What is a Community Garden?
A community garden is an area used for growing plants or animals, which has been collaboratively created and is maintained by members of the public. A community garden can take place on public or private land and can involve a broad cross-spectrum of the public, as in a neighborhood community garden. Or it can involve specific sectors of the population, such as a school garden that involves students, teachers, parents, and other community members who support the garden for education.

— Growing Communities Curriculum, American Community Gardening Association, 2001

Why community gardens? Community gardening connects people to the earth, the young with old, and neighbors with neighbors. Community gardening helps people feed themselves, making healthy, nutritious food more accessible and affordable.
It helps people see where food comes from, and learn the real costs of imported, factory-farmed food. Community gardening gets generations in touch through a common interest. It fosters civic involvement and lends a sense of ownership to the neighborhood.

Who are community gardens for?

• Backyard growers who gain additional growing space as well as interactions with other gardeners.

• Elders, including residents of retirement communities.

• School children, teachers, staff members and parents.

• People without access to growing space, such as apartment dwellers.

• You!

A word about water

Edible food gardens use no more water than a lawn of the same size — and produce fresh, healthy herbs, vegetables, fruits and other food. Unlike supermarket produce, these foods are not transported to Flagstaff using precious reserves of fossil fuel. Most of the community gardens in Flagstaff have drip irrigation systems to efficiently deliver water to garden plots. Some gardens also collect rainwater for general garden use or use city reclaimed water. We recommend the use of mulch to prevent water from evaporating from garden soil. See also Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands (Brad Lancaster).

Do you dream of growing vegetables, herbs and flowers but don’t have a garden of your own? Flagstaff currently has four independent community gardens. The Flagstaff Community Gardening Network is an informal network that connects all the gardens to one another and provides startup assistance for new gardens.

Each garden provides water and gardening tools for members and utilizes organic gardening techniques. Plot sizes, decision making procedures and other characteristics vary among the different gardens. Flagstaff’s community gardens also host potlucks, gardening workshops and other activities throughout the growing season. Contact each garden contact person for plot availability and pricing.

Fort Valley Community Garden is located on private land on the corner of Beal St. and Fort Valley Rd. where Forest Ave. ends. The garden is a beautiful haven bordered by trees and shrubs. The plots are 3’ x 40–45’. Several gardeners could share one plot if a smaller space is desired. The plots are watered exclusively with city reclaimed water. Contact Gretchen and Todd at tncarizona (at) yahoo (dot) com, 774-7098.

Juniper Street Community Garden is located just west of the intersection of North San Francisco St. and Juniper Ave. on land owned by Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church. The garden has 12 raised beds that are 4’ x 20’. Plots cost $35. There is a waiting list for 2008. We welcome additions to our compost bins from neighborhood residents. Contact Lisa Rayner at Lisa (at) LisaRayner (dot) com.

New Start Garden is located at 320 North Aztec St. near Thorpe Park. Project New Start is a public alternative junior/senior high school. New Start Garden and greenhouse is maintained by local youth as part of the Native Movement Urban Lifeways Project. It is a community space that integrates food and medicine producing gardens, rainwater harvesting, public art, and community garden plots. Contact Brett Ramey/Native Movement at eatweeds (at) gmail (dot) com, 213-9063.

Southside Community Garden is located on private land on the corner of South San Francisco St. and Dupont Ave. This garden is a project of the Southside Community Association. The plots vary in size. The garden has a cob earth oven available for public use. Contact David Bonnel at Dukebnl1 (at) aol (dot) com, 226-0777.

Advocate for a community garden on city-owned land!

The Flagstaff 20/20 visioning process, which took place with extensive citizen input in 1997, included community gardens in its wish list for the year 2020. In the document, “A Vision for Our Community” it says, “Community gardens that employ water-conserving, organic gardening techniques are strongly promoted and supported. Compost and mulch are available for these gardens through a community and debris recycling program.”

The drawback to Flagstaff's existing community gardens is that they are on privately owned land. While we are grateful for the generosity of the landowners, this situation means that the gardens have no guaranteed long-term stability. The landowners have the right to take away the gardens at any time and use or develop the land as they see fit, imparting a sense of insecurity about our plots. How much time and effort do we put into planting crops that could be theoretically taken away at any time? The situation also inhibits long-term planning for the gardens and the installation of more permanent plantings and structures, such as wind breaks, rainwater harvesting systems, shade trees, community fruit orchards, and gathering places for neighborhood events. For example, a beautiful adobe earth oven was constructed by volunteers a few years ago at the Southside Garden, but further improvements have not been forthcoming due to the precariousness of the situation.

One solution is to create community gardens on city-owned land that would be given a measure of reassurance that the gardens would exist in perpetuity. I propose that the city provide land for one community garden to allow community garden advocates to demonstrate what can be done, with the idea that more gardens could be considered in the future. As Flagstaff continues to develop and lose many formerly open spaces, this is an ideal time to map out possible locations for community gardens on city land.

The City of Flagstaff is currently working on a plan to develop 30 acres of city-owned land on McMillan Mesa in central Flagstaff. There are many apartments and townhomes in the area. A garden would give Flagstaff residents who want to grow their own food an opportunity to do so. Contact City Planner John Saltonstall to advocate for a community garden on city-owned land atop McMillan Mesa at jsaltonstall (at) ci (dot) flagstaff (dot) az (dot) us or 779-7632 ext. 7352.