South Bend Community Gardens

Volunteer

Volunteers are needed to assist with growing community gardens, getting down and dirty, and helping to educate gardeners. For information about a specific garden, please contact the garden coordinator.

How to Lend a Hand (contact garden coordinators for more information):

Site preparation (clear trash, debris, prepare ground, set garden boundaries)
Pick up trucks for manure hauling
Manure spreaders (people or machines!)
Tilling garden sites with small tillers
Planting seedlings
Weeding
Building/Donating Compost Containers

Adopt-a-Garden program

This program is designed to link volunteer and Master Gardeners with area community gardens. Volunteers provide hands-on time in area gardens and serve as a resource to new and budding gardeners of all ages. Minimum commitment of 1 hours a week/4 hours a month.

Educator

Provide a brief (30-45 minute) hands-on workshop on a gardening topic of interest. The goal of the workshop series is to provide on site “seed to table” education, ideally with a adult and youth-friendly components. Workshop topics seeking educators include:

The Incredible Edible Flower Garden,
What to Do With the “Waste”: Composting 101,
Feeding the Soil: Composting 201,
Worms Eat My Lunch: Vermicomposting,
Organic Gardening: Building the Soil, Garden Bugs – Is It a Guest or a Pest?,
What’s Growing On? How to identify common garden plants (friends and enemies),
No Yard, No Problem! Plants in Pots, Ready, Set, Grow!
From raised beds to backyard farms: Planning a pretty and productive garden,
Growing for Market: The Basics of Backyard Farming for Profit,
Starting from Scratch: Basics of Seed Starting (in Soil or Pots),
Plant a Pizza (Garden),
Savor the Flavor: Grow an Easy Herb Garden,
Fall Foods: Plant for a Harvest Season Harvest

Promoter:

“Staff” an information table and help represent the community garden group at local events. Promoters will distribute literature and talk with the public about gardens and gardening opportunities with CGM. Opportunities also exist to assist with promotion and publicity of garden events and programs. Time commitment: occasional event tabling shifts of 2-4 hours, distributing flyers, or speaking briefly at an event.