Start a Community or School Garden

For more information, see www.sustainablejersey.com

School and community gardens provide a wide range of benefits to both the gardeners
and the broader community. For students, school gardens serve as living classrooms
that teach lessons as simple as “where our food comes from” to complex lessons on
ecology, resource management, nutrition and healthy lifestyles. Community gardens
provide access to land, offer technical support and build community connections that
move beyond the garden fence. To get 10 points under this action, municipal
governments will need to provide meaningful support and resources for the gardening
initiatives.

Who should lead and be involved with this action?

To carry out this action, it is important that a municipal representative is committed to

supporting the implementation of local food production and gardens in the community.
Leadership can come from the Green Team, Municipal Agricultural Advisory Committee,
Open Space and Environmental Commissions, Public Works Department, Parks and
Recreation Commission, schools and school based parent organizations, Community
Health Educators, Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustment members, and
community nonprofit organizations.

Timeframe

Starting a new community or school garden can take 6-9 months for planning and
implementation.

Project Costs and Resource Needs

Community or school gardens costs may include:

• salary for a part time garden manager (could also be a volunteer position);
• gardening tools;
• labor to establish garden beds and install water lines;
 • materials and staff or volunteers to provide gardening educational programs.

Total costs can range between $2,000 and $8,000. These costs can be significantly
reduced through donations of materials, volunteer labor, donations of equipment, and
partnerships with community organizations to help manage the gardens.

Why is it important

Community and school gardens provide a wide range of benefits including: improving
the quality of life for people in the garden; acting as a catalyst for neighborhood and
community development; stimulating social interaction; teaching self-reliance;
expanding access to nutritious food; creating opportunity for recreation, exercise,
therapy, and education; providing opportunities for intergenerational and cross-cultural
connections; and helping children understand where their food comes from and how
their food choices impact their bodies, the environment, and their communities at large.

What to do, and how to do it (“How to”)

General steps to organize and create a school or community garden include:

1. Form a Planning Committee
2. Choose a Site
3. Prepare and Develop the Site
4. Organize the Garden
5. Insurance
6. Setting up a New Gardening Organization or Club to manage the garden
7. Year round garden management considerations

See the resources section for a wide range of guides and materials on how to start a
school or community garden.

What to submit to get credit/points

1. In the certification page submission text box, please describe project, identify
partners, estimate project costs, assess what worked and what could be improved, and
identify next steps for the school or community garden project.

2. Submit samples of the community or school garden program material. Please

assemble examples of your program materials into one pdf document. Items such as
educational program materials or school lesson plans, project newsletter articles, end of
growing season reports, and materials used for recruiting participants or volunteers to
assist with the garden would be useful to share with other communities or schools that
are starting gardens.

To receive points, a municipality must demonstrate that it had a supporting or

leadership role in the creation or maintenance of the community or school gardens.
Community or school garden projects must be currently active or have been active
during the most recent growing season to receive 10 points.

Spotlight: What NJ Towns are Doing

Woodbury Community Garden

The Woodbury Community Garden is a unique environment that supports family health
and nutrition and also provides food and shelter for wildlife. The gardens provide
hands-on, family oriented, educational, and beautification activities for residents of
Woodbury. The garden allows friends and neighbors with similar interests to meet while
planting and harvesting vegetables. Under the direction of Woodbury Parks and
Recreation, a volunteer garden coordinator and a Woodbury resident oversee the
planning and operation of the garden. The community has a great partnership with the
New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station Cooperative Extension of Gloucester
County Master Gardeners who provides On-Site Gardening Clinics for those interested
in gardening. The classes provide hands on advice on growing, fertilizing, protecting,
and harvesting vegetables and flowers.
http://www.woodbury.nj.us/rec_comm_gard.shtml

