Community gardens basics

1. Community gardens basics Cultivating Community with Garden-Based Learning Programs Webinar Session 3 March 14, 2012 Lori J. Brewer Cornell Garden-Based Learning Adult and Family Education Bushway@cornell.edu www.gardening.cornell.edu

2. Session objectives: • State common challenges with community gardens. • Review research on keys to success with community gardens. • Outline major elements in creating and sustaining community gardens. • Share community gardening resources and ideas . www.gardening.cornell.edu

3. Common Challenges in Community Garden • Management • Maintenance • Participation • Theft and vandalism • Gardening skills • Leadership skills • Services and supplies • Water • Site permanency http://extension.missouri.edu/explorepdf/miscpubs/mp0906.pdf www.gardening.cornell.edu

4. “The way gardens are initiated does not seem to create a tendency one way or the other for more losses, whether the garden is started by grassroots support from neighbors or an intervening agency. What may be a more telling study is how the gardens are maintained and managed, focusing on the garden group’s dynamics and the type and amount of outside support from institutions.” • ACGA 1996 National Community Gardening Survey (1998) • www.communitygarden.org/learn/resources/publications.php • CHALLENGES • Management • Maintenance • Participation • Theft and vandalism • Gardening skills • Leadership skills • Services and supplies • Water • Site permanency www.gardening.cornell.edu

5. “... key elements were integral to [community garden] efforts: commitment of local leadership and staffing, involvement of volunteers and community partners, and availability of skill-building opportunities for participants.” Community Gardens: Lessons Learned From California Healthy Cities and Communities Twiss et al., Am J Public Health. 2003 September; 93(9): 1435–1438. www.gardening.cornell.edu

6. Start with Community • Talk up the idea in public venues. Ensure it will be a “WE” project. • Form an initial planning team with community-based representatives. • Solidify goals and outcomes, define roles, recruit committees… • Identify local resources and partnership opportunities such as… • ACGA’s Find a Garden Tool - communitygarden.org/connect • Community garden coalitions/garden networks/clubs • Cooperative Extension – www.nifa.usda.gov/Extension • City/Town/ Installation departments of parks, public works • City/town/state representative or Garrison leader on Installation • Organizations for youth, older adults, spouse groups… • Community groups, Neighborhood networks • Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) on Installations • Medical facilities • Schools, Child care centers, Youth centers • Churches • Food bank/pantry • Housing authorities, Base Housing • Land owners/overseers • Sponsors – nurseries, hardware stores, banks, corporations … www.gardening.cornell.edu

7. Ideas on cultivating the WE in community gardening • Potlucks to share food. • Recipe swaps. • Transplant sales. • Children's workshops. • Supplying local restaurants with produce from garden. • Reach out to organizations to offer help in building gardening skills (e.g. Master Gardener Volunteer program). • Plan events at the garden and invite the entire community - educational usually like compost workshops or volunteer workdays to build a fence... • Reach out to corporations to suggest employees and the organization could give back to the community/be a good corporate citizen through support of the garden. • Sponsor a seed exchange (e.g. local historical societies has heirloom seed exchange). • Offer free seeds to participants in exchange they agree to donate some of their crop to local food bank. • Participate in local farmer’s market. • Hold a garden kick off (e.g. a garden at a Youth Center on military installation invites children, youth and families to the event). • Hold celebration day for the sponsors/donors. • Have a contest to create a logo. Print on shirts to sell and advertise the garden. • Stay relevant to community needs! www.gardening.cornell.edu

8. Consider Garden • Identifying location • Sun, water, healthy soil (past use) • Flat, accessible, space for plots and expansion • Lease, zoning, liability insurance, neighbors… • Developing site • Create a design plan • Identify tool and equipment needs • Removing hazards and debris, bed preparation, • testing soil, promoting soil health • Stake out boundaries for individual garden plots • Compost, water source, tool shed, message board www.gardening.cornell.edu

9. Garden Maintenance Plan • Maintenance plan • Shared green space outside plots (mowing, compost, fences..) • Abandoned plots • On going access to water • Other resource sharing www.gardening.cornell.edu

10. Community Engagement Plan • Establish garden policies (put them in writing) • Annual budget, conditions for membership, plot fees, types of plants permitted, use of pesticides and fertilizers, maintenance of common resources, need for bylaws… • Help participants/members keep in touch with each other • Social media, message boards, garden classes, • leadership training • Keep the garden buzz alive with public events to recruit new participants/members, partners, sponsors… www.gardening.cornell.edu

11. American Community Garden Association communitygarden.org www.gardening.cornell.edu

12. American Community Gardening Association Learn – find the Best Practices fact sheet series (e.g. 10 Tips for Starting a Community Garden) as well as the web-based tool for designing and planning community gardens called Rebel Tomato. Connect – sign-up for their e-newsletter or to put your community garden on map and explore their database of US community gardens. Store – purchase publications like the 300+ page curriculum “Growing Communities: How to Build Community Through Community Gardening.” Take Action – ask American Community Gardening Association (ACGA) to write a letter of support for your community garden. communitygarden.org www.gardening.cornell.edu

13. http://extension.missouri.edu/explorepdf/miscpubs/mp0906.pdf www.gardening.cornell.edu

14. http://celosangeles.ucdavis.edu/files/97080.pdf www.gardening.cornell.edu

15. Session objectives: • State common challenges with community gardens. • Review research on keys to success with community gardens. • Outline major elements in creating and sustaining community gardens. • Share community gardening resources and ideas . QUESTIONS? Lori J Brewer Cornell Garden-Based Learning Adult and Family Education Bushway@cornell.edu www.gardening.cornell.edu

16. Extension programs and employment are available to all without discrimination. Evidence of noncompliance may be reported through your local Extension office.  This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U. S. Department of Defense under Award No. 2009-48667-05833. Developed in partnership with Purdue University and Cornell University.  Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Military-Extension Partnership