When you look at vegetables in the grocery store, do you ever think wouldn’t it be nice to grow your own?  Don’t you find the cleaned, polished veggies wrapped in cellophane, just don’t have a great taste?

Why Grow Your Own?

For whatever reason, you may not have enough space to grow your own vegetables. Just look at any city, condos and office towers fill every space, and green spaces are often an after thought. Many people are moving toward creating their own indoor jungles.

But what if you want more, what if you want to grow your own vegetables?  There is only so much you can grow in containers on the balcony, and using that space may not be practical, especially if you are a family,

Here are some options which allow you to have your own garden if you don’t mind travelling to the plot.

Enter the municipal plot or Allotment,  Community Gardens,  and Garden sharing.

What is an Allotment?

An allotment is a plot of land let to an individual for growing vegetables or flowers. You usually are not aware of their existence  until you want to rent one.   Check with your local city for rental start dates and where the allotments are located.  Be warned, demand is increasing and the previous renters of a plot usually get first dibs on the same garden they worked on, so make inquiries early.

Benefits

• Grow your own, fresh, fresh, vegetables and fruit.
• social occasion with other growers
• A great learning environment for children
• Share the bounty
• Promote good dietary habits
• Therapeutic for mental and physical health

A study of the health and well-being benefits of allotment gardening has found that it can play a key role in promoting positive out comes and as a preventative health measure.

From personal experience I can tell you it was an amazing experience.  I had an allotment for five years, and cultivated it along with my father (he did most of the work), and two young children.

Nothing can replace the lasting memories of my father, and his young grandchildren nurturing that plot of land into a flourishing oasis.  The children got to see first hand how their food made it to the table, not to mention running through the rows of vegetables, splashing each other with the hose, and thoroughly enjoying themselves.

My dad got to share his gardening skills with his grandchildren, socialize with the  neighboring plot holders, and rekindle his knowledge of cultivation from his youth growing up on his father’s acreage. I got to bear witness and enjoy this family time.

The vegetables were organic and delicious, the flavours of the tomatoes, melons, peppers and lettuce were full and robust, nothing like those from the grocery store. There was one year when  an infestation of crawly things ruined most of the peppers, but other than that the social and physical benefits of the allotment were well worth the cost and effort.

Work out the cost of rent, travel, tools and figure out if it is something that you will be able to do for at least one season.

Community Gardens

A community garden is land that is collectively cultivated by a group of people. They are usually located on land that was formerly under utilized, such as vacant lots. Sometimes they are in urban areas where there is food insecurity with regards to fresh vegetables and fruits.

Many are used as educational and volunteer opportunities for the benefit of the community. Inner city spaces are particularly beneficial.

Surplus produce is usually distributed  to food banks and for the benefit of the community.

Both the community and the environment benefits from the community gardens.  It is definitely something to look into if you have a group of like minded individuals within the community.

Community Garden Start up Basics

Check with your local city to find out the requirements to start a garden in your area, on common or city owned land.

There is usually a minimum amount of people required to start the project, and one person should be chosen to handle the proposal, while  assignments can be divided amongst members to support the project.

The location should be practical and secure.

A submitted proposal would include: a description of the group, site plan, a description of the space and permission for its use.

Funding could be community based or interested organizations.

Garden sharing

Garden sharing is fairly new. In this case a landowner with underused land is linked with growers looking for garden space. This has much the same benefits as the allotments and community gardens, but the agreement is between the owner and the user of the space.

For an example of Garden Sharing, how it works and resources in Toronto, Canada  see the Toronto Urban Growers 

If you have experience with allotments, community gardens or garden share, let us know about it in the comments below.

Resources

Community Gardening

Shared Earth | The Largest Community Garden on the Planet!

A case-control study of the health and well-being benefits of allotment gardening