Princeton School Gardens

The school gardens are supported by the Princeton School Garden Cooperative, a
group of individuals who believe in garden based education and in reconnecting
students to the earth's bounty in the garden, the classroom, and the cafeteria. The
group’s goal is to create edible gardens at every Princeton Public School K-12 and to
share ideas and lesson plans with anyone and everyone so they can grow edible
teaching gardens at their schools, community centers, and even their own homes.
Princeton now has outdoor garden classrooms in every public elementary school! The
Cooperative works with teachers, principals, parent volunteers, and students at each of
these schools to design, plant, water, weed, and nurture the gardens into being.
Bent Spoon artisan ice cream and the Whole Earth Center are local business that team
up to raise money for the school gardens in Princeton. This unique collaboration
between businesses and farmers has created a fun way to raise money to support
school gardens. Every time a pint of Princeton School Garden Fundraiser Ice Cream is
bought, the money from the purchase goes directly to the school garden. The special
ice cream is handmade at Princeton's own Bent Spoon artisan ice cream and is
available only at the Whole Earth Center, Princeton's 38-year-old natural foods grocery.
Each month the Bent Spoon makes about 80 to 100 pints of a special ice cream or
sorbet that is available only at the Whole Earth Center. For each pint of ice cream sold,
$7.00 is donated to the Princeton school gardens. The remaining 50¢ goes back to
Bent Spoon to cover the cost of the reusable plastic ice cream container. So far, the
fundraiser has netted over $4,500 for the gardens at Community Park School,
Littlebrook Elementary School, and Johnson Park School. Ingredients for the ice cream
are donated by the Bent Spoon, Whole Earth Center, and local farmers and food
businesses.
http://www.prs.k12.nj.us/gardencoop/
Galloway Township Community Garden Project
Galloway Township has gone from a rural area with large lots, family farms, and
individual homes to a community where one-third of the homes are either condominium
complexes or senior housing developments. After completing several community
surveys, Galloway identified an overwhelming desire by condominium and senior
housing development residents to have a place to grow food and share a common
interest in gardening. In 2008 Galloway broke ground on the first (of many, they hope)
community gardens. Project partners, including Atlantic County Library (the garden is
partially on their land), Stockton State College, and Rutgers Extension Service, helped
to set the wheels in motion for the garden. With 24 raised beds and 6 handicap-
accessible beds, residents will be able to grow their own fresh produce in a safe and
healthy environment. Educational activities included seminars for the public on eating
local, promoting healthy communities, composting, and chemical-free gardening. An
exciting new component is a relationship with the Stockton Center on Successful Aging
to create a mentoring program where seniors will share their gardening knowledge and
expertise with younger members of the community.
For more information call Galloway Township at 609.652.3700.

Organic School Garden Seth Boyden Elementary (Maplewood, NJ)

Each class at Seth Boyden Elementary School in Maplewood has access to one or two
six-foot-square garden beds to plant and tend however they choose. In addition to
educating the students about gardening, the teachers use the gardens to enhance
every aspect of the curriculum. Math was embedded in the measurement and counting
activities of gardening. New readers and writers were inspired not only to listen to
stories and poems about the garden, but to compose their own. Favorite art lessons —
such as painting sunflowers in the style of Van Gogh — happened in the gardens.
Science became real and important for children when it involved organisms they could
touch and take care of, and problems they cared about solving. (Why didn’t those beets
grow? What made that pumpkin vine die?) Planting in the fall gave children an
especially clear understanding of plant life cycles, because they could follow a plant
"from seed to seed," over the course of the school year with no summer interruption.
http://www.sethboydenpta.org/OurStrawberryFields/Default.htm

Plainsboro Community Garden Application form

The Plainsboro Community Garden is available to Plainsboro Township residents
through a random-drawing lottery system. Successful applicants are granted
permission to “farm” a garden plot, measuring 20’ x 20’ (one plot per household). Fifty-
three plots were available in the 2007 drawing.
http://www.plainsboronj.com/community_garden.pdf

Belmar‘s "Magical Garden" Greenhouse and Community Garden.

Belmar‘s "Magical Garden" Greenhouse and Community Garden, at 15th & E Streets in
Belmar, NJ, was created in 2000 as a result of a unique private/public partnership. The
first of its kind in the state, the garden boasts four vegetable plots, a butterfly garden, an
herb garden, and a grape arbor. Residents are welcome to use the greenhouse year-
round and also are invited to join the Community Garden group, which meets regularly
in the spring, summer and fall. Members share a lot of fun along with a bountiful
harvest of organic vegetables.
For more information, see the Belmar Environmental Commission website:
http://belmar.com/municipal/municipal-boards/environmental-commission/magical-
garden

Burlington County Community Agriculture Center

The Burlington County Community Agriculture Center is comprised of several facets,
including a community supported agriculture farm (CSA), an area for community
gardens, a tailgate farmers market featuring Jersey Fresh produce and other products,
as well as special events and festivals highlighting local agriculture. The primary goals
of the site are to foster public awareness and appreciation for local agriculture and to
support the local agricultural economy. The facility is located on a preserved farm
owned by Burlington County. This project is under the general administrative
supervision of the Department of Resource Conservation.
http://www.co.burlington.nj.us/departments/resource_conservation/parks/sites/agricultur
al/index.htm

Camden City Garden Club, Inc.

