Participating in a Community Garden

Participating in a Community Garden

If you have a passion for gardening but live in the city where you can’t have a garden of your own then participating in a community garden may be just what you need.  Community gardens give you the chance to hang out with friends and neighbors while growing plants, vegetables, herbs or flowers.  There are a variety of different types of community gardens or you can organize one yourself.  Here are some of the most common types of community gardens that you can participate in.

Neighborhood Gardens

Neighborhood gardens are probably the most common type of community garden.  It is where there is a vacant plot of land in a community and a group of neighbors grow vegetables and flowers together.  Everyone works on the garden whether it is planting, watering or weeding.  These gardens not only grow food for the neighborhood they also help to beautify it.

Allotments

These are common throughout the UK but you can find allotment gardens in the US as well.  In this case a vacant lot is divided up into individual plots and these are assigned to local residents who can grow what they want.  These are great for people who live in apartments with no yard space of their own.  You can see a variety of different flowers and vegetables growing here.

Charity Gardens

These type of gardens focus on growing food that is used to feed the homeless and people living in shelters.  Charity gardens can be run by a business or a community group to help combat poverty.  Often times homeless people are given the chance to volunteer or work in these gardens.  They grow using organic methods and produce their own compost for the following year.  If you have the chance to donate or participate you can do your community a world of good.

Gardens at School

Gardens at school are a great way to teach kids about gardening and growing food, city kids rarely get an opportunity to do so.  It teaches children science, math along with topics like environmentalism and sustainable farming methods.  It helps kids to learn where their food came from along how it is grown.

Participating in any kind of community garden is a wonderful opportunity and you should grab it if you get the chance.  It brings fresh produce to your table without having it shipped across the country.  It brings neighborhoods and communities together and it can help deal with homelessness and hunger.  If you can’t participate then please donate to your local community garden project.