What Good are Community Gardens?

It's happening on every street, in every city, on balconies and rooftops, in municipal plots and abandoned sites, and although the benefits are still being assessed, no one questions that they are far-reaching. In fact, it's no exaggeration to say that community gardening can be a powerful antidote to hunger, poverty, loneliness and cultural isolation. Gardeners say it keeps them in shape, brings family and neighbours closer, increases their food security and imparts a sense of well being and community belonging, not to mention the potential benefits to the environment.

Benefits for individuals and families:

- physical exercise and mental relaxation
- more affordable produce
- increased consumption of fruit and vegetables
- greater control over food quality
- opportunities for social exchange
- time with kids and family
- connecting with nature
- a chance to protect the environment
- acquaintance with different foods, cultures
- improved gardening skills & food preservation techniques
- a chance to share surplus produce
- sense of community belonging
- marketable skills, co-operative experience

Benefits for communities and countries:

- greener cities and towns
- increased food security
- community economic development
- diversion of kitchen waste from landfills, through composting
- chemical-free food consumption
- reduced transportation costs
- lower pollution
- sense of community efficacy
- cross-cultural sharing, exchange
- greater self-sufficiency
- inter-sectoral co-operation
- improved population health
- wildlife habitat protection/restoration

Some Nutrition Facts*:

-Community gardeners consumed a greater number of fruits and vegetables compared to the national averages: 7.5 servings per day in the fall, and 6.3 servings in the spring.
- Of the gardeners surveyed, 70-80% consumed at least five servings of fruit and vegetables daily.
- In addition, 74% of gardeners preserved produce from the garden (through freezing, canning, pickling, and drying) and 95% shared produce with neighbours, emergency food service providers, and others
- Those involved with community gardens are more likely to eat and continue in the off-season to eat more fruits and vegetables making them more likely to meet "5 to 10 A-Day" goals.
- Of those families and individuals who participated in garden projects, 89% ate more fresh vegetables than usual, 96% planned to eat more fresh vegetables all year round, and 79% learned a new way to prepare fresh vegetables.

*Source:
Ohri-Vachaspati P and Warrix M. Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Among Urban Gardeners. Ohio State University Extension. As published in the 1999 SNE Annual Meeting Proceedings, page 33.

Savoie KA. Growing Good Nutrition: EFNEP Improves Dietary Behavior Through Gardening. University of Maine Cooperative Extension. 1998

Gardeners Lead Active Lives:

Gardening is active living. It is the second most popular physical activity in Canada, attracting 72% of Canadian adults. It offers the opportunity for lifelong participation, and can be a positive contributor to the natural environment.

Numerous studies have shown that regular physical activity reduces your risk of premature death, heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, adult-onset diabetes, osteoporosis, stroke, depression and colon cancer. Gardening and yard work contributes to healthy active living, and are part of all three types of physical activity - endurance, flexibility and strength activities. Heavy yard work like raking and carrying leaves contributes to both endurance and strengthening activities, while all those stretches and contortions in the garden can help increase and maintain your flexibility

Scientists say to accumulate 60 minutes of physical activity every day to stay healthy or to improve your health. Sixty minutes is the æmagicÆ number if activities involve light effort. Casual walking and easy gardeningùweeding, planting, etc.ùwould fall into this category. If activity requires moderate effort, then less timeùsomewhere in the 30û60 minute rangeùwill do. Raking leaves, mowing the lawn and pushing a wheelbarrow all fit the bill.

Gardening activities draw on your endurance, flexibility and strength, and will help control your weight.
-b Endurance activities help your heart, lungs and circulatory system stay healthy, and they give you more energy. Cutting the lawn, raking and gathering leaves, hoeing the garden, spreading mulch and pushing a wheelbarrow keep you on the move and bring endurance benefits.
- Flexibility activities contribute to easy movement. They allow your muscles to stay relaxed and your joints mobile. Bending and stretching to plant, weed, prune, mix potting soils and water plants by hand are all great activities to help you stay flexible.
- Strength activities keep your muscles and bones strong, and assist in maintaining proper posture. Digging in the garden, turning compost, carrying wood, hauling branches and other clean-up activities help keep you strong.
- A healthy weight comes from a balance of energy in (food) and energy out (physical activity). As a general guide, 31/2 hours of gardening or yard work æburnsÆ about 1,000 calories.

Gardening Reduces Stress

Quietly tending your garden or vegetable patch is a real stress-buster, helping relieve feelings of anxiety and giving you a break from the general rush of life. There is ample evidence that simply looking at a plant can reduce stress, fear, and anger, and lower blood pressure and reduce muscle tension.

Because the work is mainly physical, you have a chance to think about concerns & problems or just spend an hour or two of luxurious day-dreaming. As the results of your work will usually be quite obvious, you'll also feel a sense of accomplishment.

Cultivating Community

Community gardens are places where individuals work side by side with neighbourhood children, businessmen, homeless folks, and artists, all at once. They share stories and shovels, laughter and water, and slowly they build relationships that extend beyond the garden and into our larger community.

On any given day, the gardeners toiling side by side in any of TorontoÆs 100 community gardens may include Vietnamese, Cambodians, Russians, Eritreans, Somalis, Ukrainians, Filipino, Italians, Greeks, Czechs, East Indians, Chinese, Lebanese or West Indians. Some Canadian-born participants speak English, some French, others Inuktitut. The mix of gardeners means many are meeting some foods for the first time. Amaranth, mustard greens, water grass, bitter melon, fava beans, Lebanese cucumbers and pole beans are unfamiliar to most Canadian-born participants. In turn, newcomers to Canada are getting acquainted with swiss chard, strawberries, rhubarb, kohlrabi and sunflowers.

New friendships bloom as gardeners swap tips, ideas and labour, or stop to chat in the afternoon heat. A midsummer potluck dinner features dishes the gardeners made from their own produce. Later in the season there'll be workshops to help them preserve what they and their fellow-gardeners have grown, through pickling, freezing and canning. Many say they share the harvest with friends and family and on average, that seven people eat from each plot.

"Gardening is good for body and soul."

" My children will now eat vegetables because they grew them themselves."

"Gardening helps me save money for something else."

" I just love spending time in the garden--it gives me something to look
forward to every day."

"The garden plot helped my family relax and have fun together."