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For about three years, John Selb has grown fruits, vegetables and herbs in a 400-square-foot plot at the Moiliili Community Garden, one of 10 city-run and city-funded community gardens on Oahu.

Right now the 38-year-old medical technician is growing collard greens, lilikoi, moringa, basil, oregano, mint, Okinawan spinach, kale, cassava and a smattering of native ferns and plants.

During peak planting and harvesting times, he’s working in his plot every day, otherwise several times a week. He says there are times when 100% of the produce he consumes comes from this small garden.

And that hasn’t been the only benefit.

“It started off as something that I could do to grow my own food, to consume my own food, to know where my food is coming from, to save money,” says Selb, who lives in an apartment in Makiki with no lanai or garden space. “But as I’ve gone through the process, it’s had a major therapeutic and mental health impact on me, as far as stress release, mental focus, clarity and peace of mind. Sometimes I go to the garden literally to just be there.”

I feel the same way about gardening.

Like Selb, I grew up with a garden at home. Just something small, where I grew beefsteak and grape tomatoes, round and long eggplant, and all sorts of peppers and herbs. But that exposure to gardening, especially at a young age, has fostered an appreciation in growing plants. Everywhere I have lived, from an apartment in Evanston, Illinois to rentals all over the island, I have grown herbs and veggies.

Most I eat, some I give away. But I do it, too, because of the way it makes me feel, the gratification I get when a seed I planted has sprouted into a plant that’s providing me food.

I’m lucky, though. Where I live I have enough outdoor space to grow beans, sweet corn, kale, apple and lemon trees, carrots and beets. With so much of Oahu’s population living in condos or densely populated urban neighborhoods — and our state’s heavy reliance on imported food — the city’s community gardens program is a vital piece in food security and sustainability.

Add to that the mental health, social and community benefits, and it seems like this program should get way more attention — and, more importantly, funding — than it currently does.

Expansion is happening — slowly and maybe a bit unconventionally — but it is happening.

With funding from the , the city was able to hire a community gardens project manager, Anna Mines, who has been assessing the current program and looking at feasible, meaningful ways to grow it, something Oahu residents have been requesting for years.

It’s not uncommon for people to be on the waitlist for high-demand gardens — Ala Wai, Diamond Head, Manoa — for months, even years.

Recently, the city installed seven ADA-accessible raised garden beds at the community garden next to Foster Botanical Garden. The 10-foot by 10-foot beds are high enough that a wheelchair can fit underneath them.

Mines is also working with various community groups, private landowners, schools and nonprofits to help them with their own urban gardens. She’s creating a comprehensive guide with information about how to start and maintain a community garden in the Islands.

“The city has 50 years of expertise running the community gardens program,” she says. “We can definitely offer help.”

The demand is there. Currently, there are more than 600 people on the waiting list to get a plot at one of the city’s 10 community gardens, seven in metro Honolulu, one in Hawaii Kai and one in Wahiawa. There are none on the Westside, though residents have requested it.

It’s not uncommon for people to be on the waitlist for high-demand gardens — Ala Wai, Diamond Head, Manoa — for months, even years.

Mines says the city is planning to open its 11th garden within the next five years — its first since the 1990s. But in order for this program to grow, it needs consistent funding and staff support.

Starting a community garden isn’t as easy as measuring out plots and assigning them to residents. There’s a lot of planning involved, Mines explains, ranging from water supply to security.

That’s where creative partnerships have worked.

In December 2020 the Honolulu Department of Community Services created more than 160 garden beds and planted 20 fruit trees at seven city-owned special-needs housing locations, including kupuna housing in West Loch and Manoa and shelters for homeless and at-risk families.

The project was funded by a Food Security-Scaping Program seeded with CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Funds. The city’s community gardens program offered the inspiration and knowledge to this project, which helps provide fresh, sustainable produce to those most affected by the pandemic.

The city has also provided its expertise to Kuilima Farm, a 468-acre agricultural parcel owned by Turtle Bay Resort in Kahuku. The farm, managed by , has 34 community garden plots available to North Shore organizations and residents. There’s already a waiting list.

“Finding the land for a community garden isn’t the hardest part,” Mines says. “Itʻs the capacity.”

Because if the city is going to do it, it should do it right. Even if it takes a while.