As food prices rise, community gardens grow in popularity

By Staff and Wire Reports | Thursday, May 1, 2008 10:14 PM PDT ∞

Even if you walk to work or drive a hybrid, you've likely experienced rising gasoline prices in your weekly visit to the supermarket. The price of produce, milk, meat and other grocery items has soared in recent months to accommodate the rising cost of getting food to market.

But one low-cost option still exists for local green-thumb residents who enjoy fresh-grown produce and don't mind getting their hands dirty ---- community gardens. North County has at least nine community gardens in Escondido, Carlsbad, San Marcos, Poway, Oceanside and another is set to open this summer in Fallbrook. The local gardens (many of which have waiting lists) range from 12 to 80 plots, with annual fees from $10 to $60 per plot. With water supplied for free, a community garden plot can be a big boon for fresh produce lovers on a tight budget.

"We've really been feeling the urgency to get this garden open as soon as possible," said Judy Mitchell, district manager for the Mission Resource Conservation District in Fallbrook, where a 1-acre community garden will open soon at Alturas Road and Ali Lane. "These plots definitely offer enough growing area where someone could make a huge difference in their grocery bill each month."

Mitchell said she expect a long waiting list to form as the 60-plot garden nears completion. The 4-by-12-foot plots are being eyed by local seniors who have downsized to apartments but still want to grow their own produce, people who enjoy the social and community aspect of gardening, and local families who don't have enough land to have their own home garden.

"I've been told that these community gardens become like the United Nations," she said. "Sometimes people from other countries can't find certain herbs or vegetables they had back in their home countries, and this allows them to grow items they're familiar with."

That's true at the Escondido Senior Community Garden at Lincoln and Rock Springs Road in east Escondido. Many of the 26, 20-by-20 foot plots in the garden are tilled by local Mexican and Asian seniors who grow a variety of regional produce from their native countries including prickly pear cactus and bok choy, said Charlie Ambruster, president of the Escondido Senior Community Garden.

Among the vegetables produced at the Escondido garden throughout the year are swiss chard, collards, brocolli, snow peas, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and zucchini. With plots in the garden renting for just $10 a year (with water, mulch and compost supplied for free by the city), the community garden has been a boon for many seniors living at the nearby Salvation Army residential center, Ambruster said.

Community gardens have come a long way from the modest neighborhood growing plots of a century or more ago. They now serve as classrooms, neighborhood gathering sites, urban renewal projects and low-cost fresh food alternatives for families facing record high grocery prices.

There is more demand than supply for community garden plots in downtown Sacramento, said Bill Maynard, that city's community garden coordinator and vice president of the American Community Gardening Association. He cited food security as one of the reasons for increased public interest.

"People are into organic produce and wanting to know where their food is coming from," Maynard said.

Money is another factor: "We used to say a standard plot measuring 20-by-20-feet in size could grow $400 worth in food, but now that same food may cost $500 or more, so it's a great way to supplement the monthly food budget," he said.

Interest in community gardening also has been climbing steadily in the St. Louis area, said Gwenne Hayes-Stewart, executive director of Gateway Greening, a nonprofit group that fights urban blight through neighborhood greening projects.

The reasons are simple enough: Fresh fruit and vegetables can be expensive and hard to find, while seniors prefer gardening in groups to being alone in their own yards.

"It is a relatively simple route to success and a cost-effective solution to many inner-city problems associated with abandoned land," Hayes-Stewart said.

Community gardens often become the setting for informal neighbor-to-neighbor competition. Who has the best tomatoes? The fewest weeds?

"Some people are in it just for the food and the flowers. But for most, it's the social aspect. The neighborhood beautification aspect," said Yvonne Savio, manager of the Common Ground Garden Program in Los Angeles County.

Community gardens in large cities are a real microcosm, Savio said, "a real collection of inter-everything. Intergenerational. Intercultural. And that's part of the joy. Some gardens sponsor potlucks once a month. People cook and bring what they grow. People become friends by virtue of what they grow."

Getting started in gardening:

Wannabe gardeners can dig up some practical and no cost/low-cost gardening advice from one or more of the following:

-- University and county extension services

The many land-grant universities are an excellent source of continuing education, whether on an informal, noncredit basis or through for-credit coursework in classrooms or distance learning. Hundreds of garden-related fact sheets, brochures, magazine-sized pamphlets, educational videos, CDs and DVDs are available for the asking. Visit your nearest county extension agent office or go online. Tap this University of California Extension Web site for a lengthy list of extension programs: http://ucanr.org/index.cfm.

-- Master gardeners

Master gardeners are local groups of certified volunteers dispensing university-generated research. They answer plant-related queries at farmers markets and county fairs, handle the phones at "green lines" or talk to civic groups about such things as safe pesticide use and composting. Take your questions to the chapter in your area or, better yet, enroll as a student in one of the intensive Master Gardening training sessions. Here's the link to the San Diego Master Gardeners' Web site: http://www.mastergardenerssandiego.org/.

-- Practical experience

Rent a plot in a community garden. Buy a few seeds and a digging tool and then show up and watch carefully as your neighbors go about their planting business. Chances are, they'll be free and easy with advice, from how to water and control insects, to what to cook with the harvest. Here's a link to community gardens in the San Diego County area: http://www.sandiegoroots.org/comm_gardens.html.

