Join a Growing Movement

Want to start a garden in your backyard, on your patio — even in a schoolyard or neighborhood plot? Dig in here for details.

When San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom recently announced initiatives to promote sustainable agriculture and boost regional access to healthy food, he also was tapping into a grassroots movement for urban gardening that took root years ago in the Bay Area.

Just ask Blair Randall, executive director of Garden for the Environment, which was founded in 1990 and currently coordinates San Francisco’s Victory Gardens program, including the organic demonstration garden at Lawton Street and Seventh Avenue. In the following Q&A, Randall makes a case for hands-on involvement in gardening and offers some practical gardening tips.

Q: Why is urban food gardening an idea whose time has come?

A: Gardening at home is not a new idea, but today people are really connecting their concerns about the environment with what they can do about them at home. After all, food for the average American meal travels 1,500 miles, from farm to the table. You can reduce that distance to a matter of feet or inches by growing food in your yard.
We recommend growing food organically because it eliminates chemical fertilizers and any risks for pesticide residue, which is a boon to local ecology and your own health. Some organic fruits and veggies are more nutritionally dense than their conventionally grown cousins, not to mention the fact that fresh food tastes fantastic.

Q: How can local gardeners find out what and when to plant?

A: The best resource for identifying varieties of fruits and veggies that grow best in the Bay Area is a book called Golden Gate Gardening by Pam Peirce (Sasquatch Books). In San Francisco, you can divide the majority of neighborhoods into three zones: the fog belt of the far western side; the far eastern side, considered the sun belt; and the rest, which falls in a climate zone somewhere in between. The key to gardening in San Francisco is knowing your specific microclimate, meaning the weather at your house. Even neighbors on the same street can have different weather in their backyards depending on where the trees are, where the wind blows, etc.

Q: What specific advice do you have for newbie gardeners?

A: Start small and take time to observe — it will teach you so much about how a garden works. There’s a huge benefit to even growing a handful of radishes and beets in a container on your balcony, if that’s the only space you have, because it pulls you into the world of plants and seasons. You can grow a surprising amount of vegetables in a small area, but you’ll always harvest more joy than produce.

You can pick up good tips by taking a class and by volunteering to help maintain community organic gardens. You can always volunteer for Garden for the Environment. Other options include Alemany Farm and Hayes Valley Farm in San Francisco; the Sonoma Garden Park in the North Bay; and Pie Ranch on the Peninsula, on the San Mateo County border near Año Nuevo State Park.

Find someone on your block or street who has been into gardening and ask what works for them. Get advice from local nurseries about which of the many varieties of plants do best or by signing up for seed catalogs and closely reading their descriptions. Most of all, I’d say just get started. Plant something that will attract you to the garden. Realize that you’re not really gardening until you make your first mistake, then consider it your first lesson, and don’t let it stop you.

Get the scoop on composting

Visit Composting101.com to learn how to build your supply of organic fertilizer with materials at hand, including your own kitchen scraps and yard waste. A thorough, user-friendly site.