RALEIGH -- If you haven't seen rows of vegetables popping up next to local churches, hospitals and neighborhoods, you will.
Community gardens are sprouting throughout the Triangle - a local reflection of the national urban-farming movement that aims to bring fresh food to needy areas.
The phenomenon noticeably hit Raleigh just a few years ago. Already, the gardens have united communities, provided many residents with a cheap alternative to grocery store produce and brought a steady stream of veggies to local food banks that feed the hungry.
And their popularity is rising.
Online meeting groups have hundreds of residents trying to start their own gardens. Downtown Raleigh's Marbles Kids Museum sponsored a "DigIn" community garden forum this spring. The Wake County Center, part of the state's Cooperative Extension Service, has a "master gardener" dedicated to community gardening. The Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, a Raleigh-based nonprofit organization that serves the Triangle, started three gardens in the past 14 months. And Raleigh planners are exploring what a city gardening program should look like.
Community gardens don't have a set blueprint, says Sherman Criner, one of the Wake County Center's master gardeners. Some divide the gardens by square footage. Others require workers to put in a minimum number of hours each week to partake of the harvest. Some are educational and include gardening lessons.
"It's an amazing community service, and the people are all different," said Criner, who helps start community gardens in Raleigh, Cary and Garner. "It all boils down to people eating better and growing their own food. It's a very simple concept when you think of it, but it's a difficult task. Most of the people in Raleigh don't know much about the community gardens."
But Raleigh residents are learning.
In Midtown, Highland United Methodist Church, at the corner of Ridge Road and Lake Boone Trail, has attracted first-time gardeners who live in the area, many of whom don't attend Highland.
Cullen Whitley, the garden's coordinator and a member of the church, has a master's degree in horticulture. He teaches gardening at Johnston Community College and gives gardening lectures at the church during harvest days. Some of his most recent include lessons on composting, soils and acidity.
The Inter-Faith Food Shuttle has established gardens in Raleigh's Mayview neighborhood off Oberlin Road, at Neighbor to Neighbor outreach on South Blount Street and at the Alliance Medical Ministry on New Bern Avenue. N.C. State graduate students give lessons at those gardens, and the food shuttle has put up learning modules that show residents how to compost and do various maintenance tasks. The shuttle provides seeds and education upfront but hopes the neighborhoods eventually will operate the gardens without assistance.
"We have seen a huge increase in growing your own food," said Amanda Soltes,Inter-Faith's nutrition coordinator. "And why not support local farmers or community members who want to grow their own food? We're talking to them about the importance of eating fresh."
Inter-Faith suppliers
The food shuttle also gets steady donations of vegetables from other community gardens, many of which are owned by local churches that started gardening to give food to others.
Highland and New Community Church, located on Six Forks Road near Interstate 540, are two examples in Raleigh.
George Fuller, pastor of New Community Church, said the church started its garden this year to partner with Inter-Faith. But the church also hosts 12 recovery group meetings per week and gives fresh vegetables to those attending the meetings.
"I'm really amazed at all the food we're getting off that spot," Fuller said. "It's efficient, and it's a great public service."
Highland's mission
Whitley said Highland started its garden to serve English as a Second Language students who were taking classes at the church through a program at Wake Technical Community College.
"It has brought the neighborhood together," Whitley said.
Zoning rules sought
Residents recently asked the city of Raleigh to change the zoning regulations to allow community gardens as a principal use. That would allow the gardens to stand alone as the primary fixture on a piece of property.
The gardeners also want the city to allow gardening groups to plant on city-owned land. Currently, gardens are allowed as an accessory use - as an addition to residential properties.
The process
Raleigh's planning and legal offices drafted a memo on community gardening that asks the advocates to give the city time to explore legal and public-policy issues and a public gardening program. That process could take a year. Planning director Mitchell Silver said the city hopes to go over the memo with residents later this month.
Other cities have drastically different programs, Silver said. Some put gardens in parks. Others, such as Detroit, use vacant tracts of land.
"We're trying to strike a balance of maintaining enthusiasm but also finding out which program works right for Raleigh," Silver said.