-- How-to books

People fond of turning pages to get their information will find an abundant crop of how-to-garden books on the shelves. Most are simple and nonspecific ---- often too much so to be helpful. For better success, stick with books that focus on plants native to your growing area. Or go for the practical. One of the best how-to books along those lines is "Garden Primer," by Barbara Damrosch. (Workman Publishing, $17.95). Each chapter is a miniature book in itself, ranging from essential garden gear to making your herb garden as attractive as it is useful. You may want to wait for the second edition before ordering, however.

A good book on community gardening is Laura J. Lawson's "City Bountiful: A Century of Community Gardening in America," published by the University of California Press, and priced at $22.95.

-- Cyberspace

"This is such a fast-developing field," said Leeann Lavin, director of communications for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, which has a sizable educational mission. "It's possible to stand in your garden with a smart phone and dial up a Web site with questions about a problem or a plant and quickly get back some illustrated answers." Chat lines represent a new way of exchanging gardening information across a figurative backyard fence. A few blogs specific to California are the Los Angeles-based edenmakersblog.com, the Santa Barbara-based gardenwiseguy/blogspot, the Orange County Register's homebody.freedomblogging.com/ and Sunset Magazine's http://freshdirt.sunset.com/.

-- Classes at garden stores, botanical gardens and schools

The North County Times Home & Garden section runs a weekly listing of local gardening, landscaping, composting and other subjects. Here are a few:

-- The city of Poway and the Metropolitan Water District will offer gardening and landscaping classes from 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and May 13 and 15 at Templar's Hall at Old Poway Park, 14135 Midland Road, Poway. Register to (858) 668-4415 or kcrane@ci.poway.ca.us; visit www.poway.org.

-- Evergreen Nurseries in Rancho Bernardo (12460 Highland Valley Road), Carmel Valley (13650 Carmel Valley Road) and Oceanside (3231 Oceanside Blvd.) will present one-hour garden care workshops at 2 p.m. Saturdays. Free unless otherwise noted. Visit www.evergreennursery.com/workshops.htm. The schedule:

May 10: Making color bowls for Mother's Day ($10 materials fee)

May 31: Choosing and caring for fruit trees

-- The Water Conservation Garden hosts two free North County workshops on how to reduce water use for your landscaping from 1 to 3 p.m. May 9 at the Rancho Bernardo Library, 17110 Bernardo Center Drive; and from 9 to 11 a.m. June 20 at the Vallecitos Water District, 201 Vallecitos De Oro in San Marcos. Call (858) 522-6703.

-- Quail Botanical Gardens offers a four-part certification course in botanical tropics. "The Study of Bromeliads" will be offered from 7 to 9 p.m. May 15, 22 and 29 and from 9 a.m. to noon May 31 at 230 Quail Gardens Drive, Encinitas. Fee is $100. Registration required at (760) 436-3036, Ext. 206.

-- The San Diego chapter of the California Rare Fruit Growers Inc. hosts this series of free classes on growing unusual and rare fruit in San Diego County, including jujube, capulin cherry, raisin tree, pitahaya, longan, jaboticaba, tropical guava, passionfruit, wax jambu and more. Classes will be at 6 p.m. the fourth Wednesday of each month in Room 104, Casa del Prado, Balboa Park, San Diego. Reserve to (619) 261-3610:

May 28: How to plant rare fruit trees.

June 25: How to care for rare fruit trees.

July 23: Monitoring your rare fruit trees (watering, fertilizer, soil conditioning and soil pH)

Aug. 27: Maintaining your rare fruit trees.

Sept. 24: How to naturally protect your rare fruit trees from pests

Oct. 22: What to do with rare fruits, an introduction to eating, cooking and simply enjoying your rare fruits.

Nov. 19: How to propagate rare fruit trees.

Starting your own community garden:

Looking to start a community garden? Once you've found the land, here are some suggestions from staff of the University of California Cooperative Extension, Los Angeles County, that should help.

You need:

-- Well-defined in-ground garden plots ranging from 10 feet by 10 feet to 20 feet by 20 feet. Raised beds require less stooping, but are more expensive to build. If you decide to go that route, make the beds no wider than 4 feet to avoid stepping inside and compressing the topsoil and plants. Design pathways wide enough so wheelbarrows and other equipment can pass.

-- A watering system of some kind, including hoses. Hand watering generally is more practical than using drizzler- or soaker-type hoses in community gardens.

-- A perimeter fence with a lockable, drive-through gate to help deter vandalism and pilfering.

-- A tool shed or shelters for tool and materials storage. Reclaimed metal shipping containers are a good choice if you can find and transport them.

-- Benches or tables where people can picnic, take their coffee along with some neighborly conversation, or rest and reflect after digging in the dirt.

-- Signs or bulletin boards specifying working hours, operating procedures and contact names and numbers.

-- Shared compost bins for nourishing the natural discards.

-- Supervised play areas for children or special gardens where they can mimic the work of the adults.

Associated Press writer Dean Fosdick and staff writer Pam Kragen and contributed to this report.