Community Gardening Handbook

August 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Community gardens are “cropping” up all over, allowing neighbors to work together, grow together, and reap the delicious rewards of their labor together. In fact, there are an estimated 18,000 Community Gardens throughout the United States and Canada, according to communitygarden.org.

As more and more people become interested in getting back to nature and growing their own food, the community-gardening movement is exploding in popularity, giving city and suburban dwellers an opportunity to try out their green thumbs.

Ben Raskin, head of horticulture at the Soil Association in the UK, has written The Community Gardening Handbook: The Guide to Organizing, Planting, and Caring for a Community Garden to provide community gardeners with the tools they need to initiate and sustain their own plots of paradise.

In The Community Gardening Handbooks, Raskin profiles different types of community gardens around the world, such as community-supported agriculture, shared plots and individual plots, orchards, rooftop gardens, and movable gardens. He also helps you get started, sharing how to begin a community garden from scratch, including gathering a team, navigating the legalities, and even securing funds. Fun tips are provided as well, such as how to get your family involved and community event and workshop ideas.

In addition to providing all the necessary details to get your community garden running and blossoming, Raskin also provides a season-by-season schedule of tasks to maximize growing, harvesting, and maintaining the garden in the off-season as well as a directory of plants that thrive in a community-garden setting.

“With a growing disillusionment with global capitalism and multinationals there is a desire to take back some control of our food system. What better way than to do it yourself!” Raskin says.

Readers will find the following in The Community Gardening Handbook:

• Profiles of different types of community gardens around the world, such as community-supported agriculture, shared plots and individual plots, orchards, rooftop gardens, and movable gardens
• Getting the whole family involved in the community’s gardening
  efforts
• Starting a community garden from scratch, including gathering a team, navigating the legalities, and securing funds
• Organizing fun community events, such as seed swaps and workshops, to raise awareness of and draw participants to community gardens
• Selecting a site, planning the garden’s layout, irrigation system, and
  division of plots
• A season-by-season schedule of tasks to maximize growing and harvesting and maintain the garden in the off-season
• A plant directory featuring detailed descriptions of close to 50 flowers, fruits, vegetables, herbs, and more that will thrive in a community-garden setting