Garden characteristics and types of program involvement associated with sustained garden membership in an urban gardening support program

The ability of urban and community gardens to enhance health and social connections is dependent on the continued availability of places to garden and continuation of gardening by individuals. Gardener support or-ganizations offer resources to enhance the success of gardens, such as providing free or low-cost material re-sources, gardening education, and technical support. They can also nurture local social networks of gardeners that share gardening support, experiences, and knowledge. In order for garden support programs to be effective, gardeners need to participate and avail themselves of the resources provided. Few studies have looked at factors that are associated with sustaining participation in garden support programs, including garden characteristics and gardeners? involvement in specific types of programming and services. This study worked with data on garden characteristics and program participation obtained from Keep Growing Detroit, a gardener support or-ganization in Detroit, Michigan. Associations between garden characteristics, gardeners? involvement in various types of programming offered through a gardener support program, and the likelihood of continued garden membership in the gardener support program the following year were examined using multilevel logistic regression and mediation analysis. From 2012 to 2014, between 1189 and 1335 gardens participated in the garden support program each year. Garden characteristics and program components associated with continued garden membership in the garden support program included land ownership, gardeners? attending educational classes and volunteering, number of years of garden membership in the garden support program, and the garden receiving seeds and plants. Number of adults participating in the garden, garden size, receiving a site visit, and gardeners participating in city-wide events were not significantly associated with continued membership. Gardener support programs may be able to increase retention of gardens within their network by encouraging increased participation in specific types of programming.