Registry connects urban gardeners

Let's say you're a San Francisco gardener on whom the zucchini gods have smiled. (The Hopi have a Squash Kachina, green and long and striped like zucchini, and he's a scary-looking entity.) You've got more than any reasonable person needs. Your family is on the brink of rebellion - one more zucchini frittata and it's all over. Friends and neighbors have begun to avoid you. You're almost reduced to leaving squash on doorsteps in the dead of night.

There may be hope. If you sign on to the City Garden Registry (gardenregistry.org), you can advertise your surplus to other urban gardeners. And some poor soul who lost his or her crop to zucchini weevils may actually want your surplus.

A networking site for city gardeners seems like a natural. This one, the inspiration of artist Amy Franceschini, was spun off from Garden for the Environment's San Francisco Victory Gardens project. "Victory" here is defined in terms of local food security and sustainability. Last year, Garden for the Environment offered start-up help to 15 backyard or window-box gardeners. Three hundred applications came in; in August, a community jury of food and garden experts picked finalists who demonstrated genuine need and represented the city's diversity.

"We considered coming to each home with a starter kit," says Garden for the Environment Director Blair Randall. "But we realized we had to work within the constraints of their own sites. They ended up all being customized. We had in-ground beds, raised beds, container gardens on balconies." One participant who wanted to integrate Mayan spirituality into his garden got a bed shaped like a four-pointed star, said to be a symbol of the four directions. For another, Garden for the Environment built a raised bed she could tend in her wheelchair.

Randall says the winning 15 were the first to be invited to join the Garden Registry, followed by the other applicants. So far, 71 people have signed up. Not all are current gardeners; some have spaces they'd like to turn into gardens. Although the group promotes organic gardening, that's not a criterion for registry participants. 

Franceschini says the registry Web site follows an "analog version" from 1970, an attempt to figure out the total farmable open space in San Francisco using lot and block maps. The study came up with 1,877 acres, including backyards, vacant lots and public parks (some of which hosted victory gardens during World War II). "How can we gather that data now?" she asked. The idea is to create a composite portrait of land use and to enable organizers to support, connect and cultivate food production spaces. "We're trying to enlist people to register their backyards whether they grow food or not - trying to see the potential. We're also celebrating current gardeners - how they're doing, how they're using their spaces."

The site, set up with technical help from David Lu and Myriel Milicevic, features an interactive map of the city. The locations of current and would-be gardeners are flagged in Fog Belt, Transition Belt and Sun Belt microclimate zones. (Not surprisingly, most participants so far are in the Sun Belt.) Gardeners can use the site to announce surpluses. There's also a gallery in which participants describe their gardens and talk about their goals and challenges. It's been up since February, with 1,200 visitors during the first week. "You can vote for your favorite gardener," Franceschini adds. "We want to publish a poster of the 100 most popular gardens as a tool to invite people to be involved."

When non-gardeners sign up, they're asked what would make it easier for them to garden. Some say they're deterred by rats or raccoons, or the problem of dealing with too much food all at once. In addition to the crop-sharing option, city-sponsored food preservation workshops are under consideration.

"One thing about a backyard victory garden program is that it's in people's backyards," Franceschini said. "It's a visibility issue. We're trying to bring it into the public domain. In some ways, the Internet is more public than any public space."

Randall traces the idea of networking gardeners to a wartime precedent: "In the original World War II Victory Garden program, the Office of Civil Defense produced a guide laying out points for a good victory garden project. One that they stressed was connecting gardeners together so that they knew they were participating in something larger than just gardening at home."

He talks about "building on a commons model that happens when people are in close proximity, and expanding it out citywide." 

Where is the new victory garden movement headed? "If we can host events to bring home gardeners together and let them know they are part of a growing movement in San Francisco, that is really going to be the success," Randall says. 

Look at your backyard. Imagine possibilities. Outside San Francisco? Imagine a garden registry.