Start a Community Garden

The Basics

 

Who

Any group of at least 3 to 5 committed people can build a community garden. They can be part of an organized group or can just be an informal group of friends, neighbors, or relatives. Organized groups that have started gardens include: civic associations, religious congregations, neighborhood centers, seniors groups, youth groups, women's clubs, men's clubs, occupational groups, businesses, schools and home-schools, food pantries, homeless shelters, apartments, and treatment centers.

Where

Community gardens are built on public or private land. An agreement to use the land for at least five years gives the garden some security. Generally, public land provides a greater long-term use assurance. Parks, service centers, schools, utility easements, apartments, churches, or synagogues make ideal locations. The garden should be close to the gardeners who will maintain it. As the old-timers say, "The best fertilizer is a gardener's shadow."

Sometimes, gardeners propose turning their own private land into a community garden with themselves as resident coordinator. Such gardens can also be excellent, although the garden is a challenge to sustain if the land is sold to another owner. Also, volunteers may be more timid to step in and work on a garden on private property.

How

Gardening is not complicated, but to be done effectively, a person needs a little training before beginning. Urban Harvest provides a number of ways for gardeners to learn. We provide classes, written instructions, meetings, and access to a network of experienced community gardeners.

Once your group has a plan, a site, some knowledge of gardening, and some funds, you will need to order materials. We offer a class on garden-building that you should attend before your groundbreaking. On the big day, Urban Harvest will try to have a representative on hand to offer assistance and advice. (See our pamphlet, Building and Maintaining a Community Vegetable Garden.)

Once a garden is in place, production is fast. From August to November and January to March, the first vegetable crops should take about 45 days. At other times it may take 90 days. Some fruit trees and shrubs will take five years, and others ten to produce fruit, while other smaller fruit plants planted in winter will bear crops in the spring.

Most garden beds need about an hour of maintenance per week. Plan on spending about 6 hours for planting crops each season, four times a year. When it is time to harvest, anticipate spending 1 hour per week reaping the fruits of your labor.

Expense

Cost varies greatly depending on size and design, so plan your garden accordingly. Most community gardens will cost between $1000 and $4000 initially. (See our pamphlet, Planning and Budgeting a Community Garden for budgeting information.) There will also be a few hundred dollars a year in maintenance costs. If these numbers sound daunting to you, keep in mind it is possible to build a small community garden for as little as $200, and annual up-keep can be augmented from produce sales.

Community orchards are very cost efficient. If the gardener is willing to become educated in fruit tree culture, most trees will pay back their purchase cost each year with only a few hours of work per tree. With fruit at more than $1 per pound, a purchase cost of $5 to $25 per tree is quickly repaid.

The cost of gardening instruction varies. Low-income and non-profit groups ordinarily can receive Urban Harvest services free of charge, as these are funded through charitable donations. These funds are limited, however, and if your group has the financial ability, we appreciate donations that will enable us to provide instruction to others who can not afford to pay.

For organizations whose main work force is paid staff, Urban Harvest charges a sliding scale depending on the ability of an organization to pay and the amount of service needed. We recommend that these interested organizations contract with us to provide regular instruction for the first year.