Community Gardening Resources

Contents

Starting Community Gardens

• 10 Steps to Starting a Community Garden - Food Share.
• A Handbook: From Neglected Parcels to Community Gardens (PDF) - Wasatch Community Gardens.
  
• Start a Community Garden - Urban Harvest.
• Starting a Community Garden - American Community Gardening Association.
• Start-Up Guide: Community Garden - Intended to help neighborhood groups and organizations along the path to starting and sustaining a community garden. University of California Cooperative Extension, Los Angeles County.
  (Also available as a MS Word document in English (DOC) and en Español (PDF).)
• Start-Up Guide: School Garden - Intended to help teachers start and sustain a garden on their school site. University of California Cooperative Extension, Los Angeles County.
  (Also available in English as "A Gardening Angels How-To Manual: Easy Steps to Building A Sustainable School Garden Program" (PDF).  Available en Español "Manual para el Desarrollo de una Jardineria Escolar" (PDF).)

Community Gardening Guides

• A Handbook of Community Gardening, by Boston Urban Gardeners, edited by Susan Naimark Published in 1982.
• Creating Community Gardens, by Dorothy Johnson, Executive Director, & Rick Bonlender, MN Green Coordinator, Minnesota State Horticultural Society Minnesota State Horticultural Society, 1970, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
• Cultivating Community: Principles and Practices for Community Gardening As a Community-Building Tool, by Karen Payne and Deborah Fryman.

Community Garden Policy, Municipal Programs

• "Community Development through Gardening: State and Local Policies Transforming Urban Open Space" (PDF) - Jane E. Schukoske.
• "Comprehensive Plans, Zoning Regulations, Open Space Policies and Goals Concerning Community Gardens and Open Green Space from the Cities of Seattle, Berkeley, Boston and Chicago " - Information compiled by ACGA Member Lenny Librizzi for the GreenThumb Grow Together Workshop "Lessons From Community Gardening Programs In Other Cities" given March 20, 1999.
• "National Community Garden Survey 1996 ," (PDF) - ACGA Monograph by Suzanne Monroe-Santos.
• "Making Policy in a Crowded World: Steps Beyond the Physical Garden," by Pamela R. Kirschbaum, in Community Greening Review , ACGA 2000.

Fundraising - Publications

• "How to: Fund Raising," by Gary Goosman, in Community Greening Review 1998 , ACGA.
• The Complete Book of Fund-Raising Writing, by Don Fey, The Morris-Lee Publishing Group, 1995.
• The Complete Book of Model Fund-Raising Letters, by Roland Kuniholm, Prentice Hall, 1995.

Fundraising, Incorporating, Legal Assistance - Utah

• Utah Nonprofits Association, 260 S Central Campus Drive, Room 214, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-915, (801) 581-4883.
• Internal Revenue Service, Tax Questions: (800) 829-1040, Tax Forms: (800) 829-3676.
• State of Utah Department of Commerce, 160 E 300 S, Main Floor, SLC, UT (Walk-in) - Information Center: (801) 530-4849 or (877) 526-6438.
• Utah State Bar, 645 S 245 E, SLC, UT, (801) 531-9077.

Best Practices

- American Community Gardening Association - During the ACGA's 28 year history we've created a series of tip-sheets and have collected best practices from community gardens throughout the country. Here are links to download-able versions of our most popular tip sheets:

• 10 tips for starting a community garden (PDF)
• 10 top tools for community gardens (PDF)
• 10 kids gardening tips (PDF)
• 10 ways to preserve your garden (PDF)
• Tips for Starting Seeds (PDF) 
• How to Save Seeds (PDF)

- Food Share Toolbox –Community Gardening Month-by-Month

• Month- by-Month in the garden (Year 1)
• Keys to Fundraising success
• Community Garden Wish List
• Resources- How to find what you'll need
• Sample Rules and Regulations
• Garden Tools
• Keys to Garden Success
• Growing your group

- Openlands:

• Season-by-Season Guide for Planting and Maintaining Your Community Garden - Bob Milke, Garfield Park Conservancy.

- Wasatch Community Gardens:

• Organic Gardening Standards | Wasatch Community Gardens

Seeds and Supplies

• Free Seeds - Since 1980 the Operation Green Plant Program (America the Beautiful Fund^®) has provided free seeds to:
  Save more than 800 tons of seeds and 7 million flower bulbs from going to waste in landfills - free plant seeds.
  Grow 1.75 billion pounds of food for the hungry - free vegetable seeds.
  Beautify roadways, parks and neighborhoods in 20,000 communities in all 50 states. - free flower seeds.
• Organic Kitchen: Gardening - General information, Soil & fertilizers, Compost, and Seeds & seedlings.
• Seeds Blum - [Webmaster's Note: This site appears to be advertising driven, and may provide some interesting resources. Caveat emptor.]

Other Information

• Find a Community Garden Near You - Canada & United States, American Community Gardens Association / Local Harvest.
• Garden Resources - Provides a broad listing of local and national garden resources. Wasatch Community Gardens.
• Links: Community Gardening - Amercian Community Garden Association.
• Links: School Garden - Edible Schoolyard/Chez Panisse Foundation.
• Types of Community Gardens - Urban Harvest.

National Organizations

• American Community Gardening Association (ACGA).
• Community Gardens Program - Urban Harvest.
• Community Garden Program - Food Share.
• Vermont Community Garden Network

Utah Organizations

• Wasatch Community Gardens
• Zion Harvest

See also Home Gardening Resources.

Sources: Thanks to the American Community Gardening Association, Urban Harvest & Wasatch Community Gardens for their valuable resources used to populate this resource article.