DEFINITION
Community Garden: A place adopted, managed and tended by volunteer members of the community and open to the community for the growth of ornamental and/or food plants.

AKA
Empty Lot Garden, School Garden

PERFORMANCE CRITERIA

• Is it open to the community?
  
  • Many community gardens need fences to keep them secure and help protect them from vandals but the garden should have open hours and a way for visitors to contact garden members and get involved. Some food theft is inevitable in a community garden, the best thing you can do is plant extra.
    
• Is it safe to eat the food?
• Does it have a broad base of support beyond a few individuals?
  
  • While a garden is getting started, a few or even just one individual may take on most of the responsibility, but for the garden to really become sustainable and reflect the needs and values of the community, the garden needs a larger group of leaders.
    
• Are the land rights secure?
  
  • Developers are notoriously unsympathetic to community gardeners, and the law generally stands with them, even if they have left the land to languish and it has been a blight on the community. Cities can reclaim some land for unpayed property taxes, and are often happy to have gardeners clean up the sight. The land can still be sold out from under gardeners, however. Certain non-profits exist to buy and manage land on community gardener's behalf. For example, Neighborspace ( http://neighbor-space.org/main.htm ) of Chicago. If a land-owner wants to set aside land for the community and be sure it will never be developed, sometimes they only have to sell certain rights of development to land trusts to establish an easement. This complicated process takes years, however.
    
• Is the soil safe?
  
  • Urban land often has a long and undocumented past. Gardeners must get their soil tested! The sight is also likely not uniform, so test samples must come from all over the sight. Even if the gardeners don't plan to plant food, exposure from just digging in the soil can be harmful. Often organizations exist to help gardens pay for such tests. Some gardens skip this step altogether and build beds. These beds can be brick structures, timbers(untreated!), or even just piles of earth. The new soil must be clean, or it defeats the whole purpose. The structures must have sufficient drainage and be deep enough for the plants planned for the space. A barrier of filter fabric can keep roots from reaching down into contaminated soil.
    
• Is the community taking advantage of available resources?
• Is there a source of water?
  
  • Would a neighbor be willing to let the garden use their water? If not, perhaps they would be willing to let gardeners install a rain barrel to their downspout and use water running off their roof. Will the local municipality set up access to water? Is water running off the sight that could be captured and allowed to infiltrate?
    
• What other ways could it be benefiting the community (education, community-building, nutrition and nourishment, commercial enterprise, beautification, seed and plant distribution...)
• Is it accessible to people with different levels of ability?
  • Does it offer shaded seating, stable walking paths, planting beds accessible by wheelchair or people who can't crouch and work at ground level?
    
• Are pest management and fertilization practiced in an environmentally sound manner?
  • Gardens can make their own compost or use mulch provided by a municipality to reduce waste and the need for watering and chemical fertilizers(see compost link).
    
• Does the layout make sense for the sunlight available and to take best advantage of space?

ILLUSTRATION
Cold Frames
Raised Beds
Rain Barrel
Rain Garden
Espalier
Compost Bin


CASE STUDIES
Oxbow Park

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

1. American Community Garden Association
   
2. Community Gardens in Chicago
3. Raised Beds How-To
4. Lead in Soil
   

Composting Links

Feds dedicate "People's Garden", USDA press release
Urban Farming Sprouts in Seattle, Seattle Times article