Home & Community Gardens
2025 NH Food and Agriculture Strategic Plan
The Home & Community Garden Brief explores land cultivated to grow food collaboratively or individually, usually for consumption at home and not intended for sale. This brief is one of 27 briefs created as part of the NH Food and Agriculture Strategic Plan.
What's at Stake?
Food is one of our most basic needs and the ability to feed ourselves by growing our own food is aligned with the New Hampshire state motto “Live Free or Die.” Home and community gardens are vitally important to the character, lifestyle, and nutritional needs of all Granite Staters. Both types of gardening provide fresh fruits, vegetables, and animal products, while simultaneously connecting people to the educational, physical, social, and mental health benefits of gardening. People who grow their own food gain a deeper understanding of and appreciation for their food— the benefits of fresh, local produce and the work required to get food from seed to table.
Current Conditions
New Hampshire has seen increasing interest in local food, agriculture, and gardening, aligning with nationwide trends. A national survey predicted existing gardeners would spend more time and money planting and expanding their gardens in 20241, despite concerns about the economy and weather.
Home gardening is one way Granite Staters connect with their food, allowing them to find deep value and joy in the complexities of growing their own food for the benefits and experience it provides. Community gardens provide an opportunity for Granite Staters without access to land to build self-sufficiency, resilience, and food sovereignty. Currently, there is a gap in infrastructure throughout the state to support community gardens; support could fit within the mandate of an existing state department or agency but, currently, none handle the issue.
Without dedicated support from an organization or department, comprehensive information about community gardens is limited. At last count, there are 44 community gardens on the NH Community Garden Map2. Furthermore, there is very little data on how much food is produced by home and community gardeners
Challenges
> Beginning gardeners face an overwhelming amount of information, struggling with where to start and how to find New Hampshire-specific gardening information.
> Tools to help residents launch or find community gardens are outdated and often only available in English.
> Local land use regulations do not proactively support growing food. Agricultural Commissions only exist in a fraction of towns and focus on commercial agriculture.
> Food grown in home and community gardens is not tracked or included in data collection projects, like the NH Local Food Count, and therefore, cannot inform decision-making.
>Systems do not exist in local or state governments to support community gardens.
Opportunities
> The UNH Extension Yard & Garden Education Center provides education for home and community gardeners.
>The average yard size in New Hampshire is 1.09 acres, over double the national average.
> There is increasing interest in neighborhood-scale food production in New Hampshire’s urban communities.
> UNH Extension’s Master Gardener volunteers live across the state and have the skills, knowledge, and willingness to be involved with gardening projects.
> There are ample tools at the local level that support food-friendly regulations.
> There are many departments, agencies, boards, and commissions aligned with the goals and functions of a community garden, such as town Parks & Recreation departments.
Recommendations
Organizations working on this issue
Authors
Lead Author
Sean O’Brien, Home Horticulture Program Manager, UNH Extension
Contributing Authors
Julia Freeman-Woolpert, Master Gardener, Board Secretary, Sycamore Community Gardens
Kaylin Lustig, Garden Manager, Sycamore Community Garden
Xochiquetzal Salazar, Certified Permaculture Designer, Marketing & Communications Coordinator, Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Hampshire (NOFA-NH)
This brief was developed through a participatory process led by the NH Food Alliance, a program of the University of New Hampshire. The brief content is comprised of the opinions, perspectives, and information gathered by the authors and participants, and does not necessarily represent those of the NH Department of Agriculture, Markets, and Food or the NH Food Alliance.
Head to the NH Food and Agriculture Strategic Plan main page to read more briefs, browse recommendations and learn how the strategic plan was created.
References
1 Garden Research, The National Gardening Association. "2024 National Gardening Survey." Gardeningresearch.com. Published June 14, 2024. https://gardenresearch.com/
2 Urban and Community Natural Resources. NH Master Gardeners Program. UNH Extension. NH Community Garden Network and Map. Extension.unh.edu. https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/0fa1f8fb272d4a9abeed19499b691a69
