Maher Park Garden
Found inside the Fresh Pond Reservation, Maher Park Community Garden is a beautiful space with welcoming paths, benches, and open spaces for our gardeners and the public to enjoy. It is easily accessible by foot, bike, or bus, and there is parking close by. It was established in 1974 and was the first community garden established in Cambridge.
The garden has 44 plots 10’ by 10’ in size, many of which have fences in place. There are 6 slightly smaller raised beds for limited ability gardeners, and priority for these beds is given to residents of Neville Place. Water supply, facility maintenance, rodent control and waste removal is provided by the City of Cambridge. On-site composting is not permitted, and we are an organic-only garden.
Fresh Pond Parkway Garden
The garden is located next to the Fresh Pond walking path and includes magnificent views of the pond especially at sunset. Built over an old rail bed, this garden is a great example of urban transformation. With 26 5’ by 8’ plots, including 3 raised beds for limited ability gardeners, this garden is a bustling community of experienced and novice gardeners.
Our gardeners grow a range of vegetables and flowers including towering sunflowers, corn, eggplants, cilantro, carrots, cucumbers and much more!
McMath Park Community Garden
Sandwiched between a small park and the MBTA commuter rail lines and bordered by a hedge and a tennis practice wall, McMath Community Garden is an urban oasis. It was founded in 1996 by the Cambridge Conservation Commission and is named after Don McMath, a local neighbor and avid gardener. The garden includes 29 individual in-ground plots and one raised bed for a limited ability gardener. Gardeners grow a wide variety of produce including kohlrabi, beets, garlic, purple string beans and a host of herbs. The garden includes spring and fall communal workdays as well as a fall potluck. Most gardeners serve on a committee that keeps that garden work shared by all. McMath gardeners are keen to welcome and mentor new members.
Corcoran-Raymond Park Garden
The Raymond Park Community Garden (within Corcoran Park) has been in Neighborhood Nine for over 40 years. It sits on a slight plateau looking over the neighborhood park, making it a beautiful place to spend time. The garden has 26 individual plots (including one that will become an ADA-compliant raised bed for the 2026 season) and is surrounded by fencing.
This garden boasts great amenities: water is provided by the city of Cambridge, and we have a composting bin system that you are encouraged to use! All plot holders are expected to use organic gardening practices and to share in the upkeep of garden paths, benches, and our communal perennial and herb beds.
The Raymond Park Community Garden holds annual opening and closing meetings and workdays each growing season and plans to have several social activities throughout the year to share information, growing tips, seeds and plants with each other.
Sacramento St Garden
The Sacramento Street Community Garden was founded in 1975. Originally organized by the Agassiz Neighborhood Council, the community garden has been owned and operated by the city of Cambridge for over 30 years. It is one of the oldest community gardens in the city.
Today, the garden has individual plots for 68 gardeners, including seven raised beds prioritized for those who have physical need for them. The city provides water and maintains the garden’s fencing. Gardeners contribute a small amount for yearly dues (which can be waived if a hardship) to pay for other garden maintenance and the purchase of communal hoses and tools. Gardeners are also expected to aid in the upkeep of garden paths, benches and front flower beds for passersby to enjoy. Sharing of plants/know-how and participation in yearly community potlucks and workdays have grown many friendships along with flowers, fruits and veggies! For growers that are brand new to working the soil, we have tutorials for those who want them!
Field of Dreams
“If you see someone in the garden, say hello.” This is our guiding principle at Field of Dreams. Field of Dreams is our oasis, a small community garden on a corner lot in Riverside.
We have 18 approximately 10’x10’ raised beds for use by individual members along with several shared plots for berries, a grapevine, herbs, and flowers. The perimeter of our garden is surrounded by pollinator plants much beloved by bees of various species during the warmer months. Our community includes gardeners of varied ages, backgrounds, identities, occupations, languages, and levels of expertise. Preschoolers from Peabody Terrace Preschool enjoy a permanent plot in Field of Dreams and bring joy, art, and curiosity to the garden on spring mornings. We currently host spring and fall cleanups annually (neighbors welcome!) and are open having more events in the future.
Unlike many other community gardens, Field of Dreams has no fence around the outside perimeter. This preserves the decades-long function of the garden’s central pathway as a cut-through for pedestrians and expresses our continuing spirit of openness to the neighborhood. Field of Dreams is a place of everyday beauty and solace for passers-by, neighbors, and us gardeners. We welcome you to stop by and say hello.
Green St Neighborhood Garden
Green St Neighborhood Garden is a small community garden on the property of a local business. It is one of two ‘private’ Cambridge community gardens. This private park boasts beautiful landscaping and 8 large plots.
