Mayor McGinn has a giving garden downtown, on balconies adjoining the public reception area and his personal officeMayor Mike McGinn remembers gardening throughout his life: first, reluctantly weeding the family garden under his mother’s command; later, as the willing steward of several raised beds in his Greenwood home. This summer, with a much busier schedule than in years past and less time to tend his garden, he turned to Urban Garden Share. This program, which covers Seattle and six other areas, matches homeowners who have space to garden with willing, experienced urban gardeners who do not.

In late Spring of 2011, on the first day that Corrina Birdseye posted her profile on the Urban Garden Share website (http://www.urbangardenshare.org), the Mayor contacted her as a potential match to work in his garden. Like Mayor McGinn, she had gardened most of her life. After interviewing her, the Mayor determined they were a good gardening fit. They both shared a passion for organic gardening with heirloom varieties and open-pollinated seeds, and were flexible about how to get things done.

In Urban Garden Share, the terms of each co-gardening partnership are worked out by the two parties involved: whether to be organic; who provides the tools; what to plant; and how to divide the cost, labor and harvest. Mayor McGinn’s Greenwood yard has one central 12 foot by 25 foot raised bed and a few smaller ones in which he and Corrina grow kale, sunchokes, Romano beans, rhubarb, Swiss chard, peas, cabbage, tomatoes, zucchini, potatoes and artichokes. The garden harvest is split among the McGinn family, Corrina and the local food bank, along with occasional donations to the Mayor’s staff.

The Swiss chard, kale, lettuce and flowers harvested from the Mayor’s giving garden go to the Cherry Street food bank.The Mayor practices resource conservation and planning in his own garden too. Genetically modified hybrid plants, he says, can only be counted on for that current generation with no assurances as to the health of future ones. As a result, he is an avid long-time collector of seeds from his open-pollinated plants. Early in his mayoral campaign he gave packets of hand-harvested seeds to supporters and friends—a telling symbol of his philosophy: to manage current resources with a focus on preserving them for future generations.

According to Corrina, a key component to their success is frequent text or email communication about schedules and tasks. Mayor McGinn acknowledges that this program wouldn’t work for everyone, since those with a strong sense of personal property might find it a challenge to share resources. He also notes that a good personality fit is key.

The Mayor’s love of gardening is expressed at work as well as at home. Downtown he has a “giving garden” with Swiss chard, kale, lettuce and flowers on balconies adjoining the public reception area and his personal office. The harvest from those gardens is donated to the Cherry Street food bank, which has a strong need for leafy green vegetables. He was also a major driver in putting the 2008 Parks levy on the ballot, which allocated $146M to the expansion of public spaces and P-Patch community gardens.

Mayor McGinn’s Urban Garden Share partner, Corrina Birdseye, admires a cabbage in the Mayor’s garden.The Mayor sees two important ideas in the recent resurgence of community gardening. First, Americans growing their own vegetables is part of a broader trend of creating and doing things with their hands (such as preserving, knitting and other home-crafting) that serves as a counter-movement to passive consumerism. In addition, locally produced and handmade goods and recycling are ways of rethinking our current resource-intensive system for food, energy and transportation. The Mayor knows that small-scale urban gardening will never be able to completely supply local food needs; however, he believes it is an important starting point in developing awareness and appreciation for local food and business.

Mayor McGinn envisions a system with a softer human footprint, so that resources are conserved for future generations. Within this philosophy, the development of healthy neighborhoods and cities is paramount, as is the conservation of the Puget Sound region’s rich agricultural resources for intra-regional commerce.

The Mayor practices resource conservation and planning in his own garden too. Genetically modified hybrid plants, he says, can only be counted on for that current generation with no assurances as to the health of future ones. As a result, he is an avid long-time collector of seeds from his open-pollinated plants. Early in his mayoral campaign he gave packets of hand-harvested seeds to supporters and friends—a telling symbol of his philosophy: to manage current resources with a focus on preserving them for future generations.