Urban Agriculture in Wheaton? Part II

Urban agriculture is starting to take off in Montgomery County. What is urban agriculture? First, what it does not mean. It does not mean tearing down buildings and removing parking lots to put in row-crops. Urban gardening is, instead, small-scale agriculture that reconsiders the use of public squares, parking lots, right of ways, institutional properties and even roof tops. It is integrating edible plants into our urban environment to help make it more people-friendly.

In Montgomery County there is a growing demand for alternatives to industrial agriculture. According to David Vismara and Pat Lynch from the Parks Department, they are not able to keep up with the demand for vegetable garden plots at their 11 community gardens. Though the community garden program is only a few years old, the community gardens are already a big success. These gardens are serving 600 families, and many more want to participate.

Not familiar with the county’s community gardens? The county’s community gardens vary in size from 30 plots to 120 plots. For a modest fee ($25 to $75), families can get a plot up to 600 sq ft. The gardens include a cistern for watering, and they are surrounded by deer fencing. The use of pesticides and herbicides is not permitted, so the food not only tastes better, it is better for you.

Gordon Clark from Montgomery Victory Gardens (MVG is an advocacy and educational group) echoes similar observations. Mr. Clark noted that there is also a growing interest in vegetable “Victory Gardens” in people’s yards and on institutional property. He remarked that faith-based projects can play an important role in bringing fresh produce to communities. Churches and other houses of worship typically have land that could be used for community gardens. Several houses of worship have already built community gardens on their grounds.

School grounds can also play an important role, according to Mr. Clark. Thanks to lobbying by MVG, Master Gardeners and other groups, MCPS recently dropped its ban on edible gardens on school grounds. We are looking forward to seeing new opportunities for our students and the communities surrounding the schools. At the Brookside Green Matters Symposium there was a presentation about a successful effort in Brooklyn to utilize expansive roof tops to grow crops. The Brooklyn Grange’s fresh produce is in high demand, and the effort is expanding.

Community gardens are good for community development; they bring people together to grow crops. Gardening provides fresh produce. Kids who grow food have better eating habits (they want to eat what they grow). Vegetable gardens also make great teaching labs. Kids can learn culture/history and science through participating in urban agriculture. In fact you can learn more by doing that than by reading from books.

Municipal agriculture is the integration of edible plants into our landscapes. Public spaces like town squares, pocket parks, and medians frequently include landscaping. Plants in public locations are typically selected for hardiness and appearance. Municipal agriculture proponents add additional attributes such as edibility, ability to attract pollinators and ability to help manage stormwater runoff. 

A landscape that includes beautiful and colorful heirloom vegetables will not only add texture and interest to our public spaces, but also provide low cost wholesome food to those who lack access to fresh produce. Educational signage could also be included.   Food attracts people.  Edible plants that are freely available to the public will provide another reason for the public to visit our public spaces.

Proponents of urban gardening note that local produce taste better and have more nutrients. Produce grown thousands of miles away on industrial farms are picked before they are ripe so they can be shipped long distance. Because they are picked too soon, the produce doesn’t have the same nutritional value compared to produce that is harvested when ripe. Produce that is harvested when ripe also do not need the chemical treatment to artificially ripen the produce. Do you want fresh and nutritious, but cannot commit to a community garden or a home garden? Two alternatives are farmers markets and Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs), which may one day be the subject of another blog.