IMG 4620 Midfield-Holt Community Garden blooms with new orchard, pavilion + more — Dorothy Leonard, the program director for the Midfield-Holt Community Garden, has been with the project every step of the way. (Mary Helene Hall / Bham Now)

Back in October last year, a community garden opened to the public in Midfield, allowing locals to enjoy the greenspace, harvest food and educate their children about the environment.

Now, nearly a year later, the Midfield-Holt Community Garden has begun growing an orchard, built a pavilion for events and classes, expanded their garden and constructed a storage shed.

The garden represents a long-term project to improve the lives of Midfield residents.

Midfield has been designated as a hot spot. There are not enough trees, a whole lot of pavement and we get hot. When that happens, people get more respiratory illnesses.
Dorothy Leonard, Program Manager for the Midfield-Holt Community Garden

IMG 4614 Midfield-Holt Community Garden blooms with new orchard, pavilion + more — One of the new additions to the Midfield-Holt Community Garden is a pavilion, allowing for a shady event space where learning can take place. (Mary Helene Hall / Bham Now)

Leonard said that a primary focus of the garden is intergenerational learning, allowing neighborhood kids to learn from seniors. The new pavilion offers a shaded area for the community to gather and learn.

The Midfield garden was first organized from a grant from the Alabama Legislature and Cawaco RC&D, with the help of the Jefferson County Master Gardener Association. Upon its Oct. 5, 2024 founding, the space featured raised garden beds for fresh food.

The recent additions were thanks in part to a $10,000 grant from Cawaco and the state legislature. The pavilion was constructed by the United Way Hands On program.

What began as an idea planted like a seed has grown into something real, something vibrant and something that will certainly nourish not just our tables, but our relationships.
Gary Richardson, Mayor of Midfield

IMG 4633 Midfield-Holt Community Garden blooms with new orchard, pavilion + more — (Left to right) Nobetta Tubbs, Altonette Bryant, Dorothy Leonard, Angie Amin, Terri Barker and Reginald Wilson pose in front of the lifted garden beds at the Midfield community garden. (Mary Helene Hall / Bham Now)

Several organizations and entities from the area contributed to the garden, including:

Cawaco RC&D
The Jefferson County Master Gardener Association
The City of Midfield
United Way
The Alabama Cooperative Extension System
The Boys & Girls Club of Walker County

bumblebee resting on yellow flower — The Midfield-Holt Community Garden is chock-full of blooming flowers, benefitting the area’s pollinators. (Mary Helene Hall / Bham Now)

Want to see the thriving community garden for yourself?

The Midfield-Holt Community Garden is located next to the Midfield Fire Station, located at 704 Doctor M.L.K. Dr.

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