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Illustration of five neighbors planning a new community garden together.

Community gardens ยท Part 4 of 9

Start a Garden

Four guides for the group that wants to open a new garden: people, land, water and permissions first, then access, shared structures and shared tools.

See the 4 guides All nine parts

By Dan Whelan, founder of New World Survival

Researched from government agencies, university extension services, and other published sources. See our sources

Where to start

Who this part is for, and what to read first.

Read these before opening day, and where you can, before anyone signs for land.

How to Start a Community Garden is the main guide. It covers the whole sequence from the first meeting to the first season. The other three go deeper on decisions that are costly to change once the beds are built: who can physically use the garden, how paths, fences and sheds will be maintained, and how shared tools are chosen, stored and kept safe.

A sensible first three

  1. How to Start a Community GardenRead the main guide end to end.
  2. Accessible Community Garden Design and ParticipationSettle access before the layout is fixed.
  3. Paths, Beds, Fences and Shared InfrastructurePlan who maintains what you build.

The guides

Start a Garden: 4 guides.

How to Start a Community Garden

Start a community garden with practical steps for people, land, soil safety, water, permissions, budget, accessible design, rules and first-season operations.

Read the guide

Accessible Community Garden Design and Participation

Design community gardens for practical access with usable routes, reach, beds, water, tools, seating, communication and participation systems.

Read the guide

Paths, Beds, Fences and Shared Infrastructure

Inspect and maintain community garden paths, beds, fences, gates, sheds, signs, drainage and shared infrastructure before small defects become failures.

Read the guide

Shared Garden Tools: Selection, Safety, Maintenance and Storage

Build a safe shared garden tool system with sensible selection, inspections, checkout, cleaning, sharpening, repair, storage and replacement records.

Read the guide

The rest of the library

The other eight parts.

Part 1 of 9

Start Here

Choose the right responsibility before choosing the next article.

Part 2 of 9

Find and Join

Locate a garden, judge fit, understand obligations and enter intelligently.

Part 3 of 9

Master Your Plot

Build the growing skills that transfer directly to a community plot.

Part 5 of 9

Run the Garden

Maintain governance, volunteers, continuity and annual operating discipline.

Part 6 of 9

School and Institutional Gardens

Adapt the system to the host institution and the people it serves.

Part 7 of 9

Community Capacity

Build recurring systems that help gardeners teach, share and maintain useful resources.

Part 8 of 9

Resilience and Failure

Prepare for predictable disruptions and recover without pretending every problem is preventable.

Part 9 of 9

Use and Preserve the Harvest

Choose a preservation route that matches the food, evidence and safety controls.

About the author

Dan Whelan is the founder of New World Survival. He and his wife Vicki rode out Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and spent the week after sorting donations at a relief center in Homestead. More than thirty years of household preparedness later, he built this site to pass on what works. Read their story