Community gardens are a social experiment in the making. Various communities come together locally around the globe to imagine and build a new space, through a process of creating a healthier human culture, where collective work plays a decisive role.
Portions of land on public roads where vegetables can be grown for personal consumption, without toxins, without intermediaries. How is this phenomenon carried out? In infinite ways, conditioned by the initial motivations, the group and the socio-environmental context in which it arises.
It is not about experts but rather about collective learning around something as important as nature, the food it provides us and what we return to it. Because it motivates us that these types of initiatives continue to be replicated, we share 10 steps that we think are useful to start with your own community garden project.
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STEP 1: “Assemble the work team”
The first and most important step is to be able to find a group of allies with whom to carry out this beautiful project.. Sometimes it happens that many people want similar things but have never stopped to consult with their neighbor. Don’t be afraid to ring doorbells!
Community gardens usually arise from the meeting between peers and for that you have to go out and look for them. You will want to have allies willing to participate in the process, to take care of said garden, those who water or simply give up work tools. Even allies who do not participate but agree to install the box or terrace in the chosen territory.
You will see, in the end, that the most beautiful thing about this project is the meeting with neighbors, the community. Team organization is paramount.. The success of the project will depend on this, since there are many tasks to be carried out in a community garden.
A whatsapp group of the neighborhood or the group involved will allow giving instant notices about any eventuality in the garden, at the same time as ordering tools or communicating progress, news or happiness.
Communicating in the day to day of the project will make everyone remains constant and attentive to the process. Little by little they will discover the skills of each of the members of this new team in order to get the best of each one and achieve results. Everything is welcome to be applied in this project. It will be the challenge of the group to build a space prone to deploying these skills for the benefit of all, in short, if you eat, you are already part of the project.
STEP 2: “Where to make the garden”
A community garden can be located in any easily accessible open space, some of the sidewalks of the neighborhood, inside a club, in a square, park or in the corner bar. Identify potential locations. within your own neighborhood where you can get ahead and the steps to follow to manage it.
When choosing the place, they must take into account several factors:
– Enough space to be able to install the drawers, the terraces, or any arrangement that they consider effective depending on the area.
– How many hours of daylight does that space receive? They should look at the trees around. They may be without leaves in winter. They must not forget the shadows they will give in summer
– Is it a green space or must they provide all the necessary land? In case of being a space of clay soil, for example, they must be made of some fertilizer in order to improve their quality.
– On the other hand, they should check with which water accesses count in order to plan what the irrigation system will look like. This will be essential when maintaining our crops. Last but not least, the space they choose should be close to their homes.
The community garden is proposed as an adjoining space that can be visited constantly to record the process, take care of it and obtain the maximum gratifications from it at the community level.
STEP 3: “Materials”
Community gardens can be done in various ways. It is common to build wooden boxes to keep our space tidy and avoid some visits such as those of dogs. For this, they will need wood, nails/screws, work tools and a lot of hands at work.
The size of the drawers will depend on the space you have chosen, there are different options and information available to achieve your goal and a lot of discard material if you look around you. In general, you will be able to find pieces of wood or whole pieces of furniture near the recycling bins or on a corner in your neighborhood.
the pallets They are a very noble material to build the drawers and easy to get. For greater durability of the wood, they can be painted with used car oil or some varnish, in order to delay its deterioration.
Once ready, it will be a matter of filling with fertile soil, future soil for our crops. It is time to make the mixture of soil and fertilizer. Shovels and spades are essential for the job on earth, be encouraged to request them, many people have these tools parked in the garage and will be eager to lend them to the cause. You will see that it is necessary to buy less than you imagine.
STEP 4: “Assembling the compost bin”
The assembly of a compost bin is essential to start generating fertilizer for your land, A compost bin is a container where the organic matter that we deposit can be decomposed with the aim of obtaining an ecological fertilizer that serves to nourish our plants.
