Founders Day

More Grows in a Community Garden

By Denise Fisher (August 2006)

Walk down a path through the Timnath Community Garden and you will see the late-season riot of tangled pumpkin and squash vines, corn stalks (a little raccoon eaten), towering sunflowers and a myriad of plants in a mosaic of square plots covering an acre of land. You may see a baby bunny under a pumpkin leaf, and you may hear a discussion between gardeners about the best solutions for tomato blossom end rot. You may hear a boy exclaiming over the size of his pumpkin, or you may hear a toddler learning her first words, which include “hose” and “flower” (which comes out sounding more like “wower”).

The personality and goals of each gardener comes through in the care and design of their plot and the varieties they planted. One grows gourds for art projects for at-risk girls. One garden, a “square foot garden” with tomatoes, peppers, marigolds, and sunflowers, is planted by a Traut Elementary kindergarten class. One gardener grows the corn and cucumbers he doesn’t have enough room for at home. One retired couple grows a Yukon Gold potato that measures 6” in diameter. One gardener wants to learn how to keep his tomatoes alive. One gardener simply wants to grow turnips.

Community gardens have evolved over the years and have a history dating back to the “potato patch” movement in the late 1800’s when cities were growing and many people were out of work. To help the poor, cities began offering plots for people to raise their own food.

In the early 1900’s, Liberty Gardens emerged in which patriotic citizens grew food for the war effort in World War I. A book published in 1919, The War Garden Victorious, includes a chapter on community gardens titled “COMMUNITY GARDENING Putting ‘Slacker Lands’ to Work.” A poster from the same time period says “Every Garden a Munition Plant” and instructs citizens to write to the National War Garden Commission for free books on gardening, canning and drying.

In the 1930’s came the depression and Relief Gardens which were promoted “to improve people’s spirits, and to provide food and work.”

In the 1940’s, the Victory Garden campaign was launched in which 20 million Victory Gardens produced 44% of the fresh vegetables in the U.S.

The present day community garden began in the late 1960s and serves a variety of purposes, from growing fresh vegetables, to improving neighborhoods, to expressing and preserving cultural traditions, to providing food for the hungry with contributions to local food banks.

When I asked Robyn Dolgin, the horticulture director at Gardens On Spring Creek, why someone would want to garden in a community garden rather than at home, she said “Gardeners can share their passion. Also, more knowledge is gained in a communal setting.” Robyn points out, for example, one gardener who grew unusual varieties which included artichokes and tomatillos. “Gardeners connect more to community [in a community garden] and to a sense of place. They feel that they are a part of something greater than themselves.”

Some gardeners just need more space, says Nancy Kurtz of the Assistance League of Greeley, who coordinates the community garden at the Houston Gardens in Greeley. Several gardeners at Houston Gardens are apartment dwellers who can’t have a garden at home.

But community gardens can also provide an avenue for community programs. Houston Gardens also leases plots to a pre-school and to the Weld County Partners mentoring program.

A statement by The American Community Gardening Association on their web site provides a good summary of present-day community gardening:

“The Association recognizes that community gardening improves the quality of life for people by providing a catalyst for neighborhood and community development, stimulating social interaction, encouraging self-reliance, beautifying neighborhoods, producing nutritious food, reducing family food budgets, conserving resources and creating opportunities for recreation, exercise, therapy and education.”

Certainly, more than plants grow in a community garden.