About Us​


Community Gardening
The benefits of community gardening--
  • Adds to the quality of life
    •  Exercise
    • Fresh , organically grown veggies
    • Get to know your neighbors
  • Provides opportunities for social engagement & education
    • Intergenerational interaction, cross cultural connections
    • Children learn where their food comes from
  • Beautifies the neighborhood
    • Reduces crime
    • Improves property values
  • Benefits the environment
    • Eating local reduces carbon footprint
    • Improves the viability of soil

The Coalition of Community Gardens - Tampa Bay,  brief history 
was the result of a brainstorming session in August, 2015. Representatives of many Hillsborough County community gardens and allied professionals were present. Original members: Plant City Commons, Seeds of Faith, Seminole Heights, Tampa Eden Project, 
Tampa Heights, Temple Terrace, Temple T. Farm 2 Sch, University Area, Extension Agents from Hillsborough & Polk County, David Whitwam, Rebecca Blanco.   At the next planning meeting, April 2016, we drafted the mission and goals. We have steadily been working to accomplish those goals.
  • Organized quarterly meetings, visiting each other's gardens
  • established a logo
  • started a website
  • you can read all the goals we discussed
  • Participated at EcoFest
  • Participated in Hillsborough County Neighborhood Conference
  • Participated in Sustany Buzz
  • Article in Times in August
  • Created a brochure
  • Making presentations to neighborhood groups; county center display, Earth Day week
  • Collaborating with university partners to expand the field of knowledge; UF research and USF research
  • encouraging Youth Gardening opportunities
  • connecting with government agencies to streamline process
  • connecting with allied organizations to support existing gardens
  • connecting with Extension to develop educational supports for inner city gardens
  • collaborated with the Sustany Foundation to establish a source of funds to aid groups in starting a new garden or               enhance an existing one
  • met with City of Tampa Parks/Rec Director, Planning & Devel Director
  • hosted our first annual conference, April 6,7, 2018
  • planning our second conference, April 5-7, 2019
​ ​

                                             Community Gardening  - Tampa Bay Area  
                                         Are you interested in finding a community garden near you?  
                                                    
MANATEE
  • Lakewood Ranch Community Garden, 13010 Adventure Place, Lakewood Ranch. loriwalker263@gmail.com, 
PASCO
  • Farmden & Community Garden, 15029 14th Street, Pasco County 
  • Friendship Farms & Fare, 6119 Illinois Ave., New Port Richey
  • Habitat for Humanity, New Port Richey
  • Grand Gardens, New Port Richey
  • Watson Park Community Garden, Dade City ​
PINELLAS· 
  • Beacon Food Forest Community Garden, 2470 Nursery Rd., Clearwater, Jay Hardman
  • Clearwater Community Garden, 2333 Grove, Howard Warshauer, captainhw@gmail.com 
  • EcoVillage, 302 15th Street N, St. Pete, Chris Kendrick, chriskenrick195@gmail.com
  • Oldsmar Organic Community Garden, 423 Lafayette Blvd, Oldsmar, oldsmarorganicgarden@gmail.com, 
  • Bartlett Park Community Garden, St. Pete.  1443 Highland St. S, St. Pete, Ava, goodhearted25@gmail.com.
  • Euclid Heights Community Garden, Maggie Jensen, meagan.jensen01@gmail.com
HILLSBOROUGH
  • HOPE Community Garden, Suzette Dean, 4902 N. 22 St., Tampa,   bministr@yahoo.com,
  • Mustard Seed Garden at Tims Memorial Presbyterian Church, Lutz.   601 Sunset Lane, Lutz, Ardell ONeal,                 adosr6@gmail.com   
  • Plant City Commons Community Garden. Karen Elizabeth, 2001 E Cherry St. Plant City, 12circle8@gmail.com
  • Progress Village Community Garden, 677-7074
  • Robes Park Village Community Garden. Reva Iman, 3518 N Avon Avenue, Tampa
  • Seeds of Faith Community Garden at Bay Life Church, Cindy Paulhus, 1017 N Kingsway Rd, Brandon, cpaulhus59@gmail.com,
  • Seminole Hts Community Garden, Colleen Parker, 6114 River Terrace., Tampa, info.shcg@gmail.com
  • Seffner Community Garden, 406 N Kingsway Ave., Seffner.  Joy.ingram@verizon.net
  • Sulphur Springs Community Garden, 1506 East Eskimo Ave., Mayani Donalson, 410-2066
  • Sustainable Living Project, 918 W. Sligh Ave., Tampa, Georgea Snyder, slpgeorgea@gmail.com
  • Tampa Bay Community Garden at St. Mary’s Ethiopian Church, Fr. B, 679-4982
  • Tampa Hts Community Garden, Kitty Wallace, Lena Young Green, 992-0940, kittwal@aol.com,
  • Temple Terrace Community Garden, 329 S Riverhills Dr., Temple Terrace, Valerie, ricoflash@gmail.com,
  • University Area Community Garden, Erica Nelson, 14013 N 22 Street, Tampa, enelson@uacdc.org
  • VISTA Gardens, Carrollwood, Bill West, 13572 South Village Dr., Tampa, bw.vistagardens@gmail.com,
  • Ybor Street, 2429 Ybor Street, Tampa, Jessica.

