Senior gardening group in San Francisco sowing seeds, growing food and building bonds
A group of seniors planting seeds at a San Francisco community garden are growing more than just herbs and vegetables. While they dig in the dirt of their raised garden plots, they’re also sharing important social interactions with their peers. It’s part of a program that is sowing not only nature’s bounty, but the bonds between the seniors that have grown over time.
SAN FRANCISCO – A group of seniors planting seeds at a San Francisco community garden are growing more than just herbs and vegetables. While they dig in the dirt of their raised garden plots, they’re also sharing important social interactions with their peers.
It’s part of a program that is sowing not only nature’s bounty, but the bonds between the seniors that have grown over time.
Her 1st garden at 70
Joan Padley is a San Francisco senior resident who is taking advantage of the program.
“Look! A giant strawberry on its way to turning red!” she exclaims from the Golden Gate Park Senior Center Garden on Fulton Avenue and 37th Street.
“So two years ago, I retired and at that point, I was able to do something more than to just have a plot in a city garden. I could actually try to get one,” Padley says. “So, of course, a lot of the popular gardens are completely full. The waiting list is huge.”
Joan Padley at the Golden Gate Park Senior Center community garden. July 2025.
She’s not wrong. It can take two to 10 years in some cases to get a plot in one of the city-run gardens. More than one of the seniors said the Fort Mason Community Garden is heavenly. A recent check shows that garden’s wait list for one of its 128 plots is eight to nine years.
In all, San Francisco’s Recreation and Park Department manages 41 gardens and farms. Thirty-five of them are plot-based, open to individuals who can join on a first-come, first-served basis.
Joan Padley watering her San Francisco garden plot in Golden Gate Park. July 2025.
Six of them are communal gardens with no wait lists. These gardens welcome volunteers who can participate in drop-in workdays for planting, weeding, and harvesting through SF Rec and Park’s Urban Agriculture Program.
Fortunately for Padley, the wait wasn’t long at all. She said she lucked out and was able to get her garden plot in a matter of months. While she didn’t have to be on the waiting list for a long time, her own garden has been a long time coming.
“This is all new. I…never had a garden before. You know? At 70, I was having my first garden,” she says. “I was born in Newark, New Jersey. Living in the city, we had no garden. I did play in mud when I was little,” she says with a giggle.
But in all the cities she’s lived in, she never really had a yard or space for a garden. “The apartment we live in now has no yard. No garden,” Padley says.
Benefits to health
“San Francisco