The global shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic generated at least one healthy activity: They pushed more people to plant community vegetable, fruit, and flower gardens, especially in urban areas.
The time-honored activity of communal gardens and farms has long spared communities from hunger during war, natural disasters, and economic downturns. But will this trend grow?
Some see a bright future for community gardens. “Community gardens in the U.S. are growing faster than ever,” the nonprofit Trust for Public Land said in a pre-pandemic post in 2018. “The number of garden plots in city parks has increased 44% since we started keeping track in 2012. Today there are more than 29,000 garden plots in city parks in just the 100 largest U.S. cities—up 22% from just a year ago.”
More recently, a 2024 study, based on responses from 70 community garden coordinators in 43 cities in multiple countries, found that community gardening offered “multiple social, economic, and health benefits” during the COVID-19 years.
The study’s Swiss and German authors, who published their findings in January in Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, cautioned that while the pandemic sparked a clear surge in shared-space gardening, “it remains unclear how it affected the overall trend in demand for community gardens.”
The rise in community gardening between 2018 and 2022 “underscores the crucial role of community gardens in an urbanizing world, especially during challenging times.”
However, they concluded that the rise in community gardening between 2018 and 2022 “underscores the crucial role of community gardens in an urbanizing world, especially during challenging times.” Therefore, “[i]t is essential for urban planners to prioritize meeting this increasing demand [for community gardens] as part of their efforts to make cities more sustainable,” the researchers wrote.
The ‘Lowly Potato’ Staved Off Hunger
Community gardens in the US and UK have been around for around 130 years when government programs were created to help feed people.
A notable American episode happened in the 1890s during a national economic downturn. In Michigan, Detroit Mayor Hazen “Ping” Pingree was faced with a huge unemployed and hungry population. He asked for public approval “to use vacant land–much of it held speculatively–for gardens and potato patches,” according to an article in HistoricDetroit.org. The response was huge; applications for garden plots poured in, and people began planting vegetables, especially the “lowly potato,” the Free Press wrote in October 1935. “Pingree's potato patches broke the back of hunger,” the newspaper said, adding that the communal strategy was “nationally acclaimed and copied” in other cities.
A Smithsonian Community of Gardens article, “Pingree’s Potato Patches,” gave more details: “In 1894, 975 families raised $14,000 worth of crops on 430 acres of land. By 1897, the program in Detroit reached its peak, with 1563 families participating, before tapering off by 1901 as economic conditions improved.”
Famed Wartime ‘Victory Gardens’
During World War II, the legendary “Dig for Victory” gardens in the UK were matched by American Victory Gardens—some 18 million gardens were planted in US cities and farmlands, according to the May 1943 issue of Popular Mechanics. These patriotic gardens freed up agricultural produce and transportation resources for the war effort and helped offset shortages of agricultural workers and food supplies at home.
In 1979, the grassroots, non-profit advocacy group, American Community Gardening Association, began its mission of expanding community gardens. Today, it says it has over 1,000 individual and 252 organizational members, and links 2,100 gardens across Canada and the US, “ranging from family allotments to tiny pollinator pocket parks, and from school gardens to urban farms.”
The US’ Largest Community Garden
Shiloh Field Community Garden (SFCG), a 14.5-acre garden in Denton County, Texas, describes itself as the largest community garden in the United States. The late Gene Gumfory started it in 2009, with a commitment to feeding farm produce to the hungry, including fresh fruit, and eggs.
Nancy DiMarco, Shiloh Field’s volunteer coordinator and project manager, explained: “Shiloh is primarily a [volunteer] working farm with about 15 acres. We do have about 55 community plots that are 15 feet by 15 feet that anyone from Denton can rent for a year at no cost, as long as they are maintained. They make up a fraction of the area that is in production, though.”
Training is included, although, according to Amy Proctor, a SFCG Board member, Shiloh does not have “a set training program.” Community gardening volunteers “learn the specific task they will work on that day. … We have had some groups from corporations come out and work. They seemed to love the tasks we had them do, and all had to work together as a group to complete [them],” she said.
DiMarco added, “Community gardens are all about teamwork, as we’re completely volunteer driven. … We have had nearly 6,000 volunteers. … We focus on providing food to those who don’t have access. … Typically, those who receive the food don’t volunteer to work at Shiloh. All volunteers … care deeply about serving.
“We partner with about 20 different food banks and kitchens throughout Denton County who feed people who need access to fresh vegetables and fruits. Once our produce is harvested, it is delivered to agencies like Our Daily Bread, Salvation Army, Cumberland Children’s Home, Freedom Food Pantry, to name a few.”
Shiloh Field is an example of the many benefits of community gardening, like reducing food insecurity in the local community, fostering human collaboration, and having an “outdoor classroom” to learn about many aspects of gardening.
