Community Gardening for Food, Beauty, Belonging, Exercise, Fun

Community gardening is really on the rise in America. In some locations, it never went away. But local food is newly popular for several reasons:

1. A general desire to "go green" and reconnect with nature and the land.

2. A need to raise food to save money, improve the sense that food is safe, or to reduce the carbon footprint of the food you eat, which may be transported from Chile, Mexico, California if you live in Florida, Florida if you live in California, and so forth.

4. The desire to grow something pretty while having fun together.

Gardening itself is an enormously popular hobby in the United States. So the idea of combining with others to do something you couldn’t or wouldn’t do by yourself is very pro-community.

In the Suburbs

Often in suburbs, the land has been so compacted through the construction process that the soil in backyards isn't particularly suitable for gardening and would require quite a bit of augmentation and probably some new topsoil. So the simple availability of suitable and already prepared land may be a factor in the decision for community gardening as well. If suitably prepared soils aren't available, you may just be looking for a large backyard or a vacant lot someone will allow you to use.

In the Urban Core

In urban core areas, community gardening often must be accompanied with education about nutritious foods and their preparation. The children don't know how a carrot grows, or for that matter what a fresh carrot tastes like. Honey buns are much more available at the corner convenience store.

Many urban adults have no experience with any exotic vegetables at all. If it isn't yams, potatoes, green beans, or sweet corn, forget it. The African-American community likes greens, but it's interesting to me that many of the folks don’t know how they grow, even if they can prepare really wonderful concoctions when they have access to raw greens.

So you have to teach people what to do if they have a zucchini or cantaloupe given to them. Not to mention teaching them how and when to plant them (hint: zucchini and cucumber take some room).

In an urban or suburban setting, find or start an organization to provide the basic level of information about what is likely to be successful in an urban setting, what should be planted when, what plants like to be wet, which ones tolerate drought and heat, how far apart the rows should be, what pests are likely to attack you and when, and so forth.

Small Town Community Gardening

In a small town, it's likely that the lore of how to garden with vegetables and flowers isn't totally lost. Ask around; you might be surprised who knows what. These long-lost lessons from childhood can be recovered, and chances are, it will actually be fun for the people who have this knowledge to share it. And the veteran gardeners who haven't tried it for awhile will be amazed at the new hybrids, wider diversity of seeds, something called heirloom tomatoes, and the possibility of growing herbs.

Small towns also offer a number of opportunities for multiple problem-solving with community gardening. If you have an old concrete or asphalt pad from a parking lot or a demolished building, this is a good time to rip it out and to reclaim the land for future uses. In addition, the removal of impervious surfaces (surfaces that water cannot penetrate) would help reduce the stormwater runoff burden and possibility of flash flooding.

Community gardens also are a convenient replace'ent for vacant land or for an eyesore. They may even grace a public park if your park doesn’t seem to have a real use now.

I myself never want to snap another green bean, shell another pea, or seed another cherry, but I've come to understand that I'm actually an exception. I do begin to crave a real-tasting tomato and strawberry, and probably so do many of you.

Organizing Community Gardening for Minimal Conflict

These are the questions to ask:

• Shall we plant food-bearing plants, or is the garden for producing flowers, or both?

• How will we decide what to plant?

• How are planting expenses divided up?

• Are people "members" of the community garden, or is everyone in the neighborhood automatically entitled to be involved as much or as little as they would like?

• Must people work in the garden to harvest from the garden?

• What are the rules about harvesting food, flowers, and herbs that were planted by others?

• Who's checking your progress on a daily basis, so that the weeds and pests don’t take over? And who's watering? Using what water source?

• Who can advise us if we're having difficulty with plant selection, soils, watering systems, and so forth?

• Will there be any effort to sell the surplus of the community gardening efforts? If so, what would be the best outlet, and who will be responsible for making the decision about what is excess?

And if you need a little help to get started, check for a local group or the Community Gardens as Appleseeds Foundation.

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