The Nuts & Bolts of Community Gardens

Growing resilience and relationships, together

Throughout history community gardens have been tremendous resources for our communities to build resilience through relationships with the environment and each other. From the Victory Gardens that were used to boost morale and supplement produce during the first and second world wars¹ , to Cuba’s urban gardens that were used to address the food crisis that was caused by embargoes², to the USDA’s People’s Gardens that are now being promoted as hubs of community connection and sustainability, community gardens have an impressive track record for their positive impact on society and the environment. So, let’s look a little more closely at these important hubs of peace.

First, let’s define community gardens, which is a surprisingly hard thing to do because they’re so diverse in the way that they’re structured, designed, and maintained. In general, they’re shared spaces where people from the community can share resources to grow their own food. Typically, community gardens are either³ privately-owned property that is shared with the community, such as a church, non-profit, or home-owner. In these cases, it's the property-owner who designs decision-making structures (though often that includes the community). Community gardens can also be made of groups of people that steward vacant lots. Finally, in some places, like the UK, community gardens are sometimes called allotments⁴ which are owned by the local government or associations of people who use them.

As power structures vary in community gardens, so does the way they’re designed to be cared for and used. Some community gardens are individual garden beds that members must apply to manage (sometimes with a cost, but not always). In this case, the person who manages the bed is the only one responsible for it and the only one with rights to the harvest. Other times, community gardens run on shared service by volunteers wherein eating from the garden often requires a regular volunteer time-commitment (but not always). Finally, sometimes community gardens are run by volunteers that share the harvest with the whole community (even those who did not volunteer).

The principles and methods of gardening in community gardens also vary, and are often guided by the values of those who manage it (though this also varies). Generally speaking, the values of community gardens are sustainable at their core, but not everyone always agrees on what that means, which creates variation amongst (and even within) community gardens. Some of the most common methods that are used are:

Master Gardening Method⁵s. This nation-wide training program is offered at many universities around the United States. It teaches both conventional and organic gardening methods for both landscaping and food production. Once you have become a master gardener, maintenance of your title requires ongoing volunteer service to the community, where requirements vary from state to state⁶.  

Many gardens also incorporate Traditional Ecological Knowledge⁷. This term refers to the wisdom that is passed down through generations as cultures have developed healthy relationships with the environment over time. It includes wisdom from traditions all over the world and often contributes to the foundations of many sustainable and ecological approaches to life. 

Permaculture is also often applied. Permaculture is a philosophical approach to gardening and farming that seeks to emulate the naturally sustainable cycles of ecosystems. Learn more about Permaculture here.

That being said, with all the diverse approaches available for community gardens⁸, conflict can naturally occur as people negotiate the use of different methods. This can be tender as collective divides between people have been painful and long-standing. With this in mind, overcoming these deep-rooted hurts is one of the main obstacles to developing sustainable systems, all of which require human-to-human cooperation. However, with awareness and care for these tender dynamics, community gardens have the potential to be extremely supportive safe-places for people who would otherwise not interact with each other to find common ground in slow and steady steps.

Still, to support healthy community relationships in community gardens, it’s helpful to have a structure for peaceful communication and conflict resolution. It also helps to have a shared intention to meet each other with dignity and respect, even as we all come with the wounds and confusions that are seeded into the core of our human condition. That being said, with care and attention to this important detail, community gardens can be wonderful places for people to develop peaceful communication tools that spread into all our lives. 

Still, peaceful communication isn’t the only challenge (and opportunity) for community gardens. Some of these challenges include: sourcing funding, maintaining volunteer commitment, security from theft, and addressing the pollutants that often come in urban areas. Even so, overcoming these challenges empowers communities to grow together⁹.  With that in mind, the problem-solving skills that folks build in community gardens are tremendous assets to their communities at large, helping to build empowered, peaceful and resilient citizens within a rapidly changing world.

With all this in mind, the benefits of community gardens are abundant for individuals, communities, and the Earth itself. For individuals, they can hugely support mental health, deepen ecological understanding and connection, and empower folks with a more direct connection to their food and resources. They also give us the opportunity to learn skills that we can apply to our own backyards. For communities, they provide a place for peaceful connection where folks can experiment and learn together, mitigating risks through togetherness. For the Earth, community gardens support pollinators, lessen the pressure that’s put on big agriculture, reduce trash and pollution, help rehabilitate and build soil, keep air clean, and strengthen local ecosystems. 

In conclusion, community gardens offer tremendous hope for coming together in a world where we all thrive in peace. As “the world is becoming increasingly urbanized,¹⁰”, these community centers of reconnection offer a place to heal and grow our belonging to Earth, and each other.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden

2. https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/cubas-urban-farming-revolution-how-to-create-self-sufficient-cities

3. https://www.countyhealthrankings.org/strategies-and-solutions/what-works-for-health/strategies/community-gardens#:~:text=Community%20gardens%20are%20typically%20owned,clean%20and%20cultivate%20vacant%20lots.

4.  https://www.allotment-garden.org/allotment-information/allotment-history/#:~:text=The%20land%20itself%20is%20often,by%20the%20Church%20of%20England.

5. https://ahsgardening.org/gardening-resources/master-gardeners/#:~:text=The%20Master%20Gardener%20program%2C%20typically,research%2C%20and%20many%20other%20projects.

6.  https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/lifestyle/master-gardener-training.htm

7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_ecological_knowledge

8.  https://seewhatgrows.org/5-challenges-community-garden/

9.  https://blog.ioby.org/why-community-gardens-fail-how-yours-can-succeed/

10.  https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/content/urbanization-0#:~:text=The%20world%20is%20becoming%20increasingly,around%20two%2Dthirds%20in%202050.