Food Gardening

Woman and man planting their community garden.

Growing Food in the City

This guide and the links below will help beginners start gardening, and experienced gardeners learn more. You can grow healthy food for your family, share the learning with children and neighbors, and have fun growing!

• Growing Food in the City (pdf) explains how to:
  • Pick the best location for gardening
  • Prepare garden soil with compost for planting
  • Learn about when and how to plant
  • Plant for a longer, bigger harvest
  • Garden year-round
  • Store and share your harvest, and more!
• If you’re thinking about growing food next to a street, see Growing Food in Planting Strips to learn about soil safety and other considerations.

Print material

Natural Yard Care (pdf)
Healthy Soil (pdf)
Composting Yard & Food Waste at Home (pdf)
Choosing the Right Plants (pdf)
Smart Watering (pdf)
Natural Pest, Weed & Disease Control (pdf)
Ecologically Sound Lawn Care (pdf)

Related links

Prevent food waste - Learn how to shop, store, and use food to reduce waste and save money.
P-Patch Program - Department of Neighborhoods program that provides garden spaces for residents. Learn about community gardening, sharing garden space and harvests, and more.
Department of Planning and Development - Land use rules now allow larger urban gardens, more livestock animals, and selling food grown in the City.
Department of Transportation - Rules allow gardening in street-side planting strips.
Parks & Recreation Department - Provides learning and growing opportunities. Search their site under keywords “food, garden”.
The City of Seattle’s Food Access website links City and citizen efforts.

Learn more about growing food

Tilth Alliance- Classes, demonstration gardens, and volunteer opportunities
Master Gardeners - Washington State University Extension
Lettuce Link - gardening and food sharing help for low-income residents
UrbanFarmHub.org - Urban agriculture news and resources for the Northwest