A diverse group of people in San Francisco shares the work and fun of a community garden.

Growing food in a community garden is a great idea, and lots of communities have them. When the fruits and vegetables are ready, everyone gets to take some home. This book will teach young readers about working with their neighbors to grow a garden. Reluctant readers will be drawn in by the accessible text. Full-color photographs on each page help children connect with what they’re reading. Readers will be eager to pick up this book and learn about community gardens.

Some cities offer their residents lots of cool restaurants, arts activities, and business opportunities—but few green spaces. Poorer areas may have empty lots or abandoned buildings, and no nearby parks. Community gardens are a great idea for either of these scenarios—and so many more! Through inspiring descriptions of the benefits of community gardens, including their positive ecological impact, readers will run to the nearest plot of land to start a garden! From the science of composting and organic farming to health topics like fitness and healthy eating, the motivating content will introduce readers to the fun of community gardens, which can bring communities together, help the environment, and provide a good use for unused lots. Bright, colorful photographs and descriptive sidebars and fact boxes will draw readers in even more—that is, if they haven’t already started planting their garden!

Join a diverse group of children for a fun day at a community garden, learning both counting skills and fun facts about fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

"The social history of American cities would not be complete without a full account of the rise of community open spaces. Lawson does exactly this by providing a compelling and poetic account of the history and making of urban gardens. Combining solid scholarship with engaging images of the gardens and stories of their makers, this book sheds new light on the value of urban open space. More important, it explains why community gardens need to stand alongside city parks as permanent open spaces. Essential reading for community developers and landscape architects as well as anyone who ventures outside, enthusiasm and shovel in hand, to improve their local environment.—Mark Francis, author of Urban Open Space and Village Homes "The definitive history of the past hundred years of America's experience with community gardens. A labor of love by a garden activist, the book appears at a most appropriate time—today our city dwellers and suburbanites are retreating onto carpets of passive open space tended by homeowner associations and lawn care outfits. Lawson thoughtfully analyzes the weaknesses of community gardens when used as a response to social crises and, by contrast, investigates community gardens as an alternative to today's managed care of open space. Her history clearly presents a way of community living that we can elect if we choose her wisdom."—Sam Bass Warner, Jr, author of To Dwell Is to Garden "An important book about how the urban gardening movement is transforming our landscape and reconnecting us to the land."—Alice Waters, Owner, Chez Panisse

Full Color Edition. Community Gardens. Grab your shovel, spade and other tools....lets band together and make more Community Gardens. This can help Health for Physical Activity, this can help Hunger for the ever changing face since the 2008 Financial Crisis, this can help various groups in our Nation with Job Skills, form tighter Neighborhood Associations sharing various Vegetables like Tomatoes, Fresh Corn, lots of Greens, Fruits, items from Orchards, etc. Farmers Markets can be formed that can reach various new places in your City or Town. Together, lets Think differently. Lets Help America with Food Insecurity and become more Food Secure. Together, we can do it. Be creative, enjoy the Sunshine for Vitamin D, grab some Seeds, Gloves, get Dirty, lets start planning, planting and get ready for the Fall Harvest! YES!

Community gardening is as much about community as it is gardening, and compared to growing plants, cultivating community is far more difficult. In Community Gardening in an Unlikely City: The Struggle to Grow Together in Las Vegas, Schafer documents his time as a member of a fledgling Las Vegas community garden and the process through which a rotating group of gardeners try to forge community. He demonstrates the ways in which choices gardeners make about what goals to pursue, or who belongs, or what story to tell about their collective efforts, influence how they and others experience and interpret the garden. The garden culture that emerges over time shapes how, or whether, community is practiced at the garden, and has important consequences for the gardeners’ abilities to connect with the low-income, Black and Latinx community in which it is located. Schafer’s analysis provides important insights about urban culture, the environment, and food justice in the American Southwest, and a sober look into the often messy process and practice of community.