Definition of Community Garden

What Is a Community Garden?

A community garden is any piece of land (publicly or privately held) that is cultivated by a group of people rather than a single family or individual. Unlike public parks and other green spaces maintained by local governments, community gardens are generally managed and controlled by a group of unpaid individuals or volunteers – usually the gardeners themselves. There are many variations on the theme of community gardening. For instance, a community garden may:

• Have a closed or open gate policy, making it enclosed and private or open and public
• Be one large shared landscaping plan or individual plots for each gardener
• Develop policies for the use of chemicals (many are run organically)
• Incorporate a mix of food plantings and ornamental plantings
• Be located in urban, suburban, or rural neighborhoods
• Be used for educational purposes with local communities and schools
• Have a greenhouse on site for cultivating seedlings
• House seed storage facilities for preserving heritage varieties of plants
• Incorporate other environmental programs, such as butterfly gardens or methods of providing wildlife habitats
• Be run democratically, by an elected board, a local church, or a land owner

A great resource for more information about community gardens is the American Community Garden Association.

Community Garden Articles