The Benefits of Community Gardens

Ruth O'Connor looks at one of the fastest growing trends in recent times. We are all familiar with the allotment - a piece of public land divided into plots for individuals to grow their own vegetables and fruit. The idea of the community garden, on the other hand, is something that is less well known in this country, yet is a concept that is slowly beginning to take root here. Community gardens are a common notion in Britain and the United States. In Britain the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens is the representative organisation for 59 city farms and almost 1,000 community gardens. These gardens are a familiar feature of urban life in the United States. The American Community Gardening Association estimates that there are 18,000 community gardens across the US and Canada. Many of these gardens have been built on vacant lots in city developments or on pieces of land donated by the local Parks Department. In the US a leaning towards philanthropy means that community gardens are often subsidised by local businesses, whether through the provision of funds, or materials such as seeds, tools or fencing.

Meeting community needs

Community gardens are community-managed projects that have generally been developed in response to a lack of green space, making them most common in urban settings. In Britain, community gardens focus on the growing of flowers, fruit and vegetables. Many of these community gardens are often run in conjunction with local schools' projects and provide after-school and holiday workshops, growing classes and training schemes. According the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens in Britain the benefits of a garden to the local community are manifold, providing "productive, creative, safe, high quality open spaces." They provide "opportunities for people to learn new skills and abilities, either informally or on formal accredited training courses; provide approximately 2,500 training places for adults with learning disabilities each year; improve physical and mental health in their communities; provide a valuable tool for bringing people together of different abilities, ages, and cultures and aid in community cohesion." It is clear that there are many benefits to the community garden - local people become more in tune with their environment and with the food they consume, a greater sense of community is achieved because gardening can be tackled by people of all ages and abilities. The trend now is towards organic growing, providing people with locally produced, organic food and the exercise gained by working outdoors is also good for physical and mental health.

New development
It is difficult to gauge exactly how many community gardens there are in Ireland as statistics are not widely available but it does seem that the numbers are increasing all the time. However, representatives of the various councils approached by this author were unsure of the existence of any community gardens in Dublin. Plots of land have been donated by parish priests and schools for use by local schoolchildren and a representative of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council said that he believed there were some small private parks maintained by locals as "contemplative spaces" but was unsure of their locations. South Dublin County Council is currently helping to build a garden with the Greenhills Community in west Dublin. The Council's role will be to clean and enclose the site and leave them with soil in which to build a garden. Karen Feeney is development worker at a community garden in Ballybane in Galway. The project is in its second year and there are approximately nine people who regularly garden on the site. The garden is part-funded by the Health Service Executive (HSE), by RAPID (Revitalising Areas by Planning Investment and Development) and by the VEC (Vocational Education Committee). Feeney says that the community garden at Ballybane "promotes awareness of healthy food and of organic food. It stimulates an interest in growing and helps teach the skills of growing which people can then transfer to their own back gardens." The programme also attempts to dispel some of the misconceptions that people may have about growing that it is difficult or requires great levels of physical fitness.

Social benefits
The "Community Food Project" run by The Organic Centre in Rossinver, County Leitrim is also part-funded by the HSE. The project is in its third year, with six gardens based in Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal. The project employs a team of professionally trained organic gardeners and each garden has an average of 12 gardeners from a variety of different backgrounds and ages. According to Andy Hallewell, the Community Food Project co-ordinator, the social perspective is a very strong feature of these projects because people get to work together as a team to grow their own food. Hallewell says that the community gardens have many benefits. "The local community can see the food being grown so that gives people inspiration and encourages them to find out what's going on. The participants will also go back to their friends and family and tell them what they've been doing which has a knock-on effect on the wider community. The skills are also transferable amongst the community. There are also the health benefits of the programme - I guess you could see it in terms of preventative medicine." Hallewell says that "You can do a lot with a small space and it's not a good idea to over-stretch yourself. Within an area as small as eight or ten metres squared you can grow a huge amount of vegetables." Fruit grown on their sites include gooseberries blackcurrants and redcurrants. The soil type, aspect, shade and sun are all important considerations when selecting a site and Hallewell stresses "Don't get over ambitious; don't bite off more than you can chew."

Organic Centre can offer advice to anyone who would like to establish a community garden. The City Farms movement is gathering steam in the north of Ireland and community gardens are also growing in popularity around the country, so why not contact your local Health Board or county council and start up your own community garden.

The Organic Centre, Rossinver, Co. Leitrim, Ireland.