Growing communities through gardening

Community gardens are parcels of land cultivated by groups of people in urban, rural, and suburban neighborhoods throughout the United States. Participants select to grow flowers, food, or community. In cities like Columbia vacant lots or city park property often become common ground for building alliances within and between communities.

In 2006 Carolina Peace Common Ground Workgroup (CPCG) launched two gardens in the communities of Rosewood and Edisto Court by partnering with the City of Columbia, Edisto Court, and Rosewood community councils, city parks and recreation, and the Boys and Girls Club, Ben Arnold unit.

The gardens provide residents raised beds in which to grow food, have on site water and composting bins. Volunteers demonstrate growing tech- niques, soil building, composting, mulching, and healthy food preparation. Neighborhood businesses like Rosewood Market and Publix contribute produce scraps to the compost bins.

Start- up funding for each garden came from City of Columbia CANDO grants. In August 2008 the SC Midlands Master Gardener Association granted funds for additional raised beds, signage, fruit trees to enhance the year- round public education program at the site.

Plastic protects lettuces during the recent extended cold spells. According to Lori Donath of Carolina Peace, participants at the Rosewood organic garden meet and work at the garden every other week. On a rotational basis, growers take turns picking- up compost, tending the plants, and harvesting the produce.

The current winter garden grows cool- season brassicas and lettuces. Donath says, "The projects (gardens) are models that elected officials might replicate at recreation and community centers where community members could directly make use of their common spaces to grow food."

Brian Glavey joined the Rosewood Garden after moving to Columbia from Charlottesville, Virginia where that community's rent- a- plot was an important part of his life.

Billy Terry, USC graduate student, has been gardening at Edisto Court for a year. As a geography major, he has studied the impact of industrialized food systems on the environment. He wants to grow food cheaply and finds doing it with others can build a sense of community.

Mulch deters weeds and holds water for young plants. The health benefits of homegrown food are also a reason to garden. Terry learned to amend the poor soil in order to yield cucumbers, tomatoes, yellow squash, bell peppers, and gourds last summer, and he has collards growing now.

If interested in participating in the Rosewood or Edisto Court community garden visit www.carolinapeace. com.

The national community garden association offers resources to organizations interested in initiating community garden programs at www.communitygardens. org/

Newly installed raised beds at Edisto Court Garden are growing collards. Mulched collards at Rosewood Garden Rosewood Market and Publix contribute produce scraps to the tripart compost bin.