Community Gardening

Today, more and more people are thinking green—and there’s no urban activity greener, in every sense of the word, than community gardening. This all-region guide, filled with hands-on tips, offers a snapshot of today’s vibrant North American community gardening movement. Whether you are already a member of a community garden, want to get involved in one, or are just curious, this guide will inform and inspire you. Models include vegetable gardens, aesthetic and art gardens, children’s and youth gardens, and several others. Using real-life case studies from around North America, the expert contributors show how community gardening produces safe, eco-friendly food; brings neighbors together; offers valuable lessons for children; and gives each participant the personal satisfaction that comes with cultivating the land and making things grow. Like all Brooklyn Botanic Garden handbooks, this entry features sustainable and organic gardening practices.

Emily-Jane Dawson - Library Journal

As food prices climb, Americans have shown renewed interest in vegetable gardening, but urban residents may not have space to grow their own food at home. Community gardens are a time-honored solution to this problem, and they can serve many other purposes, too. Peters, Brooklyn Botanic Garden's director of publications, and horticultural therapist Kirby provide readers with something like a wildlife field guide that illustrates garden types rather than bird or flower species. With ten readable essays by community gardening experts and enthusiasts, the book takes a broad view of what constitutes a community garden. Chapters devoted to food gardens, youth gardens, therapeutic horticulture, gardens welcoming new immigrants, pocket parks, and habitat gardens introduce readers to the characteristics of each garden type, discuss its benefits, and offer tips for garden organizers. Other sections cover soil health, inclusive garden planning, sustainable community organizing, and environmental concerns. Rich with examples and illustrations from real gardens, highlighting the experience of gardeners of many different stripes, this book is invaluable for public libraries, horticultural collections, and high school libraries.

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.