how to start a community garden
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A Step-by-Step Guide on How to Start a Community Garden

The number of garden plots in a community has nearly doubled since 2012. It shows how much people enjoy coming together to create a garden.

In fact, there’s a lot of value when it comes to starting a community garden. People can learn from one another when it comes to planting seeds, harvesting, and everything in between. 

A community garden can also promote one’s health. Adults and children can learn the value of growing vegetables and understand how it benefits their health. It can also build a sense of community. 

While all of these sound great for your community, you might be wondering how to start a community garden in the first place. You might not have any idea of how to lay the groundwork. 

Here’s a guide that gives you all the information you need to start a community garden. 

See If There’s Interest in Your Community

While the idea of starting a garden may seem great to you, the goal is to figure out if there’s a collective interest in a community garden. 

You should hold city council meetings that draw in your community to discuss the value of a community garden. You want to gauge if there’s interest in your community before you embark on something by yourself. 

Holding weekly meetings to discuss how you are going to go about creating a community garden and how it can teach the children of the community something about vegetables, can help spark interest in creating one. 

Get Volunteers

The next step is to find volunteers for the community garden. While you may have found interest from the community to start a community garden, you still need people to help start one. 

You need help building planter boxes, designing what the garden will look like, and to do the physical labor. 

Finding volunteers is a critical step because it’s not paid. You need people around your community to give their time and take a day off to help out. 

To help attract volunteers, you can always host lunches after a day’s work in the community garden. It can help bring families together and you get to know people around your community. 

Find a Location

The next step is finding a location for your community garden. You will most likely need a plot of land either owned by the city or a sponsor. Whoever owns it can be willing to help out and donate the land to the community. 

Finding a location can be challenging because you also need to find the right dirt that can grow plants. You want to make sure it’s not on a hillside. 

The goal is to find somewhere accessible to the community. 

Determine Which Plants to Grow

After you’ve figured out a location, you will need to decide on which plants to grow. You can have designed planter boxes for specific plants. 

You will also need to make sure that you know which plants grow in different seasons. Finding out which plants grow in which seasons is important for you to know, especially if you are the lead person in charge of the community garden. 

Depending on the size of the garden, you may not have the luxury of growing every plant. You may have to limit the number of planter boxes per family if the community garden is small.

You may also have to choose which plants can be planted in the community garden, especially if some plants are not the most kid-friendly. For instance, it may not be the wisest idea to let someone grow a marijuana plant and then discover some kid was eating it. 

Form a Committee

Forming a committee is a critical step whenever you embark on creating a community garden. 

A committee can make the community garden less of a daunting task if you were doing it by yourself. It can also help you speed up the process. 

With a committee, you can find funding, locate resources, figure out where you will be able to access water, and more. A committee can also handle any issues if there is stealing from the community garden or any internal conflict between families. 

A committee can also use the garden area to host events. Depending on the space, the community garden area can be a beautiful place to host weddings or be a place for people to give presentations. 

Make It Kid-Friendly & Give It Decor

The final step when creating a community garden is to make it kid-friendly. This can include setting up a sandbox or a special spot for the kids to play in the community garden. 

It can also be a great place for families to enjoy lunch together. 

One of the ways to make the community garden kid-friendly is to make sure the layout gives kids room to play. This is an important part of the planning before the community garden is created. 

The kids can also participate in gardening activities that teach them the value of growing plants and the value of nutrition. 

In addition to making the community garden kid-friendly, you should also conder adding some garden decor. These are items you can place around the garden to make it look unique. 

Now You Know How to Start a Community Garden

While learning how to create a community garden can be a daunting task, it doesn’t have to be done alone. A community garden is designed to bring everyone together in your community because there’s a common interest. 

This guide can help you get started on creating fresh produce and getting to know your community. It can ultimately help cultivate some understanding of fresh produce and the benefits of a community garden. 

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