My Garden Is Your Garden
For many, gardening is a simple solution to grow their own food. But it can be hard for city dwellers that live on the 17th floor of an apartment or have a backyard the size of a car. For those people, we suggest community gardens.
Produce from the garden is recorded for the Plant A Row For The Hungry national program and given to Feed My People for distribution.
A community garden, or community greening, is basically any space that a group of people uses to grow plants. Located in mostly urban communities, these spaces cultivate plants like flowers, vegetables or fruits. Community members can rent a row or buy a portion of the garden and grow whatever they’d like. Members can feed their families off the fruits of their labor (pun intended!) or they can make a profit buy selling produce. Usually a nonprofit organizes the garden and provides necessary tools.
Here are some other benefits:
- Growing your own produce reduces food budgets and here at Bag The Box, we love ideas that are less spendy.
- Many nonprofit organizations participate in the program, Plant a Row. The team behind this program urges gardeners to plant an extra row of produce and then donate the food to families in need and food shelters.
- Starting a garden conserves precious green space in cities.
- There are many plants that cool and clean urban air. Larger plants provide shade for homes and soak up more pollutants in the air.
- Recycling is even easier with these gardens. Where appropriate, you can dump your compost and fall leaves into the soil mixture to give the roots the nutrients they need.
- Community greening encourages neighbor interaction and builds a sense of camaraderie. A community that gardens together stays together!
To find a community garden near you, visit http://acga.localharvest.org/. What do you grow in your community garden?
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