In a collective garden, a group of people work the land as a community, growing crops together and sharing the harvest.
What is “collective gardening”?
Collective gardens are communal growing spaces where gardeners share the work of planting, tending and harvesting in one large plot together, differentiated from the traditional individually-tended community garden “plots.” Collective gardeners may be growing for themselves and their families or volunteering their time to share the food with neighbors or local food access support organizations, educational efforts or other endeavors. These growing communities have their own unique set of opportunities, challenges, and creative solutions. Collective gardening is a practice in resilience: empowering people to grow food for themselves and neighbors by helping to overcome the barriers to gardening like lack of land, start-up resources, tools, seeds, skill, confidence, or ample discretionary time.
“Collective gardening seems like the way we were meant to garden. Why do something individually when there’s so much to be gained from community knowledge, from the give and take of having many people to rely on, when you can share abundance and advice and inspiration more widely!” – Seedsong Collective Garden Member, 2022
“It is wonderful to bring home food that was alive in the ground just hours earlier, and without a collective garden, I would not have much opportunity to do that. I cannot keep a personal garden going, and I have no space for one where I live. For me, the collective garden offers all of the benefits of gardening but with no stress around the work to be done.” – Seedsong Collective Garden Member, 2022
What inspires VGN to promote collective gardening?
When the covid pandemic lockdown began in spring of 2020, many food security initiatives came about to improve people’s access to nourishing food. We witnessed a boom in the home gardening world with many people newly interested in learning how to grow their own food. VGN was approached by Skinny Pancake to expand the shared gardening model we were exploring at the Tommy Thompson Community Garden in Burlington. Within a year, a handful of other collective gardens, then called “Grow Teams“, joined the movement. The Grow Team managed by VGN became know as the Co-op Victory Garden and was renamed Seedsong Collective Garden in 2022.
At Seedsong, VGN oversees aspects of garden management such as sourcing materials, guiding the planting calendar, coordinating work days, and supporting members so that they can focus on growing nourishing food for themselves and their community. Garden mentors host weekly work shifts, monthly potlucks, and monthly Saturday workdays, weaving everyone together in such a way that the community aspect of Seedsong is just as nourishing as the harvests. We have arrived at this model of collective community gardening after many years experimentation with different management styles. Today Seedsong is a vibrant community of dedicated garden members, an exemplary demonstration garden where we host numerous workshops, and has truly brought to life our vision of what collective gardening can become.
Join the Collective Gardening movement!
For the 2024 growing season, VGN is inaugurating two new collective gardens in the Burlington area. We have support from the Conservation Legacy Fund to transition additional individually-tended community garden plots into a shared gardening model. Please click on the links below to read more details about each collective gardening opportunity.
Seedsong Collective Garden – full for the 2024 season
Starr Farm Collective Garden – currently welcoming members
Family Room Collective Garden – programming at this site is centered around growing culturally meaningful crops for the New American and migrant families who participate in Family Room activities. Garden membership is not open to the general public, however, if you would like to schedule a garden visit, please email us.
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