Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, Present, and Future of the Self-Provisioning City

Kate Brown

Book cover for Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, Present, and Future of the Self-Provisioning City
Image for variant 9781324105831
Book cover for Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, Present, and Future of the Self-Provisioning City
Image for variant 9781324105831

Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, Present, and Future of the Self-Provisioning City

Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, Present, and Future of the Self-Provisioning City

Kate Brown

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Description

Nurturing health, hope, and community, gardeners in cities and suburbs are reclaiming lost commons, transforming vacant lots into vibrant plots, turning waste into compost, and recreating what was once the most productive agriculture in recorded human history.

In a history that has been hidden in plain sight, working-class gardeners have consistently played an outsized role. In London, they devised ways to feed themselves when wage labor fell short. In Paris, a superabundance of horse manure in the streets nourished urban gardens that fed two million residents. In Berlin, gardeners built social safety nets for those marginalized by the state. In Washington, DC, African American migrants brought rural traditions of self-provisioning that were later disrupted by "urban renewal." In rustbelt Mansfield, Ohio, farming ex-cons grow hope for the city's future. In post-Soviet Estonia, shared gardens became lifelines for survival amid economic upheaval. And in Amsterdam, activists are reclaiming sustainable farming practices in a sinking landscape oversaturated with fertilizers.

Tilled into this rich history of urban agriculture is an inspiring layer of contemporary activism. Each chapter includes contemporary stories of people from all walks of life who, in their gardens, are continuing a great tradition of mutual aid, political resistance, and bold experiments in sustainability.

A manifesto for the next food revolution, Tiny Gardens Everywhere blends past and present, archive and experience, to offer a truly inspiring vision of the transformative potential of gardening and urban life.

Critical Reviews

What a wonder this book is! Absolutely riveting. I hope we can heed its wisdom.--Isabella Tree, author of Wilding

A sparkling new history of urban areas demonstrating that they have long been full of vibrant green shoots. Diving into this visionary blend of history, memoir, and political insight is like eating a salad of fresh spring greens with a sprinkling of wild strawberries?refreshing, delightful, and nourishing for both mind and spirit.--Tiya Miles, author of Wild Girls and All That She Carried

Tiny Gardens Everywhere shows us the path between the plot and the planet. It's an amazing, beautiful book; I couldn't put it down.--Anna Tsing, author of The Mushroom at the End of the World

With enviable skill, craft, and insight, Kate Brown shows that the past of small-scale urban provisioning contains the seeds of a more resilient future for us all.--Sunil Amrith, author of The Burning Earth

For urban farmers worldwide, this vibrant secret history validates our work and guides future gardeners toward better composting, radical use of common spaces, and plenty of zucchini.--Novella Carpenter, author of Farm City and The Essential Urban Farmer

Engaging and inspiring. A fascinating history into the quietly radical role of allotments and guerrilla gardening. A reminder that cities are still places where plants can thrive, where people can connect to the earth, despite all the concrete, brick and asphalt. Superb.--Chris Fitch, author of Wild Cities: Discovering New Ways of Living in the Modern Urban Jungle

Brown, an environmental historian, offers a blueprint for the future in this punchy narrative about all manner of urban gardeners in the U.S. and abroad... Brown's book shows us that inspiration for a new food system doesn't have to be so hard. A riveting social history of the world, as seen through gardens.-- "Kirkus (starred review)"

Publishing Information

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Pub date: 2026-02-17
Length: 336 pages

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