Community Garden Issue Eleven July 2016 Issue Eleven July 2016 | Page 15

Green Space
• Community gardens add beauty to the community and heighten people's
awareness and appreciation for living things.
• Community gardens filter rainwater, helping to keep lakes, rivers, and
groundwater clean.
• Community gardens restore oxygen to the air and help to reduce air
pollution.
• Community gardens recycle huge volumes of tree trimmings, leaves,
grass clippings, and other organic wastes back into the soil.
• Community gardens provide a place to retreat from the noise and
commotion of urban environments.
• Community gardens provide much needed green space in lower-income
neighborhoods which typically have access to less green space than do
other parts of the community.
• Development and maintenance of garden space is less expensive than
that of parkland.
• Scientific studies show that crime decreases in neighborhoods as the
amount of green space increases.
• Community gardens have been shown to actually increase property
values in the immediate vicinity where they are located.
Notes:
We thank St. Paul Park and Recreation for posting a list of community
gardening benefits on their website. The GICD version is mainly from that
source with a couple of additions. Any list of benefits can never be
complete. http://www.stpaul.gov/depts/parks/environment/gardens/index.
html

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