The Club was founded in 1985 and serves as a non-profit environmental and
educational organization. It serves the community of Camden by showing residents the
joy and satisfaction that is possible through gardening and functions on many levels.
The Club provides community gardens that are maintained by members on vacant lots
owned by the city and service or faith-based organizations. It also fosters youth and
young adults with its Youth Employment and Training Program, in which the youth of
the City of Camden are employed in a variety of tasks including gardening and exhibit
maintenance, as well as customer service. For the children and their families, The Club
offers the Camden Children’s Garden, with a variety of activities grounded in nature,
located near The Camden Aquarium. The Camden City Garden Club also boasts a
wide range of educational programs geared toward both children and adults.
http://www.camdenchildrensgarden.org/about.html

Greater Newark Conservancy

The Conservancy hosts a Community Greening Program to addresses Newark's deficit
of quality preserved open space by enhancing existing community parks, creating new
pocket parks, establishing greenways, and improving neighborhoods with street trees,
street-side planted flower barrels and community gardens. The program works with
Newark residents to transform neighborhoods with curbside flower barrels and lush
community gardens on former vacant lots. These urban farms increase accessibility to
food sources for urban residents by providing high quality, locally grown healthy food
using natural pest control methods.
http://www.citybloom.org/community-greening.htm

Isles Community and School Gardening Programs

Isles’ low-cost assistance teaches gardeners in Trenton NJ, how to grow food and
provides materials for raised beds, seeds and organic pest control; volunteer help; and
tools and equipment to prepare the soil. To qualify for help from Isles, four or more
families must work together. In 2008, more than 30 community gardens that Isles
supports in Trenton raised thousands pounds of fresh produce that improved diets and
strengthened finances for more than 3,000 residents. Isles has also inspired gardens on
the grounds of nine Trenton public schools, with over 4,000 students from pre-K to 12.
Isles educates students, trains teachers, runs cooking workshops for parents, and
provides how to help in developing the gardens. School gardens are embraced by
students, teachers, parents and school food service directors. Teachers use the
gardens to link conservation — as well history, science, math and even art — to the
natural world. Through a partnership with the Trenton Board of Education’s Model
Healthy School Program and Rutgers University Cooperative Extension, Isles is able to
offer additional training about the food system, the environment, nutrition and health. To
enhance the learning experience from school gardens, Isles partners with Fernbrook
Farm for field trips, as well as education for teachers and students. Lessons and
workshops at the farm meet specific New Jersey Department of Education Core
Curriculum needs.
http://isles.org/main/services/environment/

Camden Children’s Garden – Created in July of 1999 by The Camden City Garden
Club, Inc., it is a place for children and families to play and learn about the natural
world. A “horticultural playground”, the 4-acre garden has various indoor attractions,
including a butterfly house, as well as numerous outside gardens, such as the Fitness
Garden and the Storybook Garden. The Camden Children’s Garden cultivates
imaginative and interactive play as well as learning through its on-site and off-site
educational programs, covering over 30 topics.
http://www.camdenchildrensgarden.org

Resources

Community Garden Resources (see below for School Garden Resources)

Starting a Community Garden

This website and fact sheet from American Community Gardening Association includes
terrific resources on the many ways to start a community garden. Whether working with
friends, neighbors, or a local organization, there are many things to consider before
digging the first hole. This fact sheet is designed to give many different groups the
basic information they need to get their gardening project off the ground. The website
also contains sample guidelines, forms, sample lease agreements and signup sheets.
Also check the links, tools, resources and store pages to find more helpful articles and
resources.
http://www.communitygarden.org/learn/starting-a-community-garden.php

American Community Gardening Association (ACGA)

The ACGA is a bi-national nonprofit membership organization of professionals,
volunteers and supporters of community greening in urban and rural communities. The
Association recognizes that community gardening improves people’s quality of life by
providing a catalyst for neighborhood and community development, stimulating social
interaction, encouraging self-reliance, beautifying neighborhoods, producing nutritious
food, reducing family food budgets, conserving resources and creating opportunities for
recreation, exercise, therapy and education. This site offers training, free webinars,
tools and resources to start community gardening programs.
http://www.communitygarden.org/learn/

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

Livable Neighborhoods.
The Local Government Commission recognizes that local government leaders are in a
unique position to promote healthy eating and active living in their communities by
supporting community gardens. Community gardens are places where neighbors can
gather to cultivate plants, vegetables and fruits. Such gardens can improve nutrition,
physical activity, community engagement, safety, and economic vitality for a
neighborhood and its residents. 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 gardens. The site also contains
case studies of successful community programs.
http://www.lgc.org/freepub/docs/community_design/fact_sheets/community_gardens.pdf

