Introduction to the Process

There are some basic pieces that make up almost every process of creating a community garden. Organised into three broad categories of social, physical, and economic considerations, these include:


Social:
  • fostering initial and continuing community support for your project


    • Physical:
  • finding available and suitable land for gardening
  • doing a physical analysis for your site
  • planning the physical design of your garden


    • Economic:
  • assessing costs
  • finding funding

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    Within and aside from these fundamentals, there are many tasks and considerations that go into the creation of a community garden. You will likely come across ideas, opportunities, and concerns that are unique to your project. As well, the order in which you tackle these considerations (or perhaps the sequence in which surprises find you!) will be individual to your garden.

    Hence, the following sections are not organised in chronological order. They are organised into the three categories of social, physical, and economic; and present the fundamentals and other items that you will likely think about or come across in the process of starting your garden. It is up to you to decide which tasks and considerations best fit your needs and to choose when it makes the most sense for your group to address them.

    An important thing to recognize when thinking about the process of starting a community garden is that it takes time. On average it takes about 18-24 months from your first organising efforts to when you are able to start gardening. There will be snags along the way but the learning and growing process can be as enjoyable as the potential outcome.

    As well, there is no absolute perfect garden and it is important that each garden has character to match its neighbourhood. However, there are certain guidelines that are important to follow when gardening on lands owned by the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation and the City of Vancouver.

    If you would like guidance through your process, consider partnering with an established garden. For a list of a few community gardens in Vancouver which have expressed interest in providing advice and guidance for budding gardens, see APPENDIX A. Also try approaching members of the many other successful community gardens and ask for their advice and expertise. Many people are eager to support the growth of more community gardens and gardeners.

    Conceptualizing the process

    This template may be helpful in helping you organise the many errands and projects that are involved in starting your community garden. The template is broken down into two phases and three categories of factors. It is important to meet the requirements of the initial phase so that you can successfully develop your project through the second phase. The three categories of social, economic, and physical/ environmental factors are equally important to consider when planning your community garden and will vary from garden to garden. You may need to select certain steps and carry them out according to the action plan that makes the most sense for your group, location, and resources. For more detail on this template, please see APPENDIX B.