Recommended by the American Community Gardening Association

Community gardening enhances the fabric of towns and cities through social interactions and accessibility to fresh food, creating an enormously positive effect in the lives of everyone it touches. LaManda Joy, the founder of Chicago’s Peterson Garden Project and a board member of the American Community Gardening Association, has worked in the community gardening trenches for years and brings her knowledge to the wider world in Start a Community Food Garden. This hardworking guide covers every step of the process: fundraising, community organizing, site sourcing, garden design and planning, finding and managing volunteers, and managing the garden through all four seasons. A section dedicated to the basics of growing was designed to be used by community garden leaders as an educational tool for teaching new members how to successfully garden.

LaManda Joy is an award-winning Master Gardener and the founder and executive director of Peterson Garden Project, which manages seven community gardens and nearly three thousand gardeners in Chicago, Illinois. A nationally recognized expert, lecturer, and writer on urban edible gardening, she is the author (with Theresa Gale) of Fearless Food Gardening in Chicagoland, and creator of the acclaimed blog The Yarden. LaManda also serves on the board of directors of the American Community Gardening Association, was the recipient of the Robert Mondavi Growing through Giving award, and featured in the Mrs. Meyers Clean Day Grow Inspired film series. She has lectured on historical Victory Gardens at the Library of Congress, the Field Museum, the Chicago Flower and Garden Show, and the Seed Savers Exchange Annual Conference.