Isn't This a Wonderful Idea? (Neighborhood Gardens)

fureverywhere

fureverywhere

beloved friend who will always be with us in spiri
Location
Northern NJ, USA
I heard about this on the radio today. It's such a simple concept. Each participating family in a neighborhood grows maybe five edible plants. Then everyone is free to pick from each others gardens. Free fresh food and healthier eating, I'd be happy to start it in our neighborhood but there aren't a lot of gardeners on our block.
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/04/25/please-pick-project-nyack/
 

I was working in northern California's "Gold Country" back in the 80s. The city of Oroville had just taken in about 5,000 refugees from southeast Asia, and they were planting gardens helter-skelter all over town. They weren't sharing the food, though. They just didn't understand why you couldn't plant your food in the median of a public street. Nobody else was using it.

Instead of getting angry, the good people of Oroville, descendants of farmers and dairymen, had a counsel meeting and everyone agreed to entrust wasted acreage to the refugees if the refugees agreed to sell their bumper crop at the local farmers market and/or fruit stands.

I remember reading that NY City legislators passed laws against growing gardens at home. That was maybe 8 years ago? Don't know what came of that, other than people got angry. I don't think it's legal to pass laws prohibiting people from growing food.
 
That's crazy to say people can't grow food. In fact I'm sure most of the city food banks would be grateful for produce. I suppose somebody starts whining about safe storage and how will they know when it goes bad. But it's really just common sense.
 

We have Allotment Gardens across the city, here in Toronto. You have to buy a permit, which vary in price. It would be nice if they were free.
 
This area has quite a few community gardens. I think each person pays a small fee to get a plot, then plants and tends until harvest. Could be wrong, but pretty sure each person picks only their own unless they want to share with the others. It's perfect for those living in apartments or condos/townhomes with no real yard to garden.
 
Pinky said:
We have Allotment Gardens across the city, here in Toronto. You have to buy a permit, which vary in price. It would be nice if they were free.
Click to expand...

Yeah, they should be free, because why buy a permit plus do all that work instead of just buying produce? Instead of charging for a permit, they should make a contract - 10% of your crop must be donated to a food bank or something like that.
 
The backyard veggie patch and fruit trees were commonplace when I was a child. Then house and garden magazines tended to promote the back yard as an entertainment space and the veggie patch largely disappeared. Landscaping took over.

There is now a movement towards sustainable gardening involving above ground level gardens using organic, no dig techniques. I have a very small raised garden bed that has been supplying me with cherry tomatoes and fresh spinach all over the Summer. This is the result of planting just three tomato plants and one punnet of spinach seedlings.

I've often thought that I should plant fruit trees on the nature strip for anyone to harvest but we do have a fruit fly problem in Sydney. Maggoty fruit on the ground would not be very attractive.
 
10% of your crop must be donated to a food bank or something like that...great idea, I don't think the town or county should use it for money making.
 

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