Supporting new gardeners: Perspectives of gardeners and garden leaders

While gardening has been shown to have wide-ranging benefits, very little research has focused on the experiences of new community gardeners. Our study emined the experiences of new community gardeners, as well as the perspectives of garden leaders, to determine how to best meet new com­munity gardeners’ needs. We conducted qualitative interviews with a subset of new community gar­deners (N = 34) participating in a randomized con­trolled trial (RCT) of community gardening, and garden leaders (N = 47). New community garden­ers learned to garden through classes, from other gardeners and leaders, from friends and family, and through teaching themselves. Garden leaders pro­vided varied support to new community gardeners, including hands-on assistance and orientations. The events and degree of social interactions with other gardeners in the gardens also varied, although most gardens had a culture of helping and reci­procity, and gardeners frequently brought family and friends with them to their gardens. Challenges reported by new community gardeners and leaders included lack of gardening knowledge and support; responsibility and time commitment of gardening; poor communication from garden leaders; water, weeds, and pests; plot abandonment; and theft, vandalism, and safety. New community gardeners desired and benefited from social interaction, guid­ance, and support in their gardens. However, because garden leaders already have substantial gar­den responsibilities, placing this responsibility solely on garden leaders is frequently not feasible. This study provides insight into new community gardeners’ experiences and can be used to inform programs that support gardeners.