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 6 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
- Participated in the State Fair, 2018, 2019, 2020
- Participated in Garden Steps, Aetna Foundation's Healthiest Cities/Counties Challenge to improve the health of community
- Article in Times in August
- Created a brochure for the Department of Health public_health_pamphlet_hillsb.pub.pdf
- 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; presented checks to 4 garden start-ups: Apollo Beach, Urban Progress Alliance, Forest Hills Presbyterian Church, 1Body Ministries, and University Area Community Garden (Harvest Hope Park)
- met with City of Tampa Parks/Rec Director, Planning & Devel Director, Paul Dial.
- hosted our first & second annual conference, 2018 and 2019
- planning our third annual conference, May 1, 2, 2020
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,
- 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
- Bartlett Park Community Garden, St. Pete. 1443 Highland St. S, St. Pete, Ava, goodhearted25@gmail.com.
- Beacon Food Forest Community Garden, 2470 Nursery Rd., Clearwater, Jay Hardman
- Clearwater Community Garden, 2333 Grove, Howard Warshauer, captainhw@gmail.com
- Daystar Life Center Community Garden, 1055 28th Street S., St. Petersburg, Robin Clemmons, robinpclemmons@gmail.com,
- EcoVillage, 302 15th Street N, St. Pete, Chris Kendrick, chriskenrick195@gmail.com
- Cops 'N Kids , Tarpon Springs, Ryan Farley, canyoudigit560@gmail.com
- Oldsmar Organic Community Garden, 423 Lafayette Blvd, Oldsmar, oldsmarorganicgarden@gmail.com,
- St. Pete Community Garden, Maggie Jensen, meagan.jensen01@gmail.com
- Apollo Beach Community Food Forest and garden, Apollo Beach County Park, Paula, pahrn@yahoo.com,
- HOPE Community Garden, Suzette Dean, 4902 N. 22 St., Tampa, bministr@yahoo.com,
- Mustard Seed Garden at Lutz Community Church 601 Sunset Lane, 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
- Robles Park Village Community Garden. Reva Iman, 3518 N Avon Avenue, Tampa
- Seeds of Faith Community Garden at Bay Life Church, 1017 N Kingsway Rd, Brandon, John Dukes,
- Seeds of Peace Community Garden, 4120 N MacDill Avenue, Tampa, Ron Junda, ronjunda@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., Meagan.Smithyman@TampaYMCA.Org,
- 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
- Vincentian Faith & Grace Garden, 9715 N 56 Street, Temple Terrace, Kelly Seeley, kellymseeley@gmail.com,
- VISTA Gardens, Carrollwood, Bill West, 13572 South Village Dr., Tampa, bw.vistagardens@gmail.com,
- Waters Avenue Church Community Garden, 609 W Waters Ave., Jessica Brenner, jeccabrerr@gmail.com,
- Ybor Street, 2429 Ybor Street, Tampa, Jessica Brenner, jeccabrerr@gmail.com,
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
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.
