Resources and Tools

Looking for a practical guide to sustaining your community garden, or starting a new one? Want a well-written,user-friendly, down-to-earth handbook covering best practices and experience-based strategies? NC Cooperative Extension’s guide, Collard Greens and Common Ground: A North Carolina Food Gardening Handbook is just what you’re looking for. Organized into chapters covering all aspects of community gardening, from the all-important period of community organizing before you ever put a seed in the ground to dealing with fundraising and coalition building. This guide stands out for its emphasis on community gardening, inclusion of chapters on garden design and garden-scale food production, and focus on North Carolina. Highly recommended. This download includes the first 31 pages of the 76 page guide - be sure to download the other three sections from this website, or visit NC Cooperative Extension to download the entire PDF for free or order a print copy for $10.

Grazing in the garden offers youth opportunities to connect with plants through casual nibbling. Edible ornamental and wild plants can introduce youth to new cultures, offer lessons on plant biology and identification, and inspire enthusiasm for gardening. Garden grazing also encourages a deeper understanding of nutrition and healthy eating habits. All of the plants in this grazing guide are easy to grow in a garden, and some can be found by taking a stroll outside.

A 4H Youth Gardening Fact Sheet and NCSU Cooperative Extension publication.

If you have garden surplus you want to donate, find a local food pantry near you by searching this map on AmpleHarvest.org

Get your questions answered by an expert through this online portal! Experts have expertise in a variety of topics including horticulture.

Step 1: Type in your question and Search for an Answer to see if there is already information online that will be useful to you
Step 2: If you don’t find what you’re looking for, select Send to “Ask and Expert”
Step 3: Upload images if that will help explain your question. Choose a category that represents your question (most questions related to community gardens should be addressed to Horticulture or Family Food Fitness). Enter your location and personal information so the expert can respond to you via email.

What is eXtension?
eXtension is an interactive learning environment delivering the best, most researched knowledge from the best land-grant university minds across America. eXtension connects knowledge consumers with knowledge providers - experts who know their subject matter inside out.

The intention of this Handbook is to provide a tangible road map, with technical assistance directions, to guide you toward your goal of a sustainable community garden. To that end, Growing Community Gardens is a compilation that shares the practices and core beliefs of our organization’s (Denver Urban Gardens) experience over 25 years. During that time, we have worked with countless partners and communities with the primary goal of building and strengthening community.

A resource guide for community gardens in parks developed by the National Recreation and Parks Association

A planting guide for annual vegetables, fruits and herbs in central (Piedmont) North Carolina. Publication of North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service.

Come to the Table offers a variety of publications and resources for people of faith working to relieve hunger and sustain local agriculture. The regional conferences they hold across the state include community garden presentations (some of these presentations and resources are available on this site).

The Come to the Table Guidebook is a 40-page publication (download file below) that includes an overview of the theology and issues surrounding farming and food security in North Carolina, perspectives from faith leaders, easy tools for identifying the needs and resources in your community, example projects for congregations to relieve hunger and support local food production, and a resource list.

This guide is intended to help communities and local governments realize the benefits of creating and supporting local food systems in their areas. In addition to economic development and job creation, these include better health outcomes due to increased access to fresh fruits and vegetables, land and farmer preservation, and more.  The guide focuses on land use and planning issues that arise as elected officials, town managers, Cooperative Extension agents, and community leaders work together to establish local food systems in their communities. It provides guidance on collaborating for growth in local food systems, including advice on creating a local food policy council, conducting a local food systems assessment, and incorporating local food systems into economic development strategies. The guide also provides ideas and resources for growing an area’s “local food economy”, including supporting farmers markets, roadside stands and mobile markets; increasing local foods in groceries, convenience store, and corner markets; establishing more community gardens; supporting urban agriculture; repurposing vacant, publicly-owned land for food production, processing, distribution, and sales; and increasing agritourism. Published May 2013 by the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS).

2014 Hunger Solutions Webinar Series
Sponsored by AARP-NC

This 3-part webinar series explores ways to help solve the problem of hunger in our state, with special emphasis on models for student-led engagement at colleges and universities.

Webinar Two
“Community Gardens”
Monday, December 15, 2014 (2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.)

Featuring:
—Lisa Valdivia, Project Coordinator, The Cooperative Extension Program at N.C. A&T State University, Board Member, North Carolina Community Garden Partners
—Claire Lorch, Carolina Campus Community Garden Education Coordinator

This is a review of communuity gardening literature that will be useful for anyone looking to quickly find published information supporting the relationship between community gardens and various topics.

Articles have been summarized and tagged with the following labels: Children & Youth, Community Cohesion, Diverse Populations, Economic Benefits, Food Access, Mental Health, Rural, School-based, Physical Activity, Policy, Urban, and Vegetable and Fruit Consumption.

Compiled June 2013 by Daniella Uslan, NC Department of Health and Human Services, Physical Activity and Nutrition Branch.