community gardens

community gardens in ireland

The Organic Centre in County Leitrim supports 20 food growing intiatives and country wide community gardens are appearing rapidly. In Galway the Ballybane Community Organic Garden was set up in 2004 through the initiative of the local Ballybane/Mervue CDP (community development partnership). Three years on the project is thriving. Crops grown to date include potatoes, corn, lettuce, tomatoes, scallions, coriander and runner beans. The project is supported by Galway City Council, which provided a site, HSE West, RAPID (Revitalising Areas by Planning, Investment & Development), NUI Galway, the VEC and Ballybane/ Mervue CDP.

The National Community Garden Association was formed in Nov 2008 with support from Wicklow Community Gardening Network, Cultivate Centre, Climate Champions, Soul Food group and the Organic Centre. Plots of land have been found in all manner of ways: donated by parish priests and schools for use by local schoolchildren.

community gardens in other countries

Currently there are 10,000 community gardens in cities in the USA. In Britain the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens represent 59 city farms and almost 1,000 community gardens. In countries like Austria and Germany, where they never lost the tradition of allotments or Klein Garten, members exchange information and post up photographs of their various activities on websites covering the whole country.

how to set up a community garden

Your local authority will only help provide community gardens if they feel there is enough interest and they can be sure the plots will be used. To find out how to set up a community garden click 'how to set up a community garden'.