Food Policy

Community Garden Resources

		Like the contents of the toolshed pictured to the left, there's a diversity of tools to help the community gardening cause. This page assembles some some key references, weblinks and contact details to help you with your work. It's far from complete, so if you know of something that ought to be listed here please let us know. Send an email with the details to: foodpolicy@vancouver.ca.
City Farmer Tool Shed. photo by donkeycart

Quick Links

• The Case for Community Gardens
• Resources to Help with the Planning and Design of Community Gardens
• City of Vancouver Community Garden Guidelines, Policies & Reports
• Community Garden Policies & Guidelines - Other Communities
• Local Organizations Providing Support to Community Gardens
• Local Garden Listings and Networking Resources
• Community Garden Organizations & Networks - Outside Vancouver
• Other Useful Resources

 

The Case for Community Gardens & Community Garden Research

• Amanda McCuaig. Green in the City: The Benefits of Urban Agriculture. July 2006. (Looks at the MOBY garden in east Vancouver). (PDF)
• Barbara Pollack. Our Community Garden. Beyond Words, 2004 (Ages 4-8). (Review)
• Brooklyn Botanic Gardening. Community Gardens. (Review)
• Charles Dobson. The Citizen's Handbook. Part II - Community Building Activities. "Community Gardens."
• David Tracey. Guerrilla Gardening: A Manualfesto. New Society Publishers, 2007. (Review)
• Diana Hall. Community Gardens as an Urban Planning Issue. UBC SCARP Thesis. 1996. MS WORD.
• Evergreen Foundation. Growing Healthy Food on Canada’s School Grounds. March 2006. (PDF, 217KB)
• Foodshare. Community Garden 101. Web-tutorial and readings.
• Gardening Matters. Multiple Benefits of Community Gardening. 2006. (PDF)
• Nova Scotia Environmental Network. Community Gardens: The Benefits. (PDF)
• SPARC BC and Greg Awai. Community Gardens on Brownfields: A Summary Report and Inventory. December 2007. (PDF)
• Terra Murphy Kaethler. Growing Space: The Potential for Urban Agriculture in the City of Vancouver (PDF, 2.11MB) UBC Masters Thesis.
• Vickie Been and Iona Voicu / New York University School of Law. The Effect of Community Gardens on Neighbouring Property Values. March 2006.

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Resources to Help With the Planning and Design of Community Gardens

• Urban Agriculture Site Development Group (Gehron Burkholder, Polly Ng, Jing Niu, Anjuli Solanki). Growing Gardens: A Resource Package on How to Start Your Own Community Garden. Undergraduate report prepared for SPEC/UBC (PDF, 802KB)

  • Appendix A - Contact List of Helpful People (PDF, 40KB)
    
  • Appendix B: Urban Agriculture Site Analysis Template (PDF, 62KB)
    
  • Appendix C: Inventory of Community Meeting Spaces (PDF, 301KB)
    
  • Appendix D: City of Vancouver Community Garden Pilot Project (PDF, 55KB)
    
  • Appendix E: BC Agricultural Testing Labratories (PDF, 112KB)
    
  • Appendix F: Other Soil Testing Labratories (PDF, 30KB)
    
  • Appendix G: Soil Sampling Factsheet (PDF, 419KB)
    
  • Appendix H: Compost Information (PDF, 39KB)
    
  • Appendix I: Template Donation Letter (PDF, 28KB)
  • Appendix J: Grant Information (PDF, 71KB)
    
  • Appendix K: Resource Information (PDF, 45KB)
    
  • Appendix L: Template Community Garden Meeting Minutes (PDF, 1.18MB)
  • Appendix M: Template Community Garden Contract (PDF, 367KB)

