urban vegetable garden?

Hi all!

I work at a permanent supportive housing site in San Francisco's Tenderloin Neighborhood and we have a nice sized space in back (pics attached, things would be cleared out). I would like to start a vegetable garden back there. I have absolutely no experience with any kind of gardening. Looking for any advice on where to begin my learning journey, or if anyone would be willing to come check out the space and give advice we are a non profit so it would be donated time of course. Anything helps.

Hello Veronica, welcome to Permies!

Where to start? There are many options.

Firstly, I would suggest to ask a local permaculture folks for assistance, San Francisco has some big names, perhaps someone will agree to help on-site.

If that turns out not to be an option, then one of the biggest permaculture wisdoms is "Start Small" - perhaps you can start with garden in pots? There is a great book on that topic, by Juliet Kemp. And since you mentioned that you do not have gardening experience, I strongly recommend to read Gaia Garden by late Toby Hemenway.

Last, but not least, perhaps in your community are people who would like to be involved, and luckily some of them might have a green thumb? Ask around, and if there are any similar projects in your vicinity, try to make friends with them.

Hey Veronica!
Welcome and what a great idea.
I'd ask you what you intend to accomplish with the garden. That will be just as important as other factors like light, exposure and rainfall availability (which the folks Richard rightly suggests contacting will help you figure out). You're in a good zone for growing things, to be sure.
If you're looking to produce food people will eat, it needs to be something people want to eat (sounds ridiculously basic but I think it's an ongoing challenge for people starting gardens- they might not like eating what they grow). For example, my mother has a community garden where she lives: in the space of a few years it went from a place where people were growing things they could get practically for free at the farm stand down the road to a popular hub for immigrant groups who desperately wanted to eat veggies from "back home" that aren't available for sale.
You don't have to eat everything you grow-- flowers also have value, and the growing process itself is therapeutic. Maybe you want people to have a shared activity and to learn to trust each other. But think about what your purpose is, and everyone here is always happy to share experience to give you pointers on how to get there.

Tereza

My goal ultimate goal is to have something that my clients can find community in doing with one another, and also try and help with some of the food insecurity that some of my elder clients face during later in the month when funds and food assistance are low. I will be gathering tenant input on ideas for what they would like to grow and give them options for what is feasible to grow in the space we have. I was thinking planter boxes of some sort(still need to research more on that.

I merged your stuff with the following thread. I hope that is okay by you.

welcome to the forum!

Do you plan to do container gardening or build some raised beds?

Is that the permanent location of those trash containers?  If so you would need to allow space for there use and for the folks picking them up.

You might start out slowing, one container at a time.

Plant you favorite thing to eat.  Our would be tomatoes.

Ask lots of questions.

Veronica Baca,
I have merged your topic into this topic. I hope that helps.

You need sunlight to grow a garden, does not need to be full sun all day but that is preferable. I have found that later maturing tomatoes get some partial shade from our farm grove that earlier plantings do not. Add this in with the shorter daylength and the ripening proceeds slowly.

Hi Veronica. I hope you can find a local gardener that wants to help out. I would be disappointed if you couldn't find a local companies to sponsor you for some of the materials too. This thread also gives some pointers for starting out in a garden without spending much money.
Looking at the space I'd think that container beds will probably be the simplest for you, but you will need to find a source of organic matter to fill them, as well as materials for the container itself. The main disadvantage is probably they will need more attention to watering, but many people find the higher surface more ergonomic to work on, which is a big plus! There are various methods of helping with water management, depending on your bed design, that don't neccessarily involve lots of plastic piping. Many vegetables don't need direct sun all day, and some will prefer some shade in a hotter climate, so there will definitely be possibilities even if the bed is in the shade.
I would also consider whether there is the possibility of introducing a composting facility - it's great to close the loop and use the waste from the kitchen to help grow the food for it!

Nancy Reading wrote:Hi Veronica. I hope you can find a local gardener that wants to help out. I would be disappointed if you couldn't find a local companies to sponsor you for some of the materials too. This thread also gives some pointers for starting out in a garden without spending much money.
Looking at the space I'd think that container beds will probably be the simplest for you, but you will need to find a source of organic matter to fill them, as well as materials for the container itself. The main disadvantage is probably they will need more attention to watering, but many people find the higher surface more ergonomic to work on, which is a big plus! There are various methods of helping with water management, depending on your bed design, that don't neccessarily involve lots of plastic piping. Many vegetables don't need direct sun all day, and some will prefer some shade in a hotter climate, so there will definitely be possibilities even if the bed is in the shade.
I would also consider whether there is the possibility of introducing a composting facility - it's great to close the loop and use the waste from the kitchen to help grow the food for it!

Thank you so much for the info, so helpful. Still figuring my way around the site and what al the lingo is so I appreciate your insight!