Boulder Gardens Cultivate Community Interaction & Financial Wellness

On a fall evening like this one, you might find Boulder resident Anju Upadhyay in her garden, watering her half-browned chickpeas or harvesting the last of her acorn squash to make roti. The Indian flatbread does not traditionally include squash, but Upadhyay has made up her own recipe to help consume the abundance of vegetables coming from her plot. Her son, Ansh, will sometimes make a game out of watering the plants but is too young to take much interest otherwise. 

According to the National Gardening Association, 35 percent of families in the United States grow vegetables, fruit, or other food at home. In Boulder, residents are discovering social and financial benefits from gardening, whether growing produce in their backyards or through the help of community organizations. 

Here at the University of Colorado Boulder, Graduate & Family Housing residents like Upadhyay have the chance to grow food in their shared backyard. In total, CU has 107 gardening plots across three campus locations, with each plot about the size of a king-sized bed. Each spring, residents of Graduate & Family Housing are invited to participate in a lottery system allocating the plots. Those who are selected pay just $15 for the entire growing season.

One of the implied goals of the gardens is to foster community within the university housing. Upadhyay talks of bumping into neighbors in the garden whom she may or may not know. “Whoever I meet, I talk to them and exchange our vegetables too. If we have more of something, we give it to others.” 

Garden community liaison Helena Keller can also speak to  social interactions that have resulted from the program. “I’ve seen lots of people who make their friends and get to know their neighbors here,” Keller said. “I was talking to some gardeners who started a What’s App group and go hiking and have dinner together.” 

Also a PhD student in the Materials Science & Engineering department, Keller enjoys discovering extraordinary people doing a mundane activity. “It’s fun to find out, this person pulling weeds is a nuclear physicist!” 

According to CU’s website, another purpose of the gardens is to serve the University’s multinational  community, recognizing that international students face their own set of financial and social challenges.  

Keller talks of one instance where an Indian couple planted a particular red variety of leaf. A fellow  gardener from Uganda recognized the plant from back home and they bonded over the shared  experience. 

“It was cool,” Keller said. “They were reminiscing together over that plant.” 

For those who don’t have access to growing space at home, community organizations may fill this niche. Growing Gardens is one such organization. Their community gardens are “designed to make sure that people who want space to grow their own food have it,” said Executive Director Vanessa Keeley. 

The community gardens project initially formed in 1998 when the city of Boulder transferred  management of the Hawthorne garden to the newly formed non-profit. Today, Growing Gardens  comprises 450 plots at seven different locations within Boulder and Louisville. Garden plots cost  anywhere from $52 to $114 per growing season, but reduced rates or free plots exist for those below  certain income thresholds. According to Keeley, about 30% of gardeners at Growing Gardens are utilizing free or reduced rates. 

“Healthy food isn’t just for people that can afford it,” Keeley said. 

Further addressing the issue of access, Growing Gardens soon plans to implement a work exchange  program, which has already seen success within the organization’s Longmont projects. Here, individuals can spend two hours a week working in the communal garden plots in exchange for a share of the produce. With this opportunity, Keeley hopes more low-income individuals will be able to participate in farming in a way that fits their schedule, without the commitment of managing an individual garden plot. 

Growing Gardens has even more ideas for better serving the community. They plan to make changes to their current management model to provide each garden location with more individual agency. The idea is to form an on the ground leadership team at each garden, to determine that location’s unique needs and guidelines. 

Keeley said this model has seen success at various gardens across the nation. “I think some of the ones where people are feeling the most satisfied and connected are the ones where they have more of a voice in their own garden.” 

Similar to Growing Garden’s communal plots, CU Boulder’s West End garden has three vacant plots open to any resident to plant and experiment in. Upadhyay took advantage of this added space, choosing to plant both squash and pumpkin. When asked what she would do with the pumpkin, Upadhyay laughs goodheartedly.

“I am a greedy type of person. I don’t want to waste my vegetables just by carving a jack o’lantern.” But then she smiles and folds. “My kid wants me to do this. So this year we will celebrate Halloween.”