Go Organic in Community Gardens

Posted by Katie Elzer-Peters
August 14th, 2008
Filed in Garden Design
Tags: care, garden, garden planning, synthetic, vegetables

Community gardens are, more or less, just what they sound like – large garden plots tended by the entire community. Most often, the large plot is divided into sections, and each section is tended by a different gardener. Community gardens are great places for people living in apartments, townhouses or other areas with little yard space to grow fresh fruits and vegetables, cut flowers and herbs. Community gardens sprout mostly in urban areas with little open green space. In cities like Wilmington, Delaware and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, community gardens flourish where vacant lots used to attract crime and vandalism. In place of people with nothing to do and nowhere to go, the community gardens grow neighborhood camaraderie in addition to fresh produce. In Montreal and Vancouver, rooftop community gardens provide a space for urban residents to garden above their residences, rather than outside the back door.

With the desire for organic produce growing as fast as the need to preserve open green space, community gardens are perfect places to try organic gardening on a small scale. Organic label certification programs apply mostly to commercial farmers; however, home and community gardeners can grow organic food as well.

Each community garden has its own rules and regulations. Some require gardeners to entirely maintain their own plots, while others have a shared system. Some community gardens allow use of synthetic herbicides and pesticides, while others do not. Many gardens that do allow spraying post notices asking gardeners to refrain from spraying on windy days.

Protecting Your Little Organic Oasis

If you are an organic gardener in a community garden that is not 100% organic, all is not lost! You can still practice your organic gardening techniques. In order to protect your plants if others are spraying and using synthetic chemicals, try these techniques:

• Plant a buffer of pest-deterring, tough plants such as marigolds.
• Intercrop vegetables from different families. Instead of growing a straight line of cabbages, plant a mosaic of cabbage, onions, and tomatoes. Not only will your garden be pretty, it will confuse pests.
• If you have a particularly prolific sprayer on one side of your garden, plant a row of wildflowers or ornamental plants that you will not eat. They can absorb any of the spray that might drift over to your plot.
• Bring your own watering can and tools. That way, you will not risk contamination from using shared tools.
• If allowed, keep your own small compost pile in your plot, and use that compost rather than compost from the community plot.
• After you have been a community garden member for a while, suggest keeping two separate compost piles – organic and non-organic so that you can free up more space in your plot!

It is possible to grow beautiful flowers and tasty vegetables organically in a community garden, whether the entire garden is organic or not. You have to be a little more vigilant, but it is worth it in the long run.

The American Community Gardening Association is a great place to start if you would like to start your own community garden.