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A community garden is a piece of land gardening by a group of people individually or collectively. Normally in community gardens, the land is divided into individual plots. Each individual gardener is responsible for their own plot, and the yield or production belongs to them. In collective gardens, the piece of land is not divided. A group of people cultivates it together, and the harvest belongs to all participants. Around the world, community gardens exist in various forms; they can be located near neighborhoods or on balconies and rooftops. Its size can vary greatly from one to another. Depending on the location can determine the price of community gardens
Community gardens have experienced three waves of major development in North America. The earliest wave of community gardens development coincided with the Industrial Revolution and rapid urbanization process in Europe and North America; they were then called 'Jardin d'ouvrier' (or workers' garden). The second wave of community garden development happened during the WWI and WWII; they were part of "Liberty Gardens" and "Victory garden" respectively. The most recent wave of community garden development happened in the 1970s during the OPEC crisis, results of grassroots movement in quest for available land to combat against food insecurity.
More recently, community gardens have seen a global resurgence. This may be related to several issues faced by the global population in the 21st century, such as ecological crisis, climate change and the new sanitary crisis. Community gardens contribute to the urban agriculture movement and the requests from citizens for more community gardens has been surging in recent years. Community gardens are also accessible in over 190 + countries/regions
Community gardens are often used in cities to provide fresh vegetables and fruits in "food deserts", which are urban neighborhoods where grocery stores are rare and residents may rely on processed food from convenience stores, gas stations, and fast-food restaurants.
Some writers have proposed re-framing the concept of "food deserts" as "food apartheid," emphasizing that neighborhoods lacking access to healthy food have been racially oppressed through segregation, redlining, and limited access to land. Some Black, Indigenous, and people of color have supported self-sustaining community gardens, recognizing that their liberation requires access to both land and healthy food.
Community gardens may help alleviate one effect of climate change, which is expected to cause a global decline in agricultural output, making fresh produce increasingly unaffordable.Harris, E (2009). "The role of community gardens in creating healthy communities", Australian Planner, v. 46, no. 2 (June 2009) pp. 24–27. Community gardens are also an increasingly popular method of changing the built environment in order to promote health and wellness in the face of urbanization. The built environment has a wide range of positive and negative effects on the people who work, live, and play in a given area, including a person's chance of developing obesity.Xu, Y., & Wang, F. (2015). Built environment and obesity by urbanicity in the U.S. Health & Place, 34, 19–29. Community gardens encourage an urban community's food security, allowing citizens to grow their own food or for others to donate what they have grown. Advocates say locally grown food decreases a community's reliance on fossil fuels for transport of food from large agricultural areas and reduces a society's overall use of fossil fuels to drive in agricultural machinery.[1]: Kishler, Les. Opinion: community gardens are a serious answer to food supplies, health (2010, March 18) San Jose Mercury News.
Community gardens improve users’ health through increased fresh vegetable consumption and providing a venue for exercise.
The gardens also combat two forms of alienation that plague modern urban life: they reconnect urban gardeners with the source of their food and reduce isolation by fostering a sense of community. Community gardens provide other social benefits, such as the sharing of food production knowledge with the wider community and safer living spaces.Harris, E (2009). Active communities experience less crime and vandalism.Melville Court, Chatham, Kent," Moiser, Steve, Landscape Design, no306 (Dec. 2001/Jan. 2002) p. 34.
Some gardens are cultivated collectively, with everyone working together, while others are divided into individual plots, each managed by a different gardener, group, or family. Many community gardens include both common areas with shared upkeep and individual or family plots. Though communal areas are successful in some cases, in others there is a tragedy of the commons, which results in uneven workload on participants, and sometimes demoralization, neglect, and abandonment of the communal model. Some relate this to the largely unsuccessful history of collective farming.
Unlike public parks, whether a community garden is open to the general public is dependent upon the lease agreements with the management body of the park and the community garden membership. Open- or closed-gate policies vary from garden to garden. Community gardens are managed and maintained by the gardeners themselves, rather than tended only by a professional staff. A second difference is food production: Unlike parks, where plantings are ornamental (or more recently ecological), community gardens are usually focused on food production. Selected factors influencing the success of a community garden, by Gordon Arthur Clark. Kansas State University, 1980.
In America there is no standardized plot size. For example, plots of 3 m × 6 m (10 ft × 20 ft = 200 square feet) and 3 m x 4.5 m (10 ft x 15 ft) are listed in Alaska. Montgomery Parks in Maryland lists plots of 200, 300, 400 and 625 square feet. In Canada, plots of 20 ft x 20 ft and 10 ft x 10 ft, as well as smaller "raised beds", are listed in Vancouver.
The site location should also be considered for its soil conditions as well as sun conditions. An area with a fair amount of morning sunlight and shade in the afternoon is most ideal. While specifics vary from plant to plant, most do well with 6 to 8 full hours of sunlight.
