Community gardens are just fun, weekend projects that are great for a light workout but not much else, right? Wrong! Gardening has a huge impact on the local environment, businesses and nature as a whole. Some of you already tend a personal garden, but perhaps you would like to get more involved in the community to lend your valuable experience and wisdom to local projects. This is your chance to start something amazing!
Benefits
- Team Effort – gardening can be a lot of toil and effort, so it’s great having a team that you can rely on to offer a hand. When you garden as a group you have the reassurance that even if you miss a few days, the garden will continue to thrive thanks to the work of your green-thumbed teammates.
- Economic Perks – Nothing says “Come stay a while” like a garden bursting with colorful flowers, shady trees, and butterflies gliding on the breeze. That’s why community gardening is a great way to boost local businesses as they lure more out-of-towners to come visit (and spend money) in your city.
- Social Exchange – the best thing about social projects is the constant exchanging of information from one gardener to another. Even experienced gardeners can take something away from meeting fresh faces and gaining their knowledge. The community garden is an excellent place to garner new practices, learn more about rare varieties, and have a good time networking with local horticulturists.
- Healthier Living – raising a garden is great exercise, reduces stress, and gives you fresh produce that your body needs and loves!
- Giving Back – Growing vegetables, herbs, and fruits to benefit those less fortunate in your community is always a worthwhile goal and the reverberations of these actions have positive impacts for everyone involved. Feeding the hungry with fresh produce that is grown with love is reward in and of itself!
- Soul Food – Besides filling empty stomachs, gardening is filling in a deeply intrinsic way. Whenever you work together with others toward the greater good, you’re giving yourself a larger purpose and feeding your heart in the process.
- Saving the World – When you grow a local garden you’re creating a buffet of beauty for humans, but also a literal buffet of nectar and pollen for resident pollinators. It’s no secret that wild pollinator species, particularly bees, are under threat from a host of environmental pressures such as industrialization, habitat loss, disease, pesticides, and climate change. There’s no easier or more effective way for you to lend them a hand than by giving them access to food and shelter, both of which are provided by community gardens. Since bees are responsible for a third of what we eat, when you save bees, you are saving the world!
Find a community garden near you to begin reaping all of these benefits. If you don’t already have one, start your own! Remember that you’ll be making the world a greener, sweeter place.