By: Ray Ledesma
03/27/2009
The aim of a community supported garden is to build healthy families by providing a space to grow organic vegetables to members of the community.
Family members plan and grow a garden for an entire season, and in return, receive a share of the harvest each week. Partnerships among family members increases community involvement and stimulate the growth of local economies.
CSG projects should be committed to making garden space accessible to individuals and families of all ethnicities and economic backgrounds.
CSG projects also make a significant contribution to building socially equitable communities and overall community development by providing the following social services:
- Seasonal Celebration Harvest Festivals
- Farmers Markets
- Educational programs about gardening/ environmental conservation
- Gleaning programs that donate extra produce to food banks/ hunger organizations
- Reduced grocery bills/ economic savings for CSG participants
- Improved nutrition, exercise, stress-reduction, increased pride and self-esteem for CSG participants.
- Providing a healthy family activity that encourages contact with other community supports and organizations.
PLANNING THE GARDEN
No garden plan can be made to suit all condition or tastes – one should, however, have a definite plan and then follow it through the season. In general, only those vegetables most desired by the families of the community garden should be planted.
SIZE
Between 1,000 (20′ X 50′) and 3,000 square feet (60′ X 60′) of space are needed to plant a garden that supplies sufficient vegetables for a family of 3-5 people.
Where conditions justify, gardens of five thousand – ten thousand square feet may be desirable for the production of large quantities of vegetables.
An area of 43,560 square feet (1 acre) should be enough to feed twenty families from 6-10 months of the year with a rotation of summer and winter crops.
LOCATION
There are numerous factors that must be considered when exploring locations for a CSG project:
- Area (acreage)
- Topography
- Water (access to, etc.)
- Transportation (accessibility of site)
- Political barriers
- Quality of the soil (pH, texture, etc.)
- History of site (past uses, etc.)
CSG SOIL TILLAGE AND CULTIVATION
I. Types of Soil Tillage.
a. Primary Tillage
i. Course and deep tillage cut fractures and mixes the soil. Often accomplished with implement such as plow, discs, rotary tiller, that inverts, sifts, or mixes the top six inches to one foot or more of soil.
b. Secondary Tillage
i. Shallow and fine tillage: Secondary tillage produces a fine seed or root bed by a series of operations that reduces the particle size of surface soil. Tools and techniques are applied to the top 3′ – 4″ of soil used to form fine, level, and firm planting beds following primary cultivation.
c. Cultivation Tillage
i. Shallow, post-planting tillage used to loosen and aerate compacted soils, hill soil, and eradicate unwanted vegetation growing around cultivated crops.
II. Timing of Tillage.
a. The soil is tilled on a seasonal basis:
i. Spring: Period of most extensive cultivation. Deep tillage is often used to remove or incorporate cover crops, aerate and warm soil soils, incorporate mineral and organic matter into the soil, add soil amendments, and to create planting beds for seeds or transplants.
ii. Summer: Period of light tillage and surface cultivation for successive cropping.
iii. Fall: Deep cultivation is frequently used to prepare soils for fall and over-wintering crop production. Tillage is often used in the fall to incorporate minerals, organic matter, and soil amendments prior to sowing cover crops.
iv. Winter: Period of little or no cultivation. Time to select seed, equipment, and repair/ maintain tools for the next planting season.