Community Gardens

A Guide for Making Community Gardens Accessible for All Members

2015
Organizations/Sources: Grassroots Gardens
Physical spaces, including community gardens, can often, without intention, exclude members of the population. Through promoting the principles of Universal Design this guide is intended to offer gardeners assistance on how to make their gardens more accessible for people of all ages and abilities.
Last Modified
Apr 12, 2019
Viewed
2851 times

Benefits of School-Based Community Gardens

Organizations/Sources: Denver Urban Gardens
Fact sheet outlines the research showing that community gardens at schools can boost health and academic achievement.
Last Modified
Apr 12, 2019
Viewed
1734 times

Collard Greens and Common Ground: A North Carolina Community Food Gardening Handbook

2017
Organizations/Sources: North Carolina Cooperative Extension
Thorough guide emphasizing practical information beginners or veteran gardeners alike can use to help make their community garden a success. This publication is not an academic study—it purposely focuses on specific, practical, and applicable suggestions to create successful solutions for any community garden’s needs.
Last Modified
Apr 15, 2019
Viewed
2408 times

Community Garden Hydrant-Use Permit Application

Application for temporary use of fire hydrants for water at community gardens in Chicago.
Last Modified
Apr 15, 2019
Viewed
1462 times

Community Gardening Policy Reference Guide

2017
This comprehensive guide provides a road map for how local laws and policies can impact local gardening efforts. It also addresses practical issues such as how to find and evaluate potential garden sites, design and manage gardens, and handle liability issues.
Last Modified
Apr 12, 2019
Viewed
2322 times

Community Gardening Toolkit

Organizations/Sources: University of Missouri Extension
This guide is intended to be a resource for gardeners, garden organizers, Extension staff, and other agency professionals who want to start a new community garden, enhance an existing garden or help community members start and manage their own community garden.
Last Modified
Apr 15, 2019
Viewed
2375 times

Community Garden Management Toolkit

2014
Organizations/Sources: Springfield Food Policy Council
The toolkit includes general steps for starting a community garden or school garden, a “Identifying Neighborhood Resources” exercise for identifying community resources, and garden site evaluation checklist. While this toolkit includes some materials related to starting a garden and assessing possible sites, most this toolkit focuses on keeping a garden going.
Last Modified
Apr 15, 2019
Viewed
1496 times

Community Gardens

2019
Authors: Nate Lotze
This guide links to resources that: help people successfully start and manage community gardens; inform governments on how they can encourage gardens; and guide organizations on permanently protecting gardens. (Print version of ConservationTools.org guide)
Last Modified
May 29, 2019
Viewed
1766 times

Cultivating Community Gardens: The Role of Local Government in Creating Healthy, Livable Neighborhoods

Barriers, such as liability expenses, code restrictions, and a lack of resources, which often make it difficult for communities to establish or maintain gardens in their neighborhoods, can be overcome with local government engagement. This fact sheet offers case studies, best management practices, resources and tools for policy-makers regarding creative, cost-effective solutions that reduce barriers and facilitate the creation of community garden programs.
Last Modified
Apr 12, 2019
Viewed
2725 times

Establishing Land-Use Protections for Community Gardens

Organizations/Sources: Planning for Healthy Places
Local government leaders are in a unique position to promote healthy eating and active living in their communities by supporting community gardens. Community gardens can improve nutrition, physical activity, community engagement, safety, and economic vitality for a neighborhood and its residents and provide environmental benefits to the community at large. Planning for Healthy Places, a project of Public Health Law and Policy, has created a set of complementary model land use policies to help communities create and preserve community gardens. Document includes a model general plan as well as model zoning ordinances.
Last Modified
Apr 12, 2019
Viewed
2574 times

Ground Rules: A Legal Toolkit for Community Gardens

2011
Organizations/Sources: ChangeLab Solutions
This toolkit was developed to provide legal resources for establishing community gardens on vacant or underutilized parcels of land. It includes a model community garden lease, a model gardener's agreement, and model garden rules. The toolkit describes the rights and responsibilities of the landowner, the sponsoring organization, and gardeners in an accessible way. It also provides options for tailoring the documents to meet the circumstances of different gardens.
Last Modified
Apr 12, 2019
Viewed
5540 times

Growing Vegetables and Values: Benefits of Neighborhood-Based Community Gardens for Youth Development and Nutrition

2008
Study finds that community garden programs provide opportunities for constructive activities, contributions to the community, relationship and interpersonal skill development, informal social control, exploring cognitive and behavioral competence, and improved nutrition.
Last Modified
Jul 03, 2019
Viewed
1868 times

How to Organize a Community Garden

2013
Organizations/Sources: North Carolina Cooperative Extension
Guide explains different types of community gardens and the steps necessary to start and effectively maintain a garden. Appendix includes sample bylaws, budget worksheet, and gardener application.
Last Modified
Apr 12, 2019
Viewed
2286 times

Multiple Benefits of Community Gardening

2012
Fact sheet highlights the numerous studies demonstrating the positive impact of community gardens on health, property values, municipal budgets, food security, carbon emissions, and crime rates.
Last Modified
Jul 15, 2019
Viewed
2487 times

New York's Community Gardens: A Resource at Risk

2001
Organizations/Sources: The Trust for Public Land
Explores the benefits of community gardens, the threats facing them in New York City in the early 2000s, and how gardeners and conservation groups worked together to preserve many of the gardens.
Last Modified
Apr 15, 2019
Viewed
1518 times

Sample Community Gardeners' Welcome Packet

Organizations/Sources: University of Missouri Extension
A template for creating written materials that explain how your community garden operates and how gardeners can be involved. The information contained in the packet was gleaned from the experiences of various community gardening organizations and community gardeners from around the country. It is intended to be a tool for organizing your garden;introducing new gardeners to the policies, procedures and people that keep the garden running smoothly;and keeping returning gardeners updated and involved. It is also intended to help gardeners find a clear and easy way to play an active role in the garden’s management and upkeep.
Last Modified
Apr 15, 2019
Viewed
2148 times

Sample Community Garden Forms

Sample forms to help manage community gardens. Forms include: garden plot registration and fee scale, garden contract, garden rules and regulations, land-use agreement, and form for release of all claims.
Last Modified
Apr 12, 2019
Viewed
5235 times

Southborough Community Gardens Gardener's Agreement

2019
Sample community garden agreement from Southborough Community Gardens in Massachusetts. Outlines the rules of the garden and includes area for gardener signature.
Last Modified
Apr 12, 2019
Viewed
1527 times

Temporary Non-Exclusive License and Hold Harmless Agreement: Five-Year License

Five-year license for operating community garden plots on municipal property in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Last Modified
Apr 15, 2019
Viewed
1535 times

The Effect of Community Gardens on Neighboring Property Values

2006
Study finds that the opening of a community garden has a statistically significant positive impact on residential properties within 1,000 feet of the garden, and that the impact increases over time. It finds that gardens have the greatest impact in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods. Higher quality gardens have the greatest positive impact. Finally, it finds that the opening of a garden is associated with other changes in the neighborhood, such as increasing rates of home ownership, and thus may be serving as catalysts for economic redevelopment of the community.
Last Modified
Jul 03, 2019
Viewed
2196 times

Wheaton Farm Community Garden Registration

Sample registration and regulations for Wheaton Farm Community Garden.
Last Modified
Apr 12, 2019
Viewed
1486 times