Mary Zavala
CEM 480
Homework Assignment 1
Due 02/08/2012
Community Garden
Introduction
A community garden is any piece of land that is gardened by a group of people. According to the American Community Garden Association (ACGA), a community garden can be urban, suburban, or rural. A community garden can grow flowers and/or vegetables and be one or more community plots. A community garden can be at a school, hospital, or in a neighborhood. The ACGA explains the various and numerous benefits of community gardens as stated below: * Improves the quality of life for people in the garden * Provides a catalyst for neighborhood and community development * Stimulates Social Interaction * Encourages Self-Reliance * Beautifies Neighborhoods * Produces Nutritious Food * Reduces Family Food Budgets * Conserves Resources * Creates opportunity for recreation, exercise, therapy, and education * Reduces Crime * Preserves Green Space * Creates income opportunities and economic development * Reduces city heat from streets and parking lots * Provides opportunities for intergenerational and cross-cultural
A community garden within the Southern Nevada area must have specific characteristics to be compatible with the dry arid climate and weather of the southwest. This paper will examine 4 case studies of successful community gardens within the Desert Southwest region. Each case study will explain the design including plant types and layout, as well as construction including materials and practices. These two case studies will provide the stepping stones into the proposed UNLV Community Garden.

Case Study Number 1 –Tonopah Community Garden (http://www.tonopahcommunitygarden.org/)
Location: 715 N. Tonopah Drive Las Vegas, NV 89106
Design: This community garden is on four acres of vacant property in Las Vegas. It was the cities first and only urban farm as of March 2010. They grow organic produce and flowers, raise chickens and goats, and educate the local community about healthy living. * Plant types- greens and lettuces, tomatoes, peppers, melons, strawberries, carrots, onions, squash, corn, beans, okra, beets, carrots, eggplant, potatoes, tomatoes, artichokes, asparagus, various herbs, and much more. Also, flowers and cacti that thrive in the desert area are also grown. * Layouts-There are rows of produce grown as well as individual plots. All produce is at ground level plots with drip systems. Each plot is 50sq feet, filled with organic soil and an installed drip irrigation system.
Construction:
* Materials; The materials needed for each plot run about $500. This includes the frame for the bed which can be rocks, bricks, or a wooden frame for the bed, the organic soil, the drip system, tools needed, seeds and plant starters, as well as water for one year. * Practices-The plots are automatically watered twice a day. The operations and maintenance is all done by non-profits and volunteers. People can also donate and adopt a plot to grow their own organic produce. They involve local communities, school, and non-profit organizations to hold events, educational sessions, and markets to sell the produce. This gets no government or state support and depends on the local community to be involved. Case Study Number 2- Coronado Community Garden www.gcna.info Location: 1224 E Virginia Phoenix, AZ 85006 | |

Design- The garden is used primarily as a demonstration and teaching garden. The community participated in group planting, maintenance and harvesting,
It is located on the property used by the Maricopa County Probation Office which is in an old home in the neighborhood. * Plant types; herbs, pumpkin patch (great for Halloween), trees for shade and fruit such as apple, fig, and peach; other normal vegetables that are grown in an organic garden such as tomatoes, lettuce, corn, beets, squash..ect. Neighbors donate desert tolerant plants for landscape such as aloes, agaves, cacti, lantana, a creosote bush and even a mesquite tree. * Layouts; There are ground level beds ranging in size that are filled with compost that is donated from various sources. The beds are filled in with fruit bearing trees which provide shade from the hot sun.
Construction:
* Materials; neighbors donate scraps such as wood and concrete to form the plots/beds. Others donate compost materials and this is decomposed in a pile then added as supplement to the areas of the plots. They are irrigated on a drip, and the individual plots and herb sales help to pay for these water and maintenance expenses. * Practices; The garden partners with other neighbors who contribute green-waste from a neighborhood deli, bags of grass and leaves from a local landscaper and other item useful like scrap wood and urbanite used for garden bed edging. There are a few personally maintained plots and a planned herb garden that will provide herbs to neighborhood restaurants to offset garden maintenance expenses.