There is often the work you are doing, then the energy you are using to lay the foundation for future work.
For me, some of that future work hopefully includes growing most (if not all) the vegetables, fruits and herbs my family consumes, for at least several months of the year or more, dependent on what climate zone and terrain we live in and on.
I also look forward to involvement in community gardening and am interested in how the experience and expertise of home gardeners can help mainstream that activity.
Also, valuing networks of home gardens themselves- in some communities which contribute over 50% to local biodiversity – is part of this.
To that end, I have a pilot survey open to begin to explore insight on how home and allotment gardeners themselves view how their knowledge and experience could help mainstream community agricultural activity.
Among several questions in the survey is ‘What do you perceive as the challenges for home gardeners in your community and region?’. Some responses thus far include:
- Pests
- Weather
- Access to a plot
- Social pressure to have an aesthetic garden over a functional garden
- Building and repairing topsoil after decades of erosion and depletion
- Restrictions on watering, in summertime, as the dry season becomes severe
- Lack of community gardens or allotments in the city or close to it
- Lack of free time to gather knowledge and do the work
When asked, ‘Do you have any ideas for how home gardeners could be better supported to increase the ‘network’ of home gardens in a community?’ some responses include:
- More plots available for gardening would get more people involved.
- Sharing information
- Guides in terms of when to seed, plant, and how to deal with nutrients and plant health, pests, and things like that
- Public outreach and community events
- Neighborhood fruit tree initiatives
- Community glass houses and tool sheds, tool-sharing initiatives
- Community education, plant swaps, and other community activities
- Community gardens, connections of gardeners online
- More encouragement from the government
- There is no network of home gardeners in my neighbourhood
- More allotments made on disused land
- Gardening clubs in schools run by retired people, free soil, pots, and plants given out by the council, guides, pop-up gardens, advice spaces
- Looking forward to continuing with this- if you are a gardener (whether a newbie or years of experience) feel welcome to take the survey and of course also share with any fellow gardeners.
Survey link here
📷 I’m growing dozens of types of veggies, fruits and herbs at our new location. Pictured here is one of the areas where I am growing corn, pumpkins and beans. The stars of these two photos are mainly pumpkin and bean seedlings, photographed a few days apart.
-Annika