Establishing Protections for Community Gardens: A Fact Sheet for Advocates

Community gardens play a valuable role in creating healthier communities. This fact
sheet explains how model policies from NPLAN can help advocates work with local
governments to create and sustain these important neighborhood resources.
http://nplanonline.org/products/establishing-protections-community-gardens-fact-sheet-
advocates

Establishing Land Use Protections for Community Gardens

Local government leaders are in a unique position to promote healthy eating and active
living in their communities by supporting community gardens. NPLAN has created a set
of complementary model land use policies to help communities create and preserve
community gardens. Supportive land use policies, like zoning ordinances, can help to
create community gardens and ensure their long-term ability to operate on a site.
http://nplanonline.org/products/establishing-land-use-protections-community-gardens

America’s Grow-A-Row Program

Thanks to the efforts of over 450 dedicated volunteers in New Jersey, Grow-a-Row
donated 110,000 pounds of fresh, healthy produce to feed the hungry in 2007. The
combination of increased obesity, the housing crises, and increased living expenses
highlights the importance of the program’s efforts at decreasing hunger. Grow-A–Row
programs use volunteers for planting, picking, and delivering fresh produce, via a
unique model that heightens awareness of socio-economic issues, highlights the
importance of local farms, and inspires volunteers across many generations and skill
sets.
http://americasgrowarow.org/

Garden Club of New Jersey

Working through it’s 5000 members and 8 District groups the Garden Clubs of NJ
support: EcoTot: Junior & High School Gardening; environmental programs;
scholarships for teachers & students - conservation projects; public garden education
centers/gardens in public buildings; garden programs for the physically handicapped,
mentally ill, veterans' and inmates; and education in landscape design, gardening study,
wildflower workshops and flower show schools. Local clubs can be a tremendous asset
for school and community gardening projects.
http://gardencentral.org/gcnj/homepage

Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey

The Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey is a nonprofit organization
that holds educational conferences, farm tours, and workshops, and provides education
to farmers, gardeners, consumers, and land care professionals. The website also
contains list of Community Supported Agricultural farms offering weekly food shares
and the location of certified organic farms in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania.
http://www.nofanj.org

New Jersey Farm Bureau

The mission of the New Jersey Farm Bureau is to represent agricultural producers and
enterprises at all levels of government - local, state, federal and international.
www.njfb.org

New Jersey Agricultural Society

The New Jersey Agricultural Society works to preserve and enhance agriculture,
farming, and related activities and businesses in New Jersey through educational,
informational, and promotional programs. This membership-based organization is the
sponsor of such programs as Learning through Gardening which supports teachers' use
of gardening and agriculture in the classroom. This project’s goal is to increase
students’ understanding of many science, social studies, mathematical, and literature
concepts using the garden for a hands-on approach and problem solving techniques.
http://www.njagsociety.org/aitc/aitc.htm The Ag Society also supports the Farmers
Against Hunger program, which is a unique food rescue program that collects fresh
fruits and vegetables from New Jersey farms and distributes the produce, free of
charge, to organizations that help feed people. Started in 1996 by a few area farmers,
the program now includes nearly 50 farmers, 3 grocery store chains, and 2 produce
wholesalers who support the program year-round.
http://www.njagsociety.org/fah/fah.htm

Rutgers Master Gardening Program

Master Gardeners are trained volunteers that help with Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural
Experiment Station Cooperative Extension by delivering horticulture programs and
information to the general public. To be a master gardener, no experience or education
in horticulture is needed — an interest in gardening and volunteer service will suffice.
http://njaes.rutgers.edu/mastergardeners/

Rutgers Cooperative Extension

Extension Offices for each New Jersey county provide technical assistance and
resources on gardening, landscaping, nutrition and a wide range of farming and water
resource issues. http://njaes.rutgers.edu/garden County office locations can be found
at: http://njaes.rutgers.edu/county/ The Rutgers Urban Gardening Program motivates
low-income families and individuals residing in Newark and surrounding areas to grow,
utilize, and preserve vegetables using backyards, containers, and community garden
plots. Gardens covering acres of former city waste land are producing vegetables and
other plants for food.
http://essex.njaes.rutgers.edu/ug/

Rutgers Soil Testing Lab

The Soil Testing Laboratory is a part of Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment
Station (NJAES). Located on the G. H. Cook Campus, the Soil Testing Laboratory is a
service unit that offers chemical and mechanical analyses of soils for the residents of
New Jersey and for Rutgers University researchers. School and community garden
sites should be tested prior to the establishment of the garden location.
http://njaes.rutgers.edu/soiltestinglab/

United States Department of Agriculture

Natural Resources Conservation Service provides technical assistance, information and
educational resources that can help communities evaluate and plan for the
management of their soil, water, and other natural resources.
http://www.nj.nrcs.usda.gov/

EarthBox
The patented EarthBox was developed by commercial farmers to allow plants to be
grown effectively in a containerized system. This allows gardens to be established on
top of lands that may have contaminated soils or other unsuitable growing conditions.
http://www.earthbox.com/

School Gardens
United States Department of Agriculture Information For Teachers and Students
Educational resources for teachers are available at
http://www.nj.nrcs.usda.gov/teachers.html.

