So Happy Gardening Together

Filed under: Gardening, Garden Tours, How-To

Community gardens are growing in number, bringing heirloom tomatoes and new friends to a neighborhood near you.

Let's say that you've never gardened much, but you're struck with an urge to eat homemade spaghetti sauce, made with homegrown tomatoes, which means you've gotta grow your own tomatoes. But wait! -- you don't have a yard. Quick: What do you do? Join a community garden of course!

Still, even if you do have a yard, there's plenty to embrace with the community garden, such as "meeting like-minded people in your community, physical activity outdoors and the opportunity to learn how your food grows," says Liz Sharp, one of the principals of the Brooklyn Bears Community Gardens, which has three sites in the borough.

That bonding can be a strong motivating factor.


"My wife Ally and I have been members of the Hollenback Community Garden for four or five years now," says Brooklyn resident Lorne Lieb. "We joined after we moved into the neighborhood to meet people in our community and to try and grow some veggies."

Chicago resident Leah Ray, a communications manager for a design firm, joined the Peterson Garden Project when it broke ground a couple of months ago. "It's been an incredible community-building experience, which I didn't see coming," she says.

Community gardens are, pardon the pun, "sprouting up" across the nation, which can be traced to a variety of factors, according to Bobby Wilson, president of the American Community Gardening Association (ACGA).

"One, is that we have a garden at the White House for the first time in decades. Michelle Obama had a major impact on where we are right now," Wilson says. He also believes that food scares and the slow food movement are bringing more people into community gardens, particularly families. "Parents are concerned with helping their children make the connection with where their food comes from and how they're going to eat in the future," he adds.

The ACGA counts as members the 2,267 registered gardens across the country, but Wilson says the number is actually a lot higher since not everyone knows about the registration service. He guesses that it represents only 25 to 30 percent of community gardens nationwide. Still, the numbers are growing and they seem to be popular just about everywhere -- there are even community gardens in Alaska.

Michael Callahan, one of the founders of the Bethel Community Garden in Bethel, Alaska, admits that gardening this far north is certainly a challenge. It's a carefully measured process, he says, taking into account the weather and amount of sunlight available.

"We are generally able to get our starts in the ground anytime after June 1," he says. "Our growing season ends about the last week of September."

Still, the gardeners are devoted. "It is not uncommon to find one or two gardeners working their plots until after midnight," he says.

If you're interested in joining a community garden, here are some things to think about, wherever you are:



Location is Key

"Look for a garden that is close to your home or work so that it's easy to get there on a regular basis to weed, water and participate in work days and social events," says Brooklyn Bears' Sharp.

And who knows? This could be the perfect remedy to relieve the stress of the day, says ACGA's Wilson. If you live in the suburbs and work in the city, he recommends finding a city plot to garden in. You can avoid the traffic by staying in town to garden for a couple of hours. "You're going to produce some good, fresh vegetables and you're going to release a lot of stress by not sitting in traffic for two-and-a-half hours," he adds.

Beginners Can Have Some Luck

There are plenty of people in the world like me that have never planted a seed outside of third-grade science class, but that doesn't have to be a discouraging factor, Sharp says.

"Gardening experiences should not be a necessity," she says. "There is so much information available through the Internet, and through local greening organizations." If in doubt, you can always ask someone for an assist, she says. "Most gardeners love to share their knowledge!"

Lieb and his wife didn't have any experience when they joined a community garden in Brooklyn. "We checked out Gardening for Dummies from the library and read it, " he says. "We also got a lot of good advice from the seasoned gardeners in our garden."
Patience Is a Virtue

With plenty of people living in urban areas wanting to take part in the "back to the land" movement, many of the community gardens have waiting lists in place. As of February, there were 87 people on the waitlist at the Potrero Hill Community Garden, which is open to San Francisco residents. In Minneapolis, the Dowling Community Garden stopped taking names for one of the 190 plots because the waiting list is too long, reports the website. Some gardens require that you "apprentice" for a year, helping out on the garden property for a year before getting your own plot.

