Community Gardening

by Peters, Elizabeth Tehle; Kirby, Ellen

• ISBN13: 9781889538389
• ISBN10: 1889538388
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-07-01
• Publisher: Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Summary

Today, new concerns about food safety and sustainable practices, greater isolation from neighbors, and the loss of gardening space have made the age-old practice of community gardening more relevant than ever. Whether you are already a member of a community garden, want to get involved in one, or are just curious, this guide offers valuable lessons about cultivation and cooperation-as well as dynamic gardens and great food!

Author Biography

Editors:

Elizabeth Peters is the director of publications at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. She is the former editor of The Independent Film & Video Monthly and has written about grassroots organizing and community building. Peters also served as director of Tuscarora Organic Growers, a rural collective of family farms based in Hustontown, Pennsylvania.

Ellen Kirby is the former director of Brooklyn Greenbridge, the community environmental-horticulture program of Brooklyn Botanic Garden. For more than 20 years Kirby has served as the coordinator of a community garden in Brooklyn. She is also a member of the American Association of Horticulture Therapy and a former president of the American Community Gardening Association.

The book’s authors are drawn from leading practitioners of community gardening across the U.S.

Table of Contents

About This Book	p. 4
Seeing Green	p. 6
Benefits of Community Gardening	p. 11
Making the Case	p. 15
Food Gardens	p. 18
City Slicker Farms, West Oakland, California	p. 20
Community Crops, Lincoln, Nebraska	p. 22
East New York Farms!, Brooklyn, New York	p. 24
Edible Schoolyard, Berkeley, California	p. 26
Gardeners in Community Development, Dallas, Texas	p. 28
Growing Power, Chicago, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin	p. 30
Intervale Center, Burlington, Vermont	p. 32
Nuestras Raices, Holyoke, Massachusetts	p. 34
Youth Garden Programs	p. 36
The Food Project	p. 44
Therapeutic Horticulture	p. 48
Horticulture Therapy in Community Gardens	p. 56
Growing New Americans	p. 58
Pocket Parks and Small Community Gardens	p. 64
Starting Out	p. 70
Habitat Communities	p. 74
Learning from Plants and Wildlife	p. 78
Making Gardens Sustainable	p. 82
Site Protection	p. 85
Rainwater Harvesting	p. 88
Soil Health and Safety	p. 94
The Magic of Compost	p. 97
Bringing Community Into the Garden	p. 100
Access, Fences, and Beyond	p. 104
Tips for Political Action	p. 107
Resources	p. 110
Contributors	p. 112
Index	p. 116
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.