[R]esearch … found evidence that community gardens made a substantial difference in the lives of [participating] families.
A small, community-based participatory research study by academics with the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland found evidence that community gardens made a substantial difference in the lives of families.
Before the 2009 gardening season began, researchers asked 38 families, representing 163 people, about their food concerns. They found that 31.2% of families were worried they would not have enough money for food.
After the gardening season, the households were polled again, and the number of households with food security concerns dropped to 3.1%—a 90% decline, said the 2012 study published in the Journal of Community Health. “A community gardening program can reduce food insecurity, improve dietary intake and strengthen family relationships,” the Oregon researchers concluded.
A Communal Farm in San Francisco
At 3.5 acres, Alemany Farm is San Francisco’s largest urban farm. It is organized as a communal production farm, managed by paid staff and community volunteers, with the purpose of providing community members with free food, opportunities to volunteer, and participate in hands-on education.
Alfredo Hernández, executive director of the Friends of Alemany Farm, points out the differences between a communal farm and a community garden: “We are an open harvest farm, not a community garden. Volunteers work Monday and Saturdays.” Communal farms produce more food than community gardens, promoting even more food security.
“We bring in teams of folks as apprentices to flip beds of lettuce or other produce. We have a food pantry that we deliver to weekly. We also donate to free farm stands. We give [annually] 13 tons of food all for free. This huge farm is run by volunteers and a handful of paid employees on government grants and corporate donations.”
Experienced Alemany Farm volunteers teach other volunteers as they work. Volunteers are invited to take fresh produce home with them. Interns who work alongside Alemany Farm managers help in all aspects of growing food and maintaining the 3.5-acre organic farm.
The farm offers workshops, internships, and team-building opportunities for corporate groups.
On the East Coast, the District of Columbia’s Department of Parks and Recreation has community gardens, communal farms, and non-profit partner urban farms.
“During the [COVID-19] pandemic, the [Washington DC] mayor deemed them [communal farms] essential. … The volunteers grow produce and do as much as possible.”
Joshua Singer, a farm manager for the DC Communal Farm program, explained some of the differences: “Community gardens have individual plots… Sometimes you can’t get a plot, or you have to be on a waiting list for a long time.” In contrast, he said, “Communal farms have no waiting list. We offer classes and produce. During the [COVID-19] pandemic, the [DC] mayor deemed them essential. … The volunteers grow produce and do as much as possible.”
“Then we have non-profit farms,” Singer said. “They’re run by non-profits. We give them the [city] land and they run them for free.”
An example in Southeast District is the Virginia Avenue Community Garden (VACG). It is a community garden with individual plots that opened in 2004 to serve local families. Gardeners grow everything from organic produce to flowers. VACG garden manager Kimberly Hahn estimated that 88 garden plots “provide food to at least twice as many people, as plots are often worked by couples, friends, and families with children.”
In addition to the benefits of their own plots, gardeners must help maintain the common land. All VACG gardeners “are required to attend two community cleanup days where they learn about and help maintain shared resources like compost bins or blackberry brambles.”
VACG gardeners planted and maintain over 15 fruit trees, all along the garden’s fence so that the surrounding community can pick fruit from outside of the garden. Excess fruits and vegetables have been provided to community organizations, such as SOME (So Others Might Eat) and to the homeless; and funds have been raised by the garden members and donated to SOME on an annual basis. The garden has made plots available to schools, scouts, and other organizations, without charge, and VACG members have taught classes on gardening and assisted in starting gardens at various schools.
“Instead of classes, education on gardening and maintaining the common areas takes place informally.”
Hahn explained that “[m]embers join with a range of gardening experience. Instead of classes, education on gardening and maintaining the common areas takes place informally.” Gardeners get educated about “the nuts and bolts—where and when to plant, how to address a particular problem—[it] happens mainly through individual conversations between gardeners.”
“Gardeners can also join teams that focus on certain areas to learn more about them. For example, they’ll learn about native pollinator plants on the east flower garden team, or how to keep soil acidic on the blueberry patch team.”
Benefits Beyond Food
Research on community gardens has found additional benefits that are not solely food related.
For instance, community gardens contribute to the beauty of a neighborhood, and research shows that they reduce littering, and overall crime.
Gardening has been shown to aid mental and physical health, decreasing feelings of isolation and boosting self-esteem. Community gardens offer space for people to connect and to work together.
Finally, community gardens help restore ecosystems. Gardens add green space, reduce storm water runoff, and provide habitat for pollinators and other wildlife. Improved soil quality from gardens increases plant biodiversity and improves water filtration.
The number of community gardens and farms is expected to increase in the next few years putting a dent in the issue of food insecurity and helping to turn food deserts into food oases.
*Laurie Burras is a former news editor for an international academic magazine. She studied at the Graduate School of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and currently resides in Philadelphia.
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