ALLIED ENTITIES:
The following organizations/businesses are affiliated members of the coalition:
​City of Tampa, Hillsborough County Public Schools, Hillsborough County Commissioners, Hillsborough County Planning Commission, Hillsborough Extension Service, Hillsborough Metropolitan Planning Organization, Hillsborough Soil & Water Conservation District,  Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful,  Sustany Foundation, Tampa Bay Network to End Hunger, Tampa Garden Club,  Whitwam Organics,
​
 For more information: 
AMERICAN COMMUNITY GARDENING ASSOCIATION  https://communitygarden.org/resources/10-steps-to-starting-a-community-garden/
IFAS Institute of Food and Agricultural Science, University of Florida.  There are loads of articles on topics of interest: here are a     few:
  • Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vh021
  • compost - http://sarasota.ifas.ufl.edu/compost/quick-tutorial.shtml​
  • growing heirloom tomatoes: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hs174
 Sustany Foundation,
Matching grant - new garden start up funds or established garden expansion funds.
up to $600.  see ​https://sustany.org/community-gardens-matching-fund/


Grow Community Garden Conference, 2019
Shouting OUT a big "thank you" to all who attended the Grow Community Gardens conference last year!

​Grow Gardens Conference, 2019: DEEP APPRECIATION FOR the garden leaders who participated in the sessions:

​Grow Gardens Conference, 2018: DEEP APPRECIATION FOR the garden leaders and city/county officials from across the region who participated in the panel discussion: Thom Snelling/City of Tampa, Raleigh Barnes/Hillsborough Parks & Rec., Cheri Donohue/City of Temple Terrace, Bill Bilodeaux/Sustainable Urban Agriculture Coalition Pinellas , Robyn Keefe, Pinellas Parks Dept., Alana Brasier, Renaissance Planning, Michele Ogilvie/Garden Steps, Tampa.  We were so sorry that Ava Deveaux, Bartlett Park/Pinellas, had a family emergency and could not attend.

· THANKS to—Joseph W. Dorsey, Ph.D.,  USF Patel College of Global Sustainability:                              Growing Gardens, Raising Communities: Movement, Moment, Momentum

·THANKS to members for presenting their projects:  1)Lee Elementary school garden, 2)Homebiogas—Tracy Tippin,  3) Blake HS school garden & biodigester;   4) Sustany Foundation, Seed to Sustenance ;  5) Rodrick Taylor, fresh chef;   6) Fresh Market HART/Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful;  7) Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences; 8) Clearwater Marine Aquarium; zero waste plan; 9) Karissa Raymond, U of F.

·THANKS to  members for presenting information  
  • Healthy Gardens—Koreen Brennan, Permacul tur e, Grow Permaculture.com· 
  • Healthy gardeners—Ayesha Johnson, Ph.D. /DOH, Health issues in Food Desert Areas· 
  • Healthy community—Bardine Hicks,/Senior Connections, Gardening w Seniors 
· 
Thank you to our sponsors: Sustany Foundation and Garden Steps. 
THANKS to Shell's Feed & Garden Supply for sponsoring our hospitality table.