But don't give up! "Our garden has had [a waiting list] for years for vegetable plots, but anyone can help out," Sharp says. "People do move fairly often, so plots do open up."

And the Plots Thicken

A lot can be done with a single parcel of land, which usually varies in size, once you get one.

"All the plots at the Peterson Garden are 4-by-6-foot raised beds," Ray says, adding that she grows a variety of vegetables there, from heirloom tomatoes to Chinese broccoli to golden beets. She says that she spends about 15 minutes every couple of days there watering and weeding. More time is spent hanging out with the other gardeners.

Lieb also gets a lot out of his 4-by-8-foot plot, and makes it a family affair of sorts. "I spend a few hours throughout the week watering and weeding," he says. "Lately, I've been the one tending to our garden since I have a more flexible schedule than Ally -- splitting my time between taking care of my 17-month-old twins Emmett and Dahlia, and running my documentary production company Plowshares Media. I usually take Emmett and Dahlia to the garden in the morning and they watch me water, then we look at plants and flowers.

"This year, we're growing cherry and heirloom tomatoes, bell peppers, lettuce, basil, cilantro, beets, chard and our first flower--dahlias."

Weather Permitting, Of Course

Work in a community garden continues through the cooler months. "In the winter, we prep the plots for the snow, and put leaves and mulch down to protect them," says Brooklyn resident Lieb. "Some plants still grow -- like cabbage -- but mostly the garden is quiet for the winter. When the snow melts, gardeners start coming back and getting their plots ready for spring. It's something to look forward to when it's freezing outside."

And sure, it gets real cold in New York and Chicago, but what about the tundra-like climes of Alaska? Tending the land is also a difficult chore there, Callahan says, but there are techniques to deal with this.

"Gardening in the sub-Arctic region presents some unique challenges, not the least of which is this nagging layer of ice (permafrost), which lingers not too far beneath the ground's surface," he says. "Last year with about 100 linear feet of rows, I was able to harvest over 200 pounds of produce."

"Many of us start our own seeds in our homes/apartments several weeks prior to the official planting opening date," Callahan adds. "By the time the top soil here is thawed and tiled, we are ready to put our young plants into the ground."


The Cost of Doing Business

Of course, whenever you enter a new venture, one of the first things you have to consider is the anticipated blow to the wallet, whether big or small. How much you pay for your food-and-floral-growing foray usually depends on the garden you choose. In the spirit of community, you can expect dues at community gardens to remain low.

"Every community garden is different in terms of dues, supplies, grant writing, construction projects, events and support it gives gardeners," says Cara Montague, co-coordinator of Brooklyn's Hollenback Community Garden.

Membership dues are usually minimal, if there are any at all. For example, in the past few years, Hollenback Community Garden voted to change the dues to a sliding scale of $10 to $50. "The garden uses that money to pay for plants for common areas, events, office supplies, tools, repairs and small construction projects," says Montague. "In general, dues go to cover things that will benefit everyone in the garden."

Some gardens, such as Hollenback, make garden tools, like shovels and rakes, available for members, keeping costs down for individuals. Plus, some gardens offer seed/seedling shares and giveaways to help gardeners get started.

Friends, Along With Other Benefits

Community gardens offer much more than fresh produce. Ray says that she's learned about seed diversity, and has gained a deeper understanding of the importance of gardening sustainably. Lieb loves that he can pop by and pick up the ingredients for the night's dinner. There's a sense of accomplishment that comes from growing your own food, he says.

Still, it's the sense of community that gardeners seem to like best. Says Callahan: "Gardening has given me the opportunity to keep myself occupied, meet and interact with new friends."


For more gardening stories, check out these posts:

Fragrance in the Garden
Upside-Down Gardening: Fab or Fad?
10 Edible Garden Plantings You'll Love

 

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