Nashville has made a move to legitimize its community vegetable gardens. While it had been unclear whether Metro public land could be used, the city is now pointing gardeners to ideal places to sow their seeds.

The Metro Human Relations Commission led the way on simplifying the permitting process that gives access to government properties. That followed a frustrating year for one community garden in Paragon Mills in South Nashville, which exposed the challenge of granting access to land, depending on which city department owned it.

“Ideally, we’d love to have community gardens be a 10-to-15-minute walk from anybody in Nashville … so that if you either want to grow your own stuff, or you just want to buy fresh, healthy food that’s literally grown down the street, you can just walk down the street and buy what you need,” said Mark Eatherly, director of operations and special programs.

The city is a long way from having that density of gardens. But Eatherly says his team can learn what makes one successful, then help newcomers follow that path.

“Where do you find seeds? Where do you find tools? Where do you find soil testing?” he asked. “If you’re just starting a garden or if you’ve had a garden for years, there’s a repository of information that you can find.”

Metro created
www.sownashville.org as that primary source for information. It includes
a map of the dozen gardens they know about, plus twice as many city-owned properties that are now available.

There’s also
an ongoing survey of the needs of community gardeners and links that point visitors to the network of non-profits and government agencies working together on behalf of gardeners.

Sow Nashville will have its launch event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Nashville Farmers’ Market, where the city will be
celebrating World Food Day.