And what a bounty these gardeners coax from the land! Whether greeted by the supple green tendrils of a sugar snap pea climbing a lattice in the early spring, the multitudes of seed-heavy sunflowers tipping over under their own weight in late summer, or the misty, deep-green bunches of kale still growing away despite autumn’s oppressive damp, it is hard for any visitor to one of the P-Patches not to look around and say, "I want that."

The P-Patch Community Gardening Program, part of Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods, began in 1973 when the Picardo family loaned their Picardo Farm to the city so that it could be used for community gardening. A few years later, the city bought the farm from them and it became the first and, even today, largest of the city’s P-Patches; indeed, it even lent the first letter of its name to create the term "P-Patch."

Today the program comprises 54 different sites providing Seattleites with the opportunity to grow their own food. The sites range in size from Picardo’s 281 plots down to the diminutive Ravenna P-Patch, which has room for only 12 gardeners. Some sites--like the Pelican Tea Garden on Capitol Hill--are gardened communally so that the gardeners work together to manage the whole garden, instead of each having individual plots.

In accumulating so many different sites, the P-Patch Community Gardening Program has made itself into a significant source not only of pleasure for the gardeners, but also of food free of the ethical quandaries that plague our food supply: Is it organic? Local? Fresh? Picked by humanely treated workers? Because they grow the food themselves, the gardeners at each P-Patch know exactly what pesticides and fertilizers were applied to their plants (and the answer to that question is liable to be "not much," given that all the growing must be organic). They know, too, that the food’s travel distance is described more aptly by the term "food feet" than "food miles" and that the food is as fresh as possible because they picked it themselves.

Knowing that the produce was grown at a P-Patch negates any concern about mistreatment of the farm workers, as the person who eats the food is very likely to be the one who grew it. Even more heartening for many of the gardeners is that they watch the whole life cycle of the produce, and so experience the food as something alive, something more than a shrink-wrapped commodity. There’s nothing like eating food you grew yourself.

It’s not just fruits and vegetables that are cultivated in P-Patches, but community too. It would be hard to find a group of people in Seattle more infectiously excited about growing their own food and full of willingness to help newcomers get started. This goodwill is manifest at the monthly work parties, where gardeners come together to take care of the communal parts of the gardens: the compost piles, the beehives, the fruit trees--everything that makes the gardens work.

It shows up, too, at the other special P-Patch events, ranging from cider presses to an annual potluck (with food from the P-Patches, of course) and in the pages of the informative P-Patch Post, their quarterly newsletter.

Perhaps the most special aspect of the program is the way in which the gardeners give back to their community. By partnering with Lettuce Link, a program run by Solid Ground (the former Fremont Public Association), the gardeners donate mountains of produce to local food banks. All gardeners are encouraged to donate some of their produce—some even give away everything they grow. In 2007, the P-Patches collectively donated approximately 11 tons of fresh produce, which translates to around 100,000 servings of fresh, organic vegetables getting into our food banks.

New plots are continually becoming available. Waiting lists vary by location, from a maximum of three years to the more typical nine to 12 months. Picardo Farm, Estelle Street, Colman Park, Delridge, Judkins and Bradner Gardens Park have especially short waiting lists, usually less than three months. All of the P-Patches are open to the public and visiting one, especially now, in the spring, when all of the plants are delicate and just emerging, is certain to make you want one; check the program’s website for a map of locations.

Remember: Everything in the P-Patches is grown by your neighbors. Tempting as that plump strawberry may be, wait until you have your own plot to sample the harvest.

How to Get a Seattle P-Patch