Community Gardens

The What and Why

A community garden uses shared land – sometimes even vacant lots – to allow people to grow their own produce. This can provide high quality, nutritionally dense foods that may otherwise be out of reach. Immigrants grow ethnic foods that may not be locally available. Selling excess produce often creates opportunities for job skills training and employment in areas where they are desperately needed. School children, prisoners, at-risk youth, refugees, new immigrants and adults with limited incomes are just a few of the groups that aresowing seeds in some 18,000 community gardens in North America. Community gardens tend to become neighborhood gathering places, bringing together people of different generations and ethnicities. Often the new community bands together to addresses local issues such as poverty and justice.

Local Snapshots

• GROW Nashville – Community group that provides support and resources to local community gardens
Offers advice, volunteers, help locating compost, soil, seeds and plants.

Contact Vera Vollbrecht at Warner Park Nature Center
Phone: 352-6299
Web: www.nashville.gov/community_gardens/

• Edgehill Community Garden – located on the corner of 14th Avenue South and Horton Avenue
3-acre garden, 30 community gardeners.
Organized Neighbors of Edgehill
Phone: 228-1649

• Nashville Urban Harvest – West Nashville Community Farm 1211 57th Avenue North
Web: www.nashvilleurbanharvest.org

• Shelby Park Discovery Garden (East Nashville) 401 South 20th Street (behind the Center) - Gardens of Babylon
Phone: 352-6299

• EarthMattersTN - George Washington Carver Food Park, Lealand (10th Avenue South) and Gale Lane
Phone: 252-6953
Web: www.earthmattersnetworks.com

• Wedgewood Urban Gardens
613 Wedgewood ave
Phone: 491-9009


“Dig in”

Volunteer at a community garden

Donate seeds, plants or tools

Turn your fruit and vegetable waste into compost in your own backyard, and donate the compost to a community garden

Buy produce from local community gardens

Donate money to community gardens for educational programs, community farm management, farmers’ market maintenance, and other local agriculture programs

If your neighborhood or local school isn’t already served by a community garden, consider starting one