Community Gardens
In a Nutshell
Community gardening is a group of people growing produce for their own consumption. Sometimes community gardens produce food for a local school or shelter. Community gardens are not the same as urban farms, which are usually larger and produce for purchasing and consumption by others.
Practical Solution
The “How To”
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Starting a Community Garden
Starting a community garden requires planning, but luckily there are already plenty of people who have started these gardens, so there is no need to reinvent the wheel. There are a couple of different ways to go about establishing a community garden. Here are a few of the basics.
Muncipalities can encourage community gardens on publicly owned land where appropriate.
Find a group of willing participants
Participants may come from all kinds of people with common interests, a religious or faith based organization, a small school using the garden as an after school program or science class alternative, a retirement community. Ask residents and give some information on the benefits of gardening and responsibilities. Gardening should be fun after all.
Choose a site
Choose a site that is inexpensive. As these gardens typically do not produce any profit, land should be possibly LRA owned, community owned, or privately owned such as a backyard that operates under an agreement for use. The site often determines the group that will work in the garden. A city-owned vacant lot can be an eyesore, or it can become a means of bringing neighbors together for a common purpose of creating a garden.
Prepare and Develop the Site
When developing the site, plan for separate interests, crops, and groups. Some people may want to grow vegetables and others may want fruit, therefore, plan to divide plots. Dividing plots allows for more people to have a say in individual plots and can foster a diversity of vegetation grown. Have connection to a watering source. Access could be from a participating neighbor’s hose, a water spicket, or a watering can, which may work for very small plots. Another option is to have an irrigation system in place connected to a hose or an onsite water collector such as a rain barrel. Please visit OneSTL’s Rain Barrel toolkit for more rain barrel information.
Ask someone with a background in gardening, landscaping, or agriculture to help plan the garden space. They may have a better understanding of soil conditions, materials used for beds, and where to procure seeds, soils, and gardening material. For example, some crops may need more sunlight than other; therefore planting under a large tree canopy would be unwise. Or they may be available to identify invasive plant species or bugs that pose threats to your crops. Also view OneSTL’s Native Landscaping for which plants are encouraged to use in Missouri and Illinois.
Organize and Manage the Garden
When organizing the site, having a coordinator is very helpful. This coordinator may be the liaison between separate plot owners and may hold contact information. People may agree on having days to do work in the garden together as a community. Other people may want to visit gardens and have a leader speak about the garden. Duties may be subdivided. Watering schedule, weeding, mulching, composting and vermicompost days. Learn the benefits of composting and vermicomposting in the OneSTL Toolkit.
Garden seasons do vary. Fall does not mean the end of the growing season. There are vegetables still you can grow. Missouri Botanical Garden discusses why some plants like their season cool. If you are not going to grow, have a dormant plan for your garden.
It often helps to give the garden a name. Some gardens can take the name of the surrounding neighborhood or street like the North Florissant Community Garden. Others can be more imaginative such as “Welcome to Farmville”.
There are several websites available with information on the process of starting a community garden. University of Missouri Extension and University of Illinois Extension serve as a database for gardening information.
The American Community Gardening Association provides very detailed instructions and organizational concerns. Organic Gardening will explain why abandoned lots, schools, office parks, retirement centers, and churches are such popular places for gardening. City Girl Farming and Urban Farm Guys have good information on running community gardens including innovative techniques or gardening. The Texas A&M Agrilife Extension can teach the teacher and students how to develop gardens at school. One concern is landowner’s insurance for in the case of a liability.
Joining a Community Garden
Below are links to various community garden’s in the region. Find one that is close to you, and join in the fun!
Jefferson County
3843 Sandy Church Rd
Hillsboro, MO 63050
(636) 479-9506St. Charles County
Terripin Farms CSA
900 TR Hughes Blvd.
O’Fallon, MO 63366
(217) 440-4678St. Louis County
Saint Louis County’s website has information on community gardens in the County.
St. Louis City
Gateway Greening has information about several gardens in the City.
Madison County
4350 Levis Lane
Godfrey, IL 62035
618-467-2104 Planning & Zoning
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One of the big differences between community gardens and urban agriculture has to do with the ordinances governing them. Planning for Healthy Places, a project of Public Health Law & Policy, published Establishing Land Use Protections for Community Gardens. This document has examples of land use polices/ordinances for the creation and preservation of community gardens. Dr. Jane Schukoske developed these nineteen best practices for successful community gardens.
Examples of local ordinances concerning community gardens.
Section 240.030 of Creve Coeur’s ordinance code lists community garden member fees. These are fees for individuals wanting to participate in Creve Coeur’s city run community garden.
Dollars & Cents
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Benefits of Community Gardens
- Less expensive than parkland areas (80% of cost is labor borne by the gardeners).
- Composting saves land fill space.
- Seen as an amenity and retreat from noise and commotion of urban environments and thus an attractor for people (i.e. "creative class").
- Increate values of nearby properties.
- Social values such as aesthetics and connection with living things.
- Provide an area for recreation and exercise.
- Improved diets and locally produced food.
- Increase consumption of fresh, local food which reduces exposure to chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
- Provide access to nutritionally rich foods in areas where there may be little or no access.
- Allow people without land to produce their own food.
- Conservation of resources by reducing the hops in the commodity chain (i.e. reduction in transportation costs and packaging).
- Filter rainwater helping watershed.
- Reduce soil erosion and runoff.
- Restore oxygen to air and reduce pollution.
- Reduce the "heat island" effect experienced in inner cities.
- Serve as an outdoor classroom.
- Connect community members.
- Stress reduction and benefits to health.
- Crime reduction through a growing sense of community.
- Focal point for community organizing.
This blog is by the manager of a large community garden. The other goes through some of the issues/downsides to community gardens they have experienced. These include people not planting plants in a convenient place, or people will take fruit/vegetables they did not grow.
Measuring Success
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Benefits of Community Gardens can be measued through the following:
- Food production and access
- Social engagement, community building, neighborhood revitalization
- Education
- Nutrition
Case Studies
Discover More
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Horticultural information
- Cooperative Extension Service in your county
- Garden Clubs
- Horticultural Societies
- Garden Centers
Seeds
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America the Beautiful Fund
725 15th St. NW, Suite 605,Dept. AG
Washington D.C. 20005
202-838-1649 - Garden Centers and Hardware Stores
Bedding Plants
- Local nurseries
- Vocational-Tech Horticulture Department
- High school Horticulture classes
- Parks Department