ShareThisThank goodness for community gardens. If it were not for them, some of us wouldn't have a garden at all. Yet, ironically, I know a few people who have plenty of space in their own home gardens but choose to spend more time cultivating a small plot of earth blocks or even miles away. The chance to share some time outdoors with kindred spirits is just one of the primary draws of breaking dirt on common ground, providing more than just a plot of land.
There's a magnetic quality that seems to draw people into a community garden. Strangers become friends and neighborhoods come together over a garden space, which quickly becomes a catalyst for stimulating social interaction and community development. Quality of life improves and neighborhoods are beautified. And what better way to enhance an unadorned space while creating a place to connect people across generational and multicultural boundaries?
I enjoy how much we learn from each other. Even as an experienced gardener, I always benefit from the contribution of others. On the other hand, what a joy it is to be able to share a personal bit of wisdom with a budding gardener. And it's a wonderful opportunity to start an ongoing dialogue with a new friend.
But community gardens take more than the dedication and determination of their visionaries and caretakers. When it comes to providing the equipment and funding for the start and ongoing costs involved, individuals and neighborhood groups often chip into the pot. It's also possible in some cases to obtain grants from the city, state or federal government to subsidize such a project. Even corporations with an interest in gardening set aside money and their own employee resources to promote community-gardening efforts.
Fiskars is one such corporate example. Its grant program, Project Orange Thumb, was started in 2003. The company helps provide community garden groups with the tools and materials they need to reach their goals, such as neighborhood beautification, sustainable agriculture, community involvement and horticultural education. Over the past six years, the project has helped support more than 120 community groups, providing everything from gardening tools to the seeds and plants to get started. Most recently, Project Orange Thumb has expanded its initiative and installed five large turnkey community gardens in Chicago; Orlando, Fla.; San Francisco; Toronto and Atlanta. One more is scheduled this year in Baltimore.
The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company provides another example of corporate resources going back into community gardening. With the launch of its national GroGood campaign, in association with Plant a Row for the Hungry and Feeding America, this spring Scotts installed five GroGood community gardens in Los Angeles, Miami, Dallas, Washington, D.C. and Chicago. In addition to encouraging community gardening, the campaign will donate 1 million pounds of produce to food banks and soup kitchens across the country in 2009.
Grants like these from generous public, corporate and private donors make it possible for groups of all ages and interests, without regard to financial means, to become involved in a meaningful activity, make friends and get their hands in the dirt! Best of all, community gardening provides an opportunity for everyone to give back, from beautifying a rundown or neglected space, to unifying a neighborhood or community, to donating some of the harvest to a food bank or shelter. Gardens do bring out the best in people, and community gardens are a great place to bring it all together.
(Joe Lamp'l, host of "GardenSMART" on PBS, is a Master Gardener and author. For more information visit www.joegardener.com. For more stories, visit scrippsnews.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
THE GARDENER WITHIN
