GARDENING MATTERS

Gardening Matters was created in 2005 to serve as a clearinghouse for all things related to community gardening.

Today, we are:

☺ Providing training and assistance for effective garden leadership, so that every community garden has the capacity to sustain itself.

☺ Helping groups have a healthy, solid start in establishing their community and schoolyard garden, so that they can have the greatest chance at success and sustainability

☺ Advocating for community gardens and residential food production through proactive public policies, improved land access and reliable funding to support their establishment and development.

☺ Closing the nutrient loop by partnering with community gardens to create nutrient-rich soil in community gardens through neighborhood composting.

☺ Facilitating greater donations of garden-grown produce to foodshelves to support our neighbors who could not otherwise afford it.

☺Fostering neighborhood partnerships of home-based and community gardeners to share resources, knowledge, and moral support – no one organization can do it all, we need everyone!

How we work

Garden sustainability is paramount to our mission, and our work is based upon the findings of the 2005 Community Garden Sustainability Plan. The plan identified key barriers to sustainability and provided recommendations for overcoming them: Support and nurture leadership, communicate the benefits of these community spaces, and foster good management of gardens.

Our programs include:

• Community Garden Shared Leadership Training

• Workshops through the Community Garden Spring Resource Fair (March)

• How-to-Start a Community Garden Workshops

• Community Garden Day

We advocate for community gardens by promoting public policies supportive of community gardens (see www.gardeningmatters.org for a list of public policy recommendations). Our online directory and virtual library can help people discover these community spaces, as well as providing information to help them succeed for the long-term.

What we believe… Community gardeners are the best experts on community gardening! Networking between gardeners is crucial, and nobody understands community gardening better than community gardeners. Peer-support and peer-learning result in garden groups with the capacity and support to thrive and truly meet the needs of their community. Gardening Matters is only as strong as the community gardens it serves. When the gardens reflect their communities, are democratically-run, integrated with their communities, and meeting the needs of their communities, they are strong.

Community gardens need your support

Interest in community gardens has grown significantly, as people want to have fresher, high-quality vegetables and know where there food comes from. However, increased demand has not resulted in an equivalent increase in funding resources for us to serve the needs of new and existing community gardens and make sure each garden is a long-term success!

We offer our services without charge when necessary, so as many people as possible to benefit from a neighborhood community garden. Your contributions enable us to support a strong and resilient community gardening community, and to meet the growing needs of people everywhere who want to grow their own!