plants), transplanting of seedlings .

The application and placement of mulches, including straw or plastic ground covers, (with explanation of their use, care and management in the garden),

Maintenance of plants, rogueing for weeds, scouting for watering needs, disease, infestations, training and pruning of plants, removal of plants after harvest and preparation of beds for successive plantings or regeneration

Seeding of beds with green manures for nutrient regeneration, including instruction on the types of green manures utilized and their purposes.

Management of seed saving processes, identification of candidate flowers and application of prophylactics to prevent cross-fertilization between plant varieties, pollination of candidate flowers, identification and tagging of produce which will be allowed to mature and then saved for seed,

Harvesting of produce including, including washing, weighing, recording of produce weights, and boxing of produce for delivery or placement at the public produce stand,

Under the lead gardener this person will manage the public produce stand at the community garden, this person will setup the stand, and keep it stalked with fresh garden veggies and deal with volunteers and members of the public who come to the stand and who wish to take home vegetables The operation of this stand will require interaction with the public and will be maintained throughout the growing season.

Provide guidance and assistance to members of the public and members of the community garden who have come out to volunteer their services in the garden. This person under the lead of the Lead Gardener will establish a rapport with individuals who come out to the garden, ensure that they are observing Covid-19 protocols within the community garden, identify to them the tasks required to be done that day and areas in the garden where the volunteers may work. Additionally this person and the other youth Gardeners will provide assistance to the volunteers to remove the produce from the garden that the volunteers have picked for themselves and for donation other agencies, and will help them wash, weigh and record the weights of the produce.

When required and under the supervision of the Managing Director, this person will receive instructions and demonstrations of how to install and inspect for security the component parts of the irrigation system and then as needed will assist with the installation or repair of the irrigation system.  At the same time instruction will be given on the care and handling of the irrigation system, and the safety precautions necessary to be observed while working around the pipes when they are pressurized,


This person will become familiar with the Health and Safety requirements of the community garden including observances necessary to comply with the Ontario pandemic Covid 19 requirements and help ensure that these requirements are observed in the community garden by volunteers and members of the garden. This will also include WHMIS. These requirements are numbered and published as Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), a copy of these procedures will be kept in the garden for review by all persons working in the garden.


The Community Garden will, on a once a week basis, operate a special youth group for persons under the age of 15 to learn about and work in the garden. When this youth group is operating, this person along with the youth Gardeners will learn to help, mentor and assist these younger youth group members in working in the garden.


Qualifications and Education Requirements

This position is aimed at:

1) A secondary school level student who may have nil or minimum experience working in a gardening operation,

2) A secondary school level student who is no longer in the school system,

3) A secondary level student who is a racialized member of the Lanark community 


Additional Assets but not mandatory are:


Preferred Skills

Ability to communicate, to meet and work with the public and a willingness to work in a team environment.


Additional Notes

This an English essential position.

Start date is July 2022.