Gardening in Arizona
Local, fresh food grown right in your backyard.
Did you know that when you grow your own vegetables you eat more of them? Not only that — gardening benefits physical and mental health. Research has shown that gardening can reduce stress, improve mood, and reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Working in a garden also restores dexterity and strength (and burns calories!!!) with activities, such as digging, raking, and pulling weeds. Being in nature and spending time with plants and having exposure to sunlight, especially during the warmer months, can lower blood pressure and increase vitamin D intake.
Community Access to Fresh Produce
Backyard gardening improves access to fresh fruits and vegetables and enhances food security in communities where fresh produce is not readily available. With your backyard garden, not only are you growing fresh fruits and vegetables for your kitchen table but the surplus of produce can be shared with family, neighbors, and friends.
Backyard Gardening
The idea of growing your own food can feel overwhelming at first. Perhaps there are space limitations, it seems cost and time prohibitive, or your green thumb is not as green as you’d like. If the desire is there but you don’t know where to start, we’re here to help with some great gardening resources.
Community Gardening
Looking for a more communal gardening experience? Community gardens are a wonderful stepping stone and working alongside other gardeners offers a wealth of information, support, and connection. Find a community garden below or drop us a note to add yours into our directory!
Is Backyard Gardening the Future of City Farming?
Farmland that once surrounded our major cities and provided fresh locally grown produce to our urban areas is quickly disappearing, and farmland in or near cities has become so expensive that farmers are having to purchase more affordable land in rural, remote areas.
This means it takes further for our local food to travel to show up to our weekend farmers markets. The newest breed of farmers, which are popping up across Phoenix and Tucson, are using small urban spaces, as well as backyard and community gardens, to supply fresh, hyper-local produce at farmers markets.