Community Gardens in Phoenix: Finding and Joining One

Growing food in Phoenix requires working around a climate that makes farming in summer difficult at low elevations and abundant in winter and spring. Community gardens throughout the city provide shared growing space, water infrastructure, and accumulated knowledge that individual gardeners working alone would struggle to assemble. The City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation department administers several community garden sites at city parks, with plot rental available to residents on a seasonal basis. Wait lists at the most popular locations — particularly in the central city where private yard space is limited — can extend to a year or more. Soil & Shadow, a community garden and urban farm education organization in South Phoenix, operates community growing space with particular emphasis on serving South Phoenix's food access needs and providing youth agricultural education. The Phoenix Seed Library, operated through the Phoenix Public Library system, provides free seeds to Phoenix residents along with growing guides adapted to the local climate calendar. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) subscriptions from local farms provide an alternative route to seasonal produce without growing it yourself. Several Valley farms operate CSA programs delivering weekly boxes of seasonal vegetables to pickup locations throughout the metro.