Abundance garden banner - photo of geodesic dome in Union garden. The garden is blooming with flowers and grasses and the door of the dome is painted with a bright, abstract nature scene.

Abundance Garden

The Union’s Abundance Garden includes 960 square feet of raised garden beds, a geodesic dome greenhouse for seedlings and off-season growing, a small fruit-tree orchard, composting facilities, a performance space, and an outdoor classroom used for community events and The Union’s Youth Engagement programs.

We’re incredibly grateful to The Peter Kiewit Foundation, The Lozier Foundation, The Whole Kids Foundation, and Mulhall’s for their generosity & support in the development of the Abundance Garden!

Free Produce Saturdays: Noon – 2PM

On Saturdays throughout the summer we're sharing our freshest harvest with the community for free. The Union team harvests everything that's ready to eat in the garden and distributes it from our produce stand located in The Union's west parking lot (on Lizzie Robinson Ave.) from Noon to 2pm. See the full list of dates below.

Header Three People Stand In The Abundance Garden Holding Harvested Produce

June 24
July 8
July 22
August 5
August 12
August 19
August 26

September 9
September 16
September 23
September 30
October 14
October 28

Abundance Garden 2023

Our garden plan, like anything within natural ecosystems, is flexible and still a work in progress. This current plan is subject to change as we sense what is growing best and where. Coming into this growing season, we are planning the Abundance Garden with a few key elements in mind. We are maximizing space so that we can share as much food as possible at our free produce stands, building community on micro and macro levels, and taking part in seed-saving initiatives. We are working towards nourishing our living communities (plant + human!) through increased systems of support and coordination.

**Open the map image to the right in a new window to see in detail.

A watercolor painting of the planting layout of the garden beds

Growing Plants in Community

We aim to create intentional systems of support within beds that not only group plants together harmoniously and maximize space, but also create plant communities and combinations that encourage and reinforce growth. For example, we are planning to grow a three sisters garden of corn, beans and squash. Indigenous Communities have planted these three crops together for centuries to take advantage of their mutually beneficial properties. The corn provides stalks that the beans can climb so they don’t have to compete with the squash vines. The beans fix nutritious nitrogen to the soil and support the corn during winds while the squash plants shade the soil and conserve moisture.

Our plan also includes a bed that holds marigolds, collards and tomatoes. The climbing tomato plants will provide shade to the collards while the collards will in turn create a thick canopy over the soil, preserving soil moisture and blocking weed growth. The scent of both the collards and marigolds will repel harmful pests from the tomato plants.

We also aim to create plant communities and systems of support by rotating the type of crops planted in the beds. We made sure to move plants in the brassica family, like kale, into beds that brassicas were not grown in the previous year. We did the same sort of rotation with plants in the nightshade family, like tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. These plants ask for a lot of nutrients, so we have replaced them with things like beans that are nitrogen fixers, and pull nutrients up from deep in the ground. We aim to be intentional in thinking about where and next to what plants will grow the best in the garden.

Planting intentionally allows us to grow plant communities that are more self-sustaining and more likely to give us a better harvest–consequently allowing us to share more produce and create stronger links to our community. We are also looking to plant crops that have run out quickly at the produce stand–those extra popular items! We hope to offer more greens and tomatoes (green and ripe) this year.

Seed Saving

Another important development is our seed saving work with Free Farm Syndicate and Blazing Star Seed Co-Op. We are participating in coordinated growing in order to participate in a broader seed-saving initiative in Omaha. Through cooperative seed saving, we are increasing capacity for self-sustainability and growing inter-communal connections in Omaha.This year we are specifically growing King of the North bell peppers and Mary Reynolds tomatoes to save seed from. To learn more about seed saving and getting involved visit our garden or check out Free Farm Syndicate’s page!

Garden Views

Union-abundancegarden-fullbloom

Abundance Garden in full bloom after our first summer of growth, September 2018

Union-abundancegarden-girltour

Union-abundancegarden-youngkidsworkshop

Garden 2019 5

Garden 2019 2

Union-abundancegarden-crew

Garden 2019 1

Garden 2019 3

Garden 2019 4

Garden 2019 6

Garden 2019 7

Thank You Conagra Brands Foundation

The Abundance Garden and its contribution to food security in North Omaha is generously supported by Conagra Brands Foundation.

Learn More
Thank You Omaha Community Foundation

The Abundance Garden is partly funded by the 2022 Fund for Omaha from the Omaha Community Foundation.

Learn More
Omaha Community Foundation Logo in blue
Thank You Hillside Solutions

The Abundance Garden is supported by Hillside Solutions and Soil Dynamics' Compost Club, transforming residential food waste from the Omaha-area into nutrient dense soil used in our garden and others around the city.

Learn More
Hillside Circle Logo