• American Community Gardening Association. Tips on Starting a Community Garden.
• Evergreen. Community Gardens: Themes and Ideas. Common Grounds Fact Sheet #6 (PDF)
• Evergreen. Designing Community Spaces. Common Grounds Fact Sheet #7 (PDF)
• Vancouver Community Agriculture Network. Growing Community Gardens: A Guide to Farming Food in Vancouver.
• Australian City Farms and Community Gardens Network. Let's Start Gardening.
• Community Gardening in South Australia. Resource Kit. 2004
• Wasatch Community Gardens. From Neglected Parcels to Community Gardens: A Handbook. (PDF)
• Instructables. How to Create A Community Garden. Website with video.
• Laura Berman. How Does Our Garden Grow? A Guide to Community Garden Success. Foodshare Ontario. 2000? (Review).
• Rachel Surls et al. Community Garden Start Up Guide. University of California.
• Common Ground Garden Program/University of California. A Gardening Angels How-to Manual: Easy Steps to Building A Sustainable School Garden Program. May 2000.
• H.C. Flores. Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard Into a Garden and Your Neighborhood Into a Community. Chelsea Green, October 2006. (Review).

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City of Vancouver Community Garden Guidelines, Policies and Reports

• City of Vancouver’s Operational Guidelines for Community Gardens on City-owned Land (PDF, 60KB)
• Vancouver Park Board’s Community Garden Policy
• City of Vancouver Food Policy Tools & Resources Page - has other items on urban agriculture and food policy that may be of use.
• Social Planning Department. Community Garden Pilot Project. May 2006. (PDF)

Community Garden Policies & Guidelines - Other Communities

• City of Victoria. Community Gardens Policy. September 2005.
• City of Portland. Urban Agricultural Resolution. (Resolution 36272)
• City of Calgary. Community Gardens and Community Gardens Definition List. (PDF)
• City of Winnipeg. Community Gardening Policy. (PDF)
• City of Boston. Community Garden & Open Space Zoning Ordinance. March 1988. (PDF)
• City of Cleveland. Community Garden Zoning Ordinance. December, 2007. (PDF)
• City of Seattle. Strategic Plan / Community Gardens. June 2000.
• City of San Francisco. Community Gardens Policies. July 2006. (PDF)
• Public Health Law & Policy. Model Policy Language for Community Gardens. Also: Establishing Land Use Protections for Community Gardens. (PDF)

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Local Organizations Providing Support to Community Gardens

• City Farmer - Supports urban agriculture in Vancouver with workshops and resources.
• Environmental Youth Alliance (EYA) - EYA also has undertaken a number of garden and food related projects in Vancouver.
• Evergreen - A not-for-profit organization that works to make cities more livable.
• Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC) - Focus on urban communities.
• Vancouver Community Agriculture Network (VCAN) - Helps low income and other groups start and manage community gardens.
• Vancouver Public Space Network - Assists community groups in establishing gardens and provides capacity and administrative assistance as part of their greenspaces programs.
• Vancouver Urban Agriculture Network (VUAN) - A forum for growers interested in improving policy and prospects for urban agriculture. VUAN meets monthly and hosts VUAN's GoogleGroups Page.
  

Local Garden Listings and Networking Resources

• Greater Vancouver Community Gardens - Social Networking Page for gardeners throughout the Lower Mainland
• City Farmer Community Gardens Webpage - Contains a listing of gardens, and updates on the many community gardens around the city.
• Green Living Magazine - Vancouver: Community Gardens - A partial listing of community gardens in the city, with local maps and membership information.
• Community Gardens in Greater Vancouver and Victoria (external link to CityFarmer.org)
• Vancouver Community Gardens located on parkland (Vancouver Park Board)

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Community Garden Organizations & Networks - Outside Vancouver

• Utah Community Gardens Network. Website.
• Edmonton Community Garden Network. Website.
• Central Okanaghan Community Gardens Society. Website.
• Care Canada. Zimbabwe Community Gardens.
• York Region Food Network (Ontario). Website. What is A Community Garden?
• Toronto Community Gardening Network. Website.

Other Useful Resources

• American Community Gardening Association - an excellent repository of materials on gardening start up, garden studies, accessible gardens and more.
• Good Books on Community Gardening - See this list from the City Farmer website.

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