Quantifying use in a community garden program with extensive resource provision to gardeners

Abstract

Harvest Pierce County (HPC) is a new community garden program in Tacoma and Pierce County, WA, managed as a nonprofit with extensive municipal involvement. The program manages approximately 80 gardens. Each garden is provided with access to land, soil testing, clean soil and compost, water, education, and guidance for gardeners, thus effectively eliminating common obstacles to successful cultivation in urban areas. We conducted a survey of gardens within the HPC program to quantify the number and size of plots within each garden and to qualitatively assess intensity of use. Internal (donation history, age, plot and garden size, and number of plots) and external factors (population density, racial diversity, income) based on the neighborhoods surrounding the gardens were evaluated to assess their potential association with use intensity. We surveyed 66 gardens containing 1,960 plots. The mean number of plots per garden was 32 ± 20.2 with each plot having a mean area of 25.6 m2. On a scale of 0 to 3, mean use intensity was 2.26 ± 0.55. Larger gardens (p < .085) and larger plots (p < .02) are used more intensively than smaller gardens and smaller plots. Gardens were well distributed across income, population density, and racial identification. Overall gardens are well‐used across the program. For this program, providing the requisite materials and information for gardens has resulted in a program that is inclusive and is likely to provide a range of benefits for participants.