101 Ways to Celebrate
National Garden Month

In Your Community

Here are some ways to spread the spirit of gardening in your community.

Plant a Row for the Hungry

In this land of abundance it's hard to imagine not having access to good quality food at a reasonable price. However, for millions of Americans, finding a healthy meal is not always easy. It's estimated almost 33 million people, including 13 million children, resort to emergency food because they cannot afford to purchase the food they need. more »

Host a Plant Swap

The best plants aren't always from your local garden center or seed catalog. Instead they are gathered through quick cuttings or by collecting seeds from the garden of a friend or family member. These "pass-along plants" provide both beauty and sentiment to your garden. more »

Organize a Community Green-Up Day

Spring cleaning -- indoors and out -- is a ritual that marks the end of winter and the beginning of a new season, and like many activities, it's more fun when you share it. Your street, neighborhood, town park, and any other public space could use some greening up; it just takes someone to organize a community-wide event... more »

Yard Sale Philanthropy

The arrival of spring, accompanied by longer days and higher temperatures, conjures up visions of green oases teeming with tomatoes and brimming with beans. Spring is also a time for cleaning out. This year, celebrate National Garden Month in an unexpected way-by visiting yard sales in search of second-hand stuff every kids' garden needs. more »

Organize a Garden Poetry Circle

Gardeners grow more than plants - every one of us has stories to share. For a change, why not share them in the form of poems? Like gardening, writing and reading poetry helps us explore and share our individual style. Poetry is meant to be a liberating medium for expression, yet it also encourages precise use of words as we home in on what we wish to communicate... more »

Other ideas for celebrating in your community:

• Organize or take part in a town beautification day.
• Visit your local farmers' market.
• Compliment a neighbor on his or her garden.
• Get together with neighbors to purchase compost and mulch in bulk quantities. To calculate how much you need, click here.
• Volunteer to plant and maintain a garden at your town library.
• Submit a gardening article or essay to your local paper.
• Interview an elder to learn what foods his or her family grew when he or she was a child.
• Seek out neighbors from various ethnic groups to learn about their native cuisine and gardening techniques.
• Green up your street or a local park by picking up trash.
• Share a cutting of one of your favorite landscape or houseplants with a neighbor.
• Inventory your gardening gear (e.g., pots, seeds, stakes) and donate the excess to a community gardening program or school garden.
• Celebrate other important "green" holidays: Earth Day (April 22) and National Arbor Day (April 26).
• Volunteer at your local school's garden.
• Start a neighborhood garden club.
• Share your garden's bounty with a neighbor.
• Have fun doing a gardening project with a child. Click here for some ideas.
• Deliver houseplants or flowers to a nursing home or children's hospital.
• Donate past issues of gardening magazines to your library, or buy the library a gift subscription.

When You Garden, You Grow!

Every April communities, organizations, and individuals nationwide celebrate gardening during National Garden Month. Gardeners know, and research confirms, that nurturing plants is good for us: attitudes toward health and nutrition improve, kids perform better at school, and community spirit grows. Join the celebration and help to make America a greener, healthier, more livable place!

Why Garden?

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