Start Your Own Community Garden

If you live in an apartment, condo or home that’s not hospitable to planting, joining a community garden can give you a way to:

Grow healthy fruits and vegetables while reducing your grocery bill and improving nutrition.
Spend time with neighbors in the outdoors.
Contribute to the greening of your community, which improves air quality and optimum use of public lands.

Plan. Start by enlisting neighbors and partners, and get support from the County. Finding a site that’s suitable is also important to making sure your garden is a success.
Grow. A first step is to check the quality of your soil by testing it with a VCE Soil Test Kit, which will be analyzed by the Virginia Tech Soil Lab. Contact the local VCE office at 703-228-6414 or mgarlalex@gmail.com for information on how to find and use these kits. Choosing the right plants and green gardening practices will also help your garden grow.
Manage. Create a management plan that shows exactly what’s expected of participants and how the group will manage its resources.