Community Gardens are spaces individuals can rent for the growing season to plant vegetables and flowers for their own use. In Rhode Island, nonprofits have organized Community Gardens all over the place, including in vacant lots and church lawns. Sometimes a group of neighbors work with city officials to create Community Gardens in part of a park or other publicly owned land. In the case of the West End Community Garden at Westminster & Bridgham in Providence, the garden organizers in 2007 worked with the business that owns the land. The possibilities are many!
Some national organizations that encourage Community Gardens are:
- USDA Community Gardening - many goodies, including a startup guide.
- The American Community Garden Association ~ has extensive information about organizing and maintaining Community Gardens.
Some RI resources:
- URI Community Gardening and Outreach
- History of community gardening in Providence: Taking Root, July 2010.
- Urban Agriculture in Providence
- NRCS RI People's Garden Initiative
This page lists lists of some Community Gardens in Rhode Island. I don't think anybody can track all of them without dedicating a lot of time to the project. There are different counts in different similar lists (e.g., for Providence), and I wouldn't be surprised if some gardens aren't there any more, especially in the city. There are so many, and there are more each year, that it is better not to try to put them all together into one page at this point.
- Providence
- Southside Community Land Trust list of community gardens in Providence and Pawtucket (52 of them on 4/27/17).
- City of Providence map of community gardens (41 on 7/7/2016)
- Farm Fresh RI list of community gardens closest to Providence (about 20 in RI, mostly in Providence, and 2 in Pawtucket).
- RI Community Food Bank List of Farms (5 farms that volunteers run for supplying the food bank - in Charlestown, Cumberland, Bristol, Warren, Smithfield).
Making a comprehensive up-to-date survey of community gardens in RI could be an intern project for somebody. If that interests you or you have other information about Community Gardens in Rhode Island, please email The Providential Gardener.
Beyond Providence - Some Community Gardens. [Compiled mainly from SCLT, Farm Fresh in 2007 ~ sk.]
Bristol
- Magaziner Farm, 192 Poppasquash Road (RI Food Bank Community Farm)
Mount Hope Farm, 250 Metacom Avenue (RI Food Bank Community Farm)
Cumberland :
- St. John Vianney Church, 3655 Diamond Hill Road (RI Food Bank Community Farm)
- Franklin Farm (RI Food Bank Community Farm)
East Greenwich:
- Boesch Farm, 830 South Road (RI Food Bank Community Farm)
Foster:
- Border’s Farm, North Road (RI Food Bank Community Farm)
Kingston:
- Agronomy Garden, University of Rhode island (RI Food Bank Community Farm)
Pawtucket
- Nickerson Street (FFRI map)
- Good Shepard Church Community Garden (Broadway) (FFRI map)
Portsmouth:
- Green Animals, 380 Cory’s Lane (RI Food Bank Community Farm)
Smithfield:
- St. Philip’s Church, 622 Putnam Avenue (RI Food Bank Community Farm)
Warren:
- Paul Court, Warren (from 2011)
