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San Diego, CA
Guide to San Diego County’s community gardens
Why this matters
Located in neighborhoods across the county, community gardens seek to provide resources and educational opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds.
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Tucked into neighborhoods, schoolyards and park edges, community gardens have woven themselves into the fabric of San Diego.
Many are established in food deserts – areas that lack access to affordable and nutritious food. For predominantly low-income and racially diverse communities, a local garden plot can be the difference between having fresh produce or none at all.
Beyond the food, community gardens have become gathering places where social bonds across generations and languages form and environmental education can flourish. From elementary school students to senior citizens, people of all ages are able to tend to plants or participate in community activities hosted onsite.
San Diego County has more than 80 community gardens, according to the Master Gardener Association of San Diego County. Most of them are managed by churches, nonprofits or local volunteers.
However, funding may be running short. The One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act led the county to cancel contracts related to CalFresh Healthy Living in October 2025, as previously reported by inewsource. Community gardens were one of the lifestyle programs impacted by these cuts.
Nonprofit leaders have also sounded the alarm about federal cuts causing funding instability that could impact their community programs.
But there are still ways for the community to get involved. Here’s a map maintained by the Master Gardener Association that shows dozens of gardens around the county.
inewsource asked Heather Holland, president of the Master Gardener Association of San Diego County, and Julia Rauner Guerrero, the organization’s community garden chair, to talk about the basics of community gardens.
Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Community gardens vary based on who owns the land but most gardens are spaces where renters of the garden beds have access during set hours. Most gardens have events or times where they open their doors to the public.
Community gardens are spaces where the public can garden or learn about gardening together. There are a few categories of community gardens that could be grouped this way:
- Gardens that include beds or spaces that can be rented for growing.
- Gardens that grow food that is donated to others.
- Gardens that act as learning spaces so the public can learn how to garden together.
- Semi-public spaces where someone from an area (as in a resident of an HOA) can garden in a space.
Most of San Diego’s community gardens fall into one of those categories and often include several of these characteristics. On our community garden map we’ve focused on gardens with individual or shared/cooperative plots, some of which also incorporate education and/or food sharing with the community.
No, generally there isn’t any registration with the county and the cities operate under different rules. Community gardens located on public land have different approaches dictated by their city. For example, in the city of San Diego nonprofit groups can apply to the city to use parks and recreation land for a community garden.
Community gardens are operated by a mix of persons depending on who is running the site. In most cases it is a church, a nonprofit or a group of volunteers who manage the space. A few San Diego cities such as Imperial Beach, Carlsbad and La Mesa oversee their gardens and in other cases the County of San Diego directly operates the community gardens on their property.
Volunteer at your nearby community garden to get a feel for the garden, the people and the management.
Type of Content
Explainer: Provides context or background, definition and detail on a specific topic.
San Diego, CA
Where to watch San Diego Padres vs Seattle Mariners: TV channel, start time, streaming for May 16
What to know about MLB’s ABS robot umpire strike zone system
MLB launches ABS challenge system as players test robot umpire calls in a groundbreaking season.
Baseball is back and finding what channel your favorite team is playing on has become a little bit more confusing since MLB announced plans to produce and distribute broadcasts for nearly a third of the league.
We’re here to help. Here’s everything you need to know Saturday as the San Diego Padres visit the Seattle Mariners.
See USA TODAY’s sortable MLB schedule to filter by team or division.
What time is San Diego Padres vs Seattle Mariners?
First pitch between the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. (ET) on Saturday, May 16.
How to watch San Diego Padres vs Seattle Mariners on Saturday
All times Eastern and accurate as of Saturday, May 16, 2026, at 6:32 a.m.
- Matchup: SD at SEA
- Date: Saturday, May 16
- Time: 7:15 p.m. (ET)
- Venue: T-Mobile Park
- Location: Seattle, Washington
- TV: FOX
- Streaming: MLB.TV on Fubo
Watch MLB all season long with Fubo
MLB regional blackout restrictions apply
MLB scores, results
MLB scores for May 16 games are available on usatoday.com . Here’s how to access today’s results:
See scores, results for all of today’s games.
Top military leaders are warning members of Congress that the cost of ongoing military operations in the Middle East, along with other recent efforts, including in counternarcotics, could soon force difficult decisions on training and overall readiness.
During a congressional subcommittee budget hearing this week, lawmakers questioned how long the Navy and Marine Corps can sustain its current level of operations with a historic amount of warships in the Middle East.
Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Ken Calvert asked Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle how long the Navy could continue operating at its current pace before funding runs short.
“Sir, I will have to start making decisions to change training, operations, certifications events, those types of things we do to generate our force, in the July time frame in the current expenditure,” Caudle said.
The warning comes as Calvert outlined that the Navy is making a $377.5 billion budget request, a 23% increase over the previous fiscal year.
Calvert noted the financial impact the war against Iran has had and said, “Our munitions stockpiles are depleted, our fleet has deferred maintenance — critical maintenance — and our service members have been operating on an extended deployment schedule.”
Rep. Betty McCollum also warned that rising fuel costs tied to the conflict could further strain military operations.
“In addition to the threats our sailors and Marines face, I’m concerned about the broader costs of the war,” McCollum said. “The skyrocketing costs of fuel will limit the Navy and the Marine Corps ability to conduct exercises for the rest of the year.”
Potential reductions in training and certification efforts could have a significant impact in San Diego, home to more than 136,000 active-duty service members, including roughly a fourth of all Marines and a sixth of all Navy sailors, according to the San Diego Military Advisory Council.
Lawmakers also raised concerns about the growing size of China’s naval fleet compared with the United States’.
“Despite our focus on the Middle East and elsewhere across the globe, China still remains our pacing threat,” Calvert added.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently testified that the war effort in Iran has carried a nearly $30 billion price tag. The Defense Department is now facing pressure to replenish munitions stockpiles, improve shipbuilding capabilities and maintain readiness for future threats while continuing current operations.
The Department of Defense’s proposed budget for the upcoming year totals $1.5 trillion, the largest defense proposal in U.S. history.
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication.
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