The cycle of nature is complex and can be glimpsed in its entirety in a garden, the compost bins can be made in wooden crates or plastic containers and located near our growing area. Its size will depend on the volume of waste that we want to compost, this is the first step of a magical process.
For a compost bin to work well in a public space it is very important to pay attention to its proper care, the ideal is to have two ventilated compartments, that is, not hermetically closed because it can be in danger of rotting, It is important that both compartments have a lid.
One is kept open for neighbors to dump their waste. Once complete, it closes and the second compartment begins to be used. The first will remain at rest finishing its decomposition process until it becomes fertile land. The spade is a key tool for composting because it allows you to stir it, and yes, you have to do it at least twice a week, to get it to air out and not cake.
It is very important, in addition to throwing organics, to always have grass or dry leaves on hand to throw on them. It will give structure to the compost bin and provide a balance between the dry and the organic so that it does not rot. There are many myths about composting, most of them negative, it is very important that the neighbors are attentive to the composting process.
STEP 5: “Making land and seeds”
The quality of the soil is essential for the development of your plants. Without a good soil there is no possible success, this is the most important thing to have a healthy production and without the need for fertilizers. The soil is the food that nourishes the plant, just as our body reacts to the food we eat. This is the importance of compost, good and loose soil so that the roots can extract all the nutrients necessary to develop our crop.
For this they can mix soil with the fertilizer (compost) that they have generated and add any other natural resource that nourishes this mixture. Be on the lookout for resources the neighborhood can provide: grass, dry leaves, horse manure or pruning remains are good allies and will make your crop much more nutritious and effective.
To start with the cultivation of the different vegetables and plants we must first decide what we want to sow, minimally plan our sowing and make us the necessary seeds. These can be obtained in some organic seed nursery, they can also be found in organic foods that are consumed (such as bell peppers, tomatoes, pumpkins, etc…) or recovered at the end of the cycle of some plants, once the latter have surfaced. Another effective initiative results from the exchange of seeds with other neighboring orchards or between neighbors. This way you can offer the ones you have repeated and obtain new ones for your own garden or crop.
STEP 6: “The seedlings”
In parallel to obtaining seeds, we suggest start generating seedlings in their homesin order to transfer them to the garden once they are large enough, some vegetables are suitable for planting right from seed in the drawers, but for others, it will be more effective to generate seedlings.
In the latter case, we suggest distributing seeds among the different participants, so that each one can, at home, take care of their germination. this will facilitate the control and care of the seedlings in their youngest stage. It may happen that, if they do it directly in the garden space, they lose track of said seeds, or they are affected by changes in climate, passers-by, etc.
Once ready, they can organize a work day and place them collectively where they consider it pertinent, these seedlings can be generated in any type of small containersmall plastic bins of supermarket products (don’t forget to make holes for proper drainage), egg cups, etc.
It is important to plant staggered, that is, not to sow all the lettuce seeds on the same day, but to sow every 15 or 20 days, in this way, there will be lettuce production throughout the season and new seedlings will be generated to replace those that are harvested. We suggest, last but not least, identify which are the most appropriate species according to the season and the hemisphere in which they are found.
STEP 7: “Planting and watering”
Now yes, the most beautiful moment has arrived: Sowing! To do this, we suggest you investigate the best way to sow and the necessary conditions for each of the seeds so that they can develop satisfactorily. They will be able to plan their cultivation based on the available space and the time of year.
What does the tomato plant need? how much does it grow? What is the best for pumpkin? As we said before, some can be planted directly on our garden soil, others will be better to germinate them separately and chop them later as they grow. Studying the conditions of each plant to obtain its best performance is key to gradually achieving success in the harvest.. Now, keep in mind throughout the process that community gardens are just that, processes, and that it will be as it develops that they will learn what is better and what mistakes not to repeat.
watering after sowingpricking, or transplanting is essential for the proper development of the plant, the intensity of the irrigation will depend on the time of year and the type of sowing, so a good irrigation schedule between the team always helps to ensure that the plants are correctly …