Gardening with Kids

This website has extensive information on school gardening for teachers, parents, and
students, including resources, activities, a parent's primer, and much more. Gardening
is seen as a vehicle for encouraging children to make good food choices, augmenting
classroom studies with experiential learning, building a love of nature, stimulating social
interaction, facilitating cultural exchange, and more
http://www.kidsgardening.org

Garden Planning & Lesson Plans from the Princeton School Garden Cooperative
Linked to the New Jersey State Standards for K-5
The Princeton School Garden Cooperative is a group of individuals who believe in
garden based education and in re-connecting students to the earth’s bounty in the
garden, the classroom and the cafeteria. The goal of this group is to create flourishing
edible gardens at every Princeton Public School K-12 and to share ideas and lesson
plans with anyone and everyone so they can grow edible teaching gardens at their
schools, community centers and even their own homes. Princeton now has outdoor
garden classrooms in every public elementary school! The Cooperative has worked with
committed teachers, principals, parent volunteers and students at each of these schools
to design, plant, water, weed and nurture the gardens into being. This guide provides
resources to link school gardens with classroom curriculum.
http://www.prs.k12.nj.us/GardenCoop/GardenCoopGuideNov07.pdf

Getting Started A Guide for Creating School Gardens as Outdoor Classrooms

A free 51-page guide designed and published by the Center for Ecoliteracy in
collaboration with Life Lab Science Program, a national leader in garden-based
education. Among the topics covered are: nurturing a child's curiosity ,connecting the
garden to the classroom, selecting and preparing a garden site , understanding nature's
cycles, identifying the responsibilities of the garden coordinator, and involving the
community.
http://www.ecoliteracy.org/publications/getting-started.html

Steps to a Bountiful Kids' Garden

This information-packed how-to guide contains all that is needed to know to launch and
sustain a school or community kids' gardening program. Topics include rallying support,
recruiting volunteers, developing the garden site, starting seeds indoors, transplanting,
controlling pests, making curriculum connections, and more. An invaluable resource for
schools, PTAs, and community youth leaders who want to build a sustainable garden
project. (cost $12.95)
http://www.gardeningwithkids.org/11-4052.html

NJ Farm to School Network

Farm to School programs connect school meals with local agriculture by purchasing
directly from local farmers in a strategy that increases the profitability of farming,
improves the quality of school meals, and re-creates relationships in the community
among consumers and the people who grow their food. Farm to School programs
connect schools with local farms with the objectives of serving healthy meals in school
cafeterias, improving student nutrition, providing health and nutrition education
opportunities that will last a lifetime, and supporting local small farmers. The NJ Farm
to School Network hosted the first farm to school conference in the state in April 2009
and plans to host another in 2010. The website contains many NJ specific program
resources.
www.njfarmtoschool.org
Garden Mosaics
Garden Mosaics is a youth and community education program that combines science
learning with intergenerational mentoring, multicultural understanding, and community
action. The initial idea for Garden Mosaics came from a realization that community
gardens, because of their unusual blend of people, cultures, plants, and activism, offer
unique sites for youth education within a community setting They have an interactive
website and extensive curriculum based resource materials available on their website.
http://www.gardenmosaics.cornell.edu/

NJ Department of Environmental Protection

The State Environmental Education Directory Website includes a link on Outdoor
Classrooms. This site has an extensive list of resources on school gardens, gardening,
and classroom curriculum resources.
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/seeds/syhart/outclass.htm Main website is at
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/seeds/index.html

Learning Through Gardening

This New Jersey Agricultural Society program supports teachers' use of gardening and
agriculture in the classroom. This project’s goal is to increase the students
understanding of many science, social studies, mathematical, and literature concepts
using the garden for a hands-on approach and problem-solving techniques.
http://www.njagsociety.org/aitc/aitc.htm

Weavers Way Coop

Located in the Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia, this unique urban garden that in 2008
operated on just less than one acre of land, is located on the grounds of the Awbury
Arboretum in Philadelphia. In addition to the market garden, their program includes
youth education as well as school ground gardens and school garden to cafeteria
programs for schools in Philadelphia area.
http://weaversway.coop/index.php?page=the_farm