When considering a location, areas near industrial zones may require for contaminants. If soil is safe, the composition should be loose and well-draining. However, if the soil at the location cannot be used, synthetic soil may also be used in raised gardens beds or containers.
Gardeners often grow in-ground—this type of garden contrasts most with an urban environment. Gardeners may also grow in raised beds, or in boxes, sometimes on top of a paved area. Gardens may include raised for use by people who cannot bend or work directly on the ground.
Regardless of plant choice, planning out the garden layout beforehand will help avoid problems down the line. According to the Arizona Master Gardener Manual, taking measurements of the garden size, sunlight locations and planted crops vs. yield quantity, will ensure a detailed record that helps when making decisions for the coming years. Other considerations when laying out a plot are efficient use of space by using trellises for climbing crops, plant location so that taller plants (like sunflowers) do not block needed sunlight to shorter plants and grouping plants that have similar life cycles close together.
Some community gardens "self-support" through membership dues, and others require a sponsor for tools, seeds, or money donations. Support may come from churches, schools, private businesses or parks and recreation departments. Local nonprofit beautification and community-building organizations may contribute as well.
There are many different organizational models in use for community gardens. Most elect their leaders from within their membership. Others are run by individuals appointed by their management or sponsor. Some are managed by non-profit organizations, such as a community gardening association, a community association, a church, or other land-owner, others by a city's recreation or parks department, a school or a university.
Gardens are often started when neighbors come together to commit to the organization, construction and management of a garden, and are assisted by experienced organizers such as the Green Guerillas of New York City. Green Guerillas Alternatively, a garden may be organized "top down" by a municipal agency. In Santa Clara, California a non-profit by the name of Appleseeds Community Gardens as Appleseeds offers free assistance in starting up new community gardens around the world. Rules and an 'operations manual' are invaluable tools; ideas for both are available at the American Community Gardening Association American Community Gardening Association and in the United States, from local master gardeners and cooperative extensions.
There is some evidence to suggest that community gardens have a similar effect in adults. A study found that community gardeners in Utah had a lower body mass index than their non-gardening siblings and unrelated neighbors. Administrative records were used to compare body mass indexes of community gardeners to that of unrelated neighbors, siblings, and spouses. Gardeners were less likely to be overweight or obese than their neighbors, and gardeners had lower body mass indexes than their siblings. However, there was no difference in body mass index between gardeners and their spouses which may suggest that community gardening creates healthy habits for the entire household.
Participation in a community garden has been shown to increase both availability and consumption of fruits and vegetables in households. A study showed an average increase in availability of 2.55 fruits and 4.3 vegetables with participation in a community garden. It also showed that children in participating households consumed an average of two additional servings per week of fruits and 4.9 additional servings per week of vegetables.
Community gardens also have notable positive effects on mental health and well-being. Participation in gardening activities has been associated with reduced stress, enhanced mood, and improved overall mental health. Studies show that engaging in community gardening fosters a sense of belonging and social connectedness, which can mitigate feelings of loneliness and isolation, particularly in urban environments. For instance, community gardens provide safe, communal spaces where individuals can form social bonds, build relationships, and support each other through shared activities. These interactions can help create resilient communities by improving both individual mental health and broader social networks.
Policies can be enacted to protect community gardens from future development. For example, New York State reached a settlement in 2002 which protected hundreds of community gardens which had been established by the Parks and Recreation Department GreenThumb Program from future development. Robert Fox Elder. (2005). protecting new york city's community gardens. New York University Environmental Law Journal, 13, 769–803.
At times, zoning policy lags behind the development of community gardens. In these cases, community gardens may exist illegally. Such was the case in Detroit when hundreds of community gardens were created in abandoned spaces around the city. The city of Detroit created agricultural zones in 2013 in the middle of urban areas to legitimize the over 355 "illegal" community gardens.Kaffer, N. (2010). Planners recommend new zoning, lower tax rate for urban farms. Crain's Detroit Business, 26(13), 8. 91 U. Det. Mercy L. Rev. 345. Retrieved from www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic
The community garden movement is of more recent provenance than allotment gardening, with many such gardens in built-up areas on patches of derelict land, waste ground or land owned by the local authority or a private landlord that is not being used for any purpose. They can also be on more rural land, often in partnership with a farmer or estate owner. A community garden in the United Kingdom is typically run by people from the local community as an independent, non-profit association or organization (though this may be wholly or partly funded by public money). For example, Norwich's Fifth Quarter Community Garden.
It is also likely to perform a dual function as an open space or play area (in which role it may also be known as a 'city park') and—while it may offer plots to individual cultivators—the organization that administers the garden will normally have a great deal of the responsibility for its planting, landscaping and upkeep. An example inner-city garden of this sort is Islington's Culpeper Community Garden, which is a registered charity, or Camden Town's Phoenix Garden.
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