St. Louis County Library sees the establishment of community gardens as another way of reaching out to and connecting with the local community, an opportunity to form partnerships with other organizations engaged in building a better St. Louis region, and a way to educate people regarding sustainable land use. Working with Gateway Greening provides us with the expertise and guidance we need to make such an initiative a success. Gateway Greening is a local non-profit whose mission is to promote urban neighborhood vitality and stability, healthy living and quality of life through community food projects, education and wellness programs, and civic greening for all ages.

We have community gardens at Prairie Commons and Cliff Cave branches. Both followed the same process of gauging public interest and marketing the concept. The final plans of a 20-bed garden at Prairie Commons and a 24-bed garden at Cliff Cave were a collaboration between SLCL, GGI and community gardeners. St. Louis Audubon Society also partnered, adding a native plant butterfly garden at Prairie Commons. The Cliff Cave garden included four double-height accessibility beds. In April 2015, we offered Book-a-Gardener, 30-minute sessions with staff to troubleshoot garden-related issues. The service is available at the both branches from April - October.

In terms of public support and positive media interest, both gardens have been a success. Pictures of the Prairie Commons ribbon cutting can be seen here. We’ve added beds to both gardens, the latest at Cliff Cave on March 21, 2015. These additions provided some on the waiting list with an opportunity to acquire their own garden bed at an earlier date. GGI and SLCL share a Community Outreach Specialist who has become our main point of contact with the community gardeners, offering them support and advice. The Community Outreach Specialist also presents programs in the garden that increase exposure to gardening, nutrition and health related topics within the community and help to highlight and further support this project.