Community Garden

For my Senior Project I created a garden manual for CNU.  I focused on the community gardening aspect and how nature fit into this mold of controlled garden space.  For the CNU community gardens it is clearly more controlled than other community garden areas.  The plots are 4 ft x 4 ft raised-bed boxes that are separated from one another.  While this allows individuals the ability to grow their own plants without fear of others mixing in it also slightly defeats the purpose of a community garden.  It is separating out the garden areas which in turn separates the community unintentionally.  Without the ability to mix with one another is the community garden serving its purpose?  If an individual wanted to have a separate garden then they would but the purpose of a community garden is to bring people together that enjoy gardening and to cultivate and grow crops together.

The other question is how does nature fit into this equation?  While gardens involve natural elements is it truly nature if we are attempting to control every aspect of it?  Unfortunately the answer is not black and white.  Nature is incorporated when gardening even though we are attempting to control it. Nature is not only defined by the plants that are being grown but also includes the animals, insects, and environment as a whole around us while working in the gardens.  Nature is not limited to one aspect and therefore, gardening does include true nature.

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