The Backyard Community Garden at St. Martin is a Non-Profit Endeavor for Supporting the Development of Individual Backyard Food Gardens and Self-Sufficiency Projects on the Mississippi Gulf Coast through Education, Advice, Support, Workshops, and First-Hand Training Experiences.

RESIDENTIAL FOOD GARDENS are know by many names: Kitchen Gardens, Backyard Gardens, Vegetable Gardens, and during World War 2 as Victory Gardens.

ABOUT

There are many different types of Community Gardens.  The most common known type sub-divides land set aside to members of the public who sometimes don't have land of their own. We are not that type.

Our Community Garden is a Learning Lab, a Teaching Garden for those who have a backyard, to learn and implement ideas, concepts, projects, and skills.

Below are examples of the types of learning we hope to cover. BOLDED ITEMS are Current Priorities.

DESIGN:  Our Teaching Garden focuses Non-Chemical ORGANIC Methods, but also on Renewal of the Soil which Produces Nutrient Dense Foods.

AREAS:  Our Teaching Garden will include learning areas for:

• ROW GARDENING Traditional Tilled and Non-Tilled - using organic methods

• RAISED BED VEGETABLE GARDENING - using organic methods

• PERMACULTURE GARDENING - open land, yard or field gardening, the future of gardening using zones instead of rows

• FOREST PERMACULTURE GARDENING - a unique method of growing food in a wooded environment

• FRUIT TREES and BUSHES - a selection of nutrient dense fruit

- THE FOOD CHAIN -
NUTRIENT DENSE SOIL = NUTRIENT DENSE PLANTS = NUTRIENT DENSE YOU

NOT ALL FOODS ARE GROWN EQUALLY
You Are What You Eat. We are in an Epidemic of Poor Grocery Store Foods that are heavily processed with chemicals and additives in order to attempt to make up the nutrient deficient way it was grown, processed, and preserved for shipping and presentation at the store.

PRODUCE: The same size and similar looking produce can have greatly different nutrition values. You Can't Judge the Book by It's Cover.
BOXED ITEMS: Tend to be the most heavily processed.

YOU CAN CONTROL THE QUAILTY OF FOOD YOU EAT IF
YOU GROW IT or YOU KNOW THE GROWER