Community Gardening

The Community Gardening Toolkit is available for order and download from the University of Missouri Extension at http://extension.missouri.edu/explore/miscpubs/mp0906.htm.  This 24 page, illustrated guide is intended to be a resource for Extension educators, agency professionals and community garden organizers.  The toolkit offers step by step advice and practical tools for starting new community gardens, organizing and involving gardeners, and sustaining community gardens over time.

Also available from the University of Missouri Extension website is The Gardeners' Welcome Packet which is a set of documents that can be edited and revised by gardeners and garden leaders. The packet is intended to be a tool for organizing your garden, introducing new gardeners to the policies, procedures and people that keep the garden running smoothly, and keeping returning gardeners updated and involved. It is also intended to help gardeners find a clear and easy way to play an active role in the garden's management and upkeep.

Who We Are

For over 30 years the Community Gardening Program has provided the resources to help people grow healthy, nutritious food, develop important life skills, build stronger communities, and create healthier environments. Through the program’s guidance and expertise, community and market gardeners in Cleveland and surrounding suburbs have used vacant land and sweat equity to put fresh, nutritious food on their tables and into local markets.

A 12 week course for entrepreneurs to develop the small-scale agriculture and business skills necessary to sell produce at local markets and to restaurants. For more information contact Morgan Taggart: 216-429-8238.

Empowering communities and advocating with local government and community organizations to develop models of permanency for garden sites. We partner with the Cuyahoga Community Land Trust, the Cleveland Botanical Garden, Ecocity Cleveland, the City of Cleveland, and others, working to find preservation solutions for community gardens in the city.  This collaboration encompasses a pilot project with the Ecovillage Garden in the Detroit-Shoreway Neighborhood and the Morganic Garden of Slavic Village, as well as other gardens throughout Cleveland.  A goal of the project is to provide two specific models for further preservation and to create a framework for the preservation process in Cleveland. 

Working with the Cleveland Department of Public Health, staff of the Community Gardening Program is helping to develop gardens in targeted neighborhoods in order to increase residents’ access to fresh produce and to provide opportunities for physical activity through gardening.  We will teach and promote the connection between gardening, nutrition, and physical activity to new audiences.

Engaging suburban gardeners to connect their communities through growing nutritious foods. For more information please call 216-429-8200.

Managing the City of Cleveland’s Summer Sprout  program.

Reaching out to inner-ring suburban populations.

Working with the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Food Policy Coalition

Progressing legislation to include the needs of community gardeners and urban farmers.

Publishing a quarterly community gardening newsletter.

In 2008:

More than 1,200 community members were reached by our programming and services.

Over 20 urban farms and one bee-keeping enterprise have been established in Greater Cleveland as a result of the Market Garden Training course.

More than 200 Urban Gardens in the City of Cleveland, tended by more than 4,000 gardeners, produced more than $2.1 million worth of produce, providing nourishment and well-being to every neighborhood in the City.

Urban Garden Zoning Districts were created in Cleveland resulting from the collaborative efforts of the Community Gardening Program, Cuyahoga Community Land Trust, Cleveland Botanical Garden, and the City of Cleveland.

• Find 5-10 like-minded people who are determined to contribute time and energy.
• Hold an organizational meeting to decide group rules, policies, and cooperative uses of the space and materials.
• Look for land near you that is suitable for gardening (6-8 hours of sun and a water source are important!)
• Find out who owns the land, get written permission to use it, and test the soil for composition and contaminants.
• Identify sponsors who can contribute necessary resources (humus, tools, storage, etc.)