RESOURCES FOR GROWING A GARDEN IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
RECURSOS PARA CULTIVAR UN JARDÍN
EN EL ÁREA DE LA BAHÍA DE SAN FRANCISCO
Planting Times in the Bay Area
Building Raised Beds and Choosing the Right Materials
Bay Area Seed Interchange Library
UCSC Center for Agroecology, Organic Farming and Gardening Skills
Community Gardens Coronavirus Guidelines
Adapted from Garden City Harvest
In order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and keep our gardens and our gardeners safe, please follow these guidelines while in the garden.
MOST IMPORTANT: IF YOU FEEL AT ALL SICK, STAY HOME.
Send a friend or fellow gardener to water if needed. You can email us or staff member if you don’t have someone to help. It is essential that we keep this virus out of the garden.
IF THERE ARE MORE THAN A FEW GARDENERS ON SITE, WAIT
We like to have less than 3 people at the garden at this time so please wait in your car or off site until someone leaves. Or, come back in a few hours. This is A difficult guideline, but there is a reason we put it first. Because it is really important.
TOOLS
We recommend bringing tools from home, if you have them (and take them home with you when you leave). If you need to use the community tools, please follow these guidelines:
Wash or hand sanitize your hands before touching the tools. Gloves help here.
Spray the tool with bleach spray and let sit for 5 minutes. If the handle is a porous material like wood, spray enough to saturate the material. Our bleach spray does contain a higher concentration of bleach than what is typically used, and what is recommended by the CDC to kill COVID-19.
Don’t touch your face while using the tool (and until you remove your glove and wash/sanitize your hands).
When done with the tool, spray again and put away.
Wash/sanitize your hands.
HAND WASHING
We have made hand washing stations for each garden. If you don’t have a functional one now, you will soon. Please wash your hands frequently, especially before and after touching the shared tools, hoses, etc.
Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds (you know, happy birthday song x 2, or baby shark through daddy shark)
We will not have paper towels at the garden, so air drying or wiping on the inside of your shirt is best. With two and a half staff members and all volunteer leadership committees, that much trash is more than we can handle!
Other recommendations (optional): carry hand sanitizer or a personal hand washing station (a ziplock bag, or other container, with very soapy water and a washcloth or nailbrush inside. Makes hand washing very easy anywhere you are).
Curious when to hand sanitize vs. wash hands? Read more.
GLOVES
Gloves do not replace proper hand sanitation procedures. The outside of your glove can transmit diseases from one surface to another, including transmitting the disease to yourself and others.
It is a good idea to wear gloves while in the garden, but not a replacement for sanitation.
FACE MASKS
Always wear them! A well fitting face mask might not filter out the virus, but it will keep you from touching your face and keep you from spreading the virus if you are asymptomatic yet infected.
The CDC recommends wearing masks, especially when you might be close to others (in a garden, say!). Read more about why and how to make one (including a no sew method).
MAINTAIN SOCIAL DISTANCE INCLUDING:
Stay 6 feet from other gardeners
One person in the shed at a time
Young children should stay with an adult
Please be efficient when you are using shared spaces. Ponder and plan only in your garden plot, grab the hose, tool, compost (or whatever you need) and go when in a shared space.
WORKSHOPS AND RESOURCES
All educational workshops will be held virtually until further notice. Check our website or Facebook page for events.
From Garden City Harvest:
We are glad to share this resource in a time when we all need space to connect to each other (from 6 feet away!), and to the land. Practically speaking, the gardens are also places that we can grow some fresh food and have control over your food security! Plus, there’s nothing like digging in the dirt to brighten your mind and get your body moving.
We have been reading a lot of recommendations from several universities (Harvard, Johns Hopkins, NC State) the WHO, and the CDC and have compiled safety guidelines to keep gardeners safe while in our gardens.
Please, please follow these guidelines. Many community gardens have closed because of COVID-19. Because many depend on these plots to feed their family, we want to keep it open. But if people repeatedly do not follow these guidelines, we will have to consider closing the gardens.