This year we purchased a space in a community garden in addition to our backyard space. It's a 10 x 20 foot plot located approximately 5 miles from our house.

Our plan is to use the other garden for space loving plants that are harder to fit in our urban backyard. It might be crazy as we already have a lot to keep up with, but we wanted to give it a shot.

We started with three rows of potato hills. If all goes well between these rows, the potato tower, buckets, and a strawbale pile, we will be eating homegrown potatoes all winter!

In a few weeks we will direct sow squash, popcorn and quinoa. All should require infrequent care and hopefully will survive with once or twice weekly checkups.

We are committed to sharing our harvest. Just like last year, at least 10% of what we grow will be donated to Clintonville Community Resource Center.

Are you community gardening this year? Are you donating any of your harvest?

What can you do if you don't have space to garden yourself? Or, what if you love to garden so much you have extra energy and supplies to share? Community Garden, of course!

Community gardens are lands gardened by a group of people rather than a single owner. Some gardens have multiple plots given to individuals for their own harvest. Others have one large plan where the work and harvest are shared. Still others are sown and tended simply to beautify a neighborhood.

Whatever their organization, community gardens benefit the land and people in so many ways: growing healthy food, beautifying and preserving green space, providing recreation and intergenerational gathering spaces, and conserving resources.

The American Community Gardening Association has an extensive database of resources and community garden locations.

In my own neck of the woods (central Ohio), the ACGA lists 117 gardens! I see them as I cycle around the city and am hopeful we will have a garden at the school under construction down our street soon.

Three Sisters garden coming to live in Worthington

One interesting community garden underway is the Three Sisters Garden at Brookside Elementary in Worthington Ohio. They have a beautiful design in the shape of a turtle shell that includes Native American historical planting techniques and a seasonal calendar sculpture. Students, teachers, and community volunteers provide the labor and donations provide the supplies. What a wonderful example of working together! I can't wait to see the garden as it progresses.

My own garden keeps me busy enough that I am not a regular volunteer at a community garden. Yet. I know there will be a time soon when I can devote my attention to one of the many group gardens nearby. Do you work in a community garden?