Start a Community Food Garden: The Essential Handbook

This delightful “handbook” by Joy, a master gardener, offers equal parts sociology skills, organizational principles, business management tips, and illustrated guides for (among other things) planting seeds with the tip of a finger. All these disparate areas of knowledge and skill are relevant to developing a community garden. As the book shows, it is a place so complex that understanding human personalities—as noted in a section called “How to Get Along”—becomes as critical as garden essentials like “How to Read a Seed Packet.” The section titled “How to Hold a Community Meeting” includes reminders about oft-overlooked logistical details as securing a venue with sufficient parking and a children’s play area. Meeting agendas, Joy says, must be precise and comprehensive and include actions items. Fund-raising, work days, group rules, and registration are all elements that must be in place before planting even starts. The section “Teaching New Gardeners” flows naturally into the helpful tips about plants’ growth habits, sun needs, and seasonal characteristics. An excellent tool that cultivates human communities as much as it grows vegetables in group gardens. (Dec.)