Data from this survey documented a wide variety of
populations served by, and participating in, commu-
nity garden programs. A number of the community
gardens had a particular sociodemographic or program
focus, for example, serving a particular age-group (e.g.
children, retirees), socioeconomic group (e.g. low
income neighborhood, public housing project, mothers
on welfare), or special population group (e.g. mentally
handicapped, battered women's shelter). However,
many community gardens also were identi®ed which
served general neighborhoods, communities or villages.
Community gardens were more common in urban
areas but this may be due to a greater relative avail-
ability of resources and organizational capacity in
urban areas, rather than a re¯ection of less demand
for community gardens in rural areas. In both rural
and urban areas, lack of access to land, which people
were permitted to cultivate, was a commonly described
reason for participating in community gardens. Health
related reasons were also commonly cited for partici-
pating in community gardens, including mental health
(Table 2).