LEXINGTON, Ky. — Community gardens in Kentucky aren't a new idea. But as more urban areas in central Kentucky grow along with new buildings, a nonprofit is putting an emphasis on digging in the dirt to connect with nature.

What You Need To Know

  • Community gardens can help urban areas

  • Seedleaf said in the U.S., the biggest barrier to growing food for new farmers is finding affordable land

  • Lexington has several community gardens

  • London Ferrill Community Garden has private and community plots

“This is London Ferrill Community Garden, and it’s about two acres of land that’s preserved,” said Jo Sorrell, education outreach coordinator for a nonprofit organization called Seedleaf.

She’s explaining to a group of Transylvania University students the purpose of the garden before teams pull weeds around the garden.

Some areas are private while most lots are community spaces.

A Lexington man walks away with a fresh yellow squash from the community garden. (Spectrum News 1/ Khyati Patel)

“Whether they need the food or not, it brings the community together, and it gives us a space to like gather outdoors, and to eat fresh food, and to be nourished,” Sorrell said.

She said the garden space provides growers an area to produce nutritious food for the Lexington community without worrying about the cost of land.

“A lot of people come in and they just want greens and they’re like, 'Where are your greens?'” Sorrell said.

Her nonprofit said in the United States, the biggest barrier to growing food for new farmers is finding affordable land to grow crops, and in dense cities, this problem is magnified.

“With everything going on, having a place in such an urban environment, like we're next to the firehouse, and you can see the big blue building from here and downtown [Lexington] is just right there,” Sorrell said. “And there's all these birds and pollinators and plants living here among us. Sorry, I'm getting choked up. And it's just, it's nourishing, to have a space to come.” 

Seedleaf's Jo Sorrell tries a fresh fig from the tree behind her. (Spectrum News 1/Khyati Patel)

Expanding on more green space created by Seedleaf in an area that’s growing like a concrete jungle.

“It's not just the plants and the food, it's also the people that you get to meet and chat with and be nourished by that social aspect of the garden too,” Sorrell said.

Since 2017, the nonprofit has set up 15 free ‘U-pick’ community gardens throughout Fayette County, many of which are located in Lexington's food deserts.