- Why have community gardens?
- How do community gardens improve a peoples quality of life?
- Who is involved in community gardening?
- How do these gardens build community?
- What are the economic benefits of community gardens?
- How do community gardens improve food security?
- Do community gardens improve health?
- How can community gardens help young lives?
Community gardens are essential to people and places in urban environments. They provide food access, open space, greenery, recreation, education, economic and social opportunities.
How do community gardens improve a peoples quality of life?
Parks and other open spaces improve the quality of life for everyone. Community gardens create open space in the very inner-city neighborhoods where green space is in shortest supply. Within high-density development, community gardens improve air quality, reduce noise and air pollution, and create environments hospitable to plants and animal species.
Who is involved in community gardening?
Community gardens bring together diverse groups of people and organizations ranging from local government bodies to non-profit groups. Community gardeners may be children, youth, elderly, persons with disabilities, and immigrant communities with skills in growing food. At La Perla community garden in Manhattan Valley, NY, the gardeners come from across the globe: Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Ghana, Ivory Coast and India.
How do these gardens build community?
Community gardens foster the development of community identity and spirit. Often these gardens evolve into cultural spaces, flower gardens, and areas for community get-togethers and festivals. Community garden spaces also allow for interaction with nature and the productive use of land.
What are the economic benefits of community gardens?
Community gardens produce food to the extent allowed by the growing season, and the training of gardeners in high-intensity gardening techniques. Evidence from various cities show that the average community garden plot produces hundreds of dollars worth of vegetables in the average growing season. Economic benefits of community gardens include also the residential vitality they bring to neighborhoods, making areas safer and reducing crime.
How do community gardens improve food security?
Community gardens allow people of all incomes to access low-cost food. There is evidence that community gardeners and their children eat healthier diets than do non-gardening families. In addition, community gardens may supply local soup kitchens with nutritious garden food. In 1999, the fifteen New York gardens organized as the City Farms program of the organization Just Food grew close to 11,000 pounds of fresh vegetables and fruits. Nearly 50% was donated to nearby soup kitchens and food pantries.
Do community gardens improve health?
Community gardens promote good health through providing exercise, plus fresh fruit and vegetables in neighborhoods where these may be hard to find or unaffordable for many residents. The Fancy Flowers Community Association in the South Bronx alone produced about 200 pounds of tomatoes and about 75 pounds of green and red peppers in 1999. Community gardens also have therapeutic effects, being noted for their positive influences on refugees, immigrants, the physically challenged, the mentally ill and ex-prisoners who are seeking to rebuild their lives.
How can community gardens help young lives?
Gardens are irreplaceable for inner-city children, connecting them to the processes of nature and providing lessons that can be used in classes on science and environmental issues. A childrens community gardening program called Strong Roots in Berkeley, CA connects African-American youth to their lost agricultural heritage, and teaches them job skills. Growing Power, a non-profit community gardening/community empowerment organization in Madison, WI uses a Childrens Gardening Network to teach social skills and the sharing of ideas.
Resource
New Yorks Community Gardens “ A Resource at Risk, The Trust for Public Land, 2001.
Updated 11/2006
