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Community Gardens of Baltimore City
Situation:
Baltimore City residents are very proud of their city and their communities. Within many communities there lay some 'areas', just ready to be adopted by a friendly group of individuals. The Baltimore City Master Gardeners along with the Mayor's Office of Neighborhoods, Baltimore City Housing Authority, Baltimore City Receration and Parks and various community Organizations had a vision of what to do with these 'areas' - develop community gardens for sustainable food production in Balatimore City.
Actions Taken:
The Community Gardens Program was established. Through this program the residents of Baltimore have be richly awarded. The Baltimore City Master Gardeners have played a very important role in this success by
Wow!! look at this impact. In 2005 alone, the Baltimore City Master Gardener Community Garden Program has saved the city over $137,800.
Baltimore City residents are very proud of their city and their communities. Within many communities there lay some 'areas', just ready to be adopted by a friendly group of individuals. The Baltimore City Master Gardeners along with the Mayor's Office of Neighborhoods, Baltimore City Housing Authority, Baltimore City Receration and Parks and various community Organizations had a vision of what to do with these 'areas' - develop community gardens for sustainable food production in Balatimore City.
Actions Taken:
The Community Gardens Program was established. Through this program the residents of Baltimore have be richly awarded. The Baltimore City Master Gardeners have played a very important role in this success by
- Assisted 22 community gardens with obtaining water permits for using fire hydrants
- Assisted Carmine Community Garden with request to Councilwoman Helen Holden to obtain speed bump with pipes on Carmine avenue to get water from fire hydrant
- Assisted 10 community gardens, and 3 schools with soil sampling and analyses
- Introduced community gardening to 150 middle and high school students
- Completed a lead study of soil at the Homestead community Garden SARE funded)
- Completed a pilot study of using kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) as a plant to take lead out of soil, 20 home gardeners across the city participated by growing plant and taking soil samples which included a lead test (seeds from Mississippi State U. Extension)
- Developed and executed a Community Garden tour for City Council, Extension Faculty, and Extension Advisory Council
- Master Gardeners worked with City Council to arrange and tour community gardens with Public Works in an effort to get Public Works to relax water access restrictions for community gardens
- Judged 18 community gardens and developed community garden awards for City Farm Supper
Wow!! look at this impact. In 2005 alone, the Baltimore City Master Gardener Community Garden Program has saved the city over $137,800.
- Master Gardeners contributed 3.2 man years of effort to city for community garden development
- Master Gardeners Saved city $86,400.00 in wages, benefits and travel reimbursement in 2005
- Trained 110 community gardeners
- Saved the city $23000.00 in property maintenance costs
- Community gardens under Cooperative Extension advisement amount to 11 acres throughout Baltimore City
- Community Gardeners raised over 12 tons of produce, saving gardeners $31,000.00 in food costs
- Obtained $7,000.00 worth of free seeds for gardens from Home Harvest and Johnny’s Select Seeds to distribute to Community Gardeners
- Obtained a Baltimore Housing Block Grant for community Gardens ($19,500.00)
- Received Tawes Environmental Award that publicized environmentally sound garden efforts in Baltimore City with City and State politicians, and the public
- Got $100.00 donated from the Maryland Petroleum Council for use in Urban Community Garden Program
- Provided repair support for equipment used in community gardens (rototillers, weed wackers, etc.)
For more information, contact Robin Hessey
Last updated: 10/5/2009