Those looking to apply for a plot here should not do so through the application form. Rather, residents living within the surrounding blocks of the garden are welcome to apply for a plot in this calm oasis by emailing the garden manager, John, at johnv@goodcooking.com.
Riverside Press Park Garden
Riverside Press Park Community Garden, formerly run as a community farm by Green Cambridge (until October 2025), is currently being transitioned to a new management model. Check back for updates for the 2026 season!
Peggy Hayes Memorial Garden
Cultivated by Cambridgeport residents since 1973, the Peggy Hayes Memorial garden consists of nine plots—three sets of plank-bordered plots (approximately 12’ by 12’), with three adjacent plots in each set.
Generally, as many as two or three of those nine plots are split between two families. Most dedicate their plots to annuals—greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, squashes, cruciferous vegetables, peas, green beans, and root vegetables—and, to a lesser extent, herbs, flowers, and berries. An English yew shades the barrels and bins by the gate, and a fruitful peach tree shades a patio table and a shade-loving perennial bed in a far corner. Adjacent to that, a tool shed and picnic table fill the grassy common area—and a ring of flowers is next to a set of dwarf apple trees and a young cherry sapling in the right front corner, where a row of currant and raspberry bushes starts along the sidewalk fence toward the gate. A rotating group of garden members manages finances, materials, and membership. There’s some turnover every year, plenty of banter in the aisles—and an annual membership fee that pays for organic fertilizer, tools, and miscellaneous other things.
Emily St Garden
The Emily Street/Simplex Community Garden is a cooperative, organic, community garden, founded in 1974 by the Simplex Steering Committee. Unlike other community gardens, this garden is farmed collectively and offers the opportunity to share the work and learn from experienced gardeners. There are no individual plots, everything is shared. The garden enables 12-15 households to work in a collective manner, sharing the cost by paying a small annual fee for tools, seeds, fertilizer, and other items.
Squirrel Brand Community Garden
Candy factory workers, public housing families, and neighbors from Area Four and Central Square were the first to garden in the Squirrel Brand Community Garden at Broadway and Boardman in 1975. When the factory was sold in 2003, gardeners petitioned the city to save SBCG, resulting in the city purchasing the factory building to be turned into affordable housing and purchasing the open area for a community garden and park for children’s day programs.
The garden was a communal venture from the start: neighbors let gardeners use their houses’ hoses, gardeners learned organic practices together and got the soil tested at the UMass Amherst soil lab, and local students built compost bins.
Currently, the garden has 32 plots, including two raised beds. The garden also has a few plots for the Community Art Center and City Sprouts to use.
Moore St Garden
The motto of our garden is “Moore Garden, Less Street”. The present Moore Street Community Garden was created in 1985. The gardeners here emphasize tending the soil to support healthy and prolific crops. There are 29 plots in all including a single raised bed next to the gates.
Along with the more typical vegetables to be found in the Cambridge Community Gardens, there are many vegetables grown that reflect the different cultures of the gardeners including Bangladesh, Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico and Albania. These include mustard greens, tomatillo, amaranth or red spinach and bitter melons. Several plots include flowers like lavender, shasta daisies, native perennials, daylilies and a variety of annuals.
Multiple languages are heard in the garden, and you can often find gardeners sharing gardening tricks and produce in the morning or evening. Often gardeners are accompanied by a variety of family members making gardening and plot maintenance a family and social affair.
Hurley St Garden
Hurley St. Garden was built in 2015 as part of the renovation of Hurley St. Park. The garden includes 18 10 x 10 rectangular raised beds, a short row of blueberry bushes and a shed for storage. Gardeners enjoy being next to a playground so their kids can move freely between the garden and playground while families tend to their plots. Gardeners grow strawberries, melons, basil, chives, tomatoes, lavender, mint, sage, milkweed, zinnias and much more! The garden includes two chairs from which you can sit down and enjoy the scents and sights.
Costa Lopez Garden
The Costa Lopez Taylor Community Garden is remarkable for the sculptural entrance gate of two large metal yellow squashes by the artist Roberly Bell as well as the swinging bench which encourages lingering and socializing. The garden also neighbors the beautiful Anthony Costa Park, boasting a lovely playground and beautiful tree-shaded areas to sit and enjoy the day.
There are 37 raised beds of varying heights and a prolific peach tree from a neighbor’s property overhangs one garden entrance. Some gardeners have built their own trellises and a large variety of vegetables and flowers are grown each year including peppers, onions, squash, sage and green beans.