Improving Life in the City With Community Gardening
The ugliness of a city can be compounded by weed-infested vacant lots. When these eyesores are transformed into gardens, the city changes for the better, becoming a more pleasant place to live. The neighbors, who work together building the garden, often socialize there. The whole community is transformed.
Chicago residents, like those in many other cities, have the support of community-based organizations to change these overgrown waysides into flower and vegetable gardens. The Chicago community garden programs were inspired by Philadelphia Green, a city-wide gardening program in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Most groups offer training, financing, and supplies for the community gardeners. One of these organizations is the Chicago Botanic Garden. Each year the Chicago Botanic Garden supports a limited number of gardens, providing the financing and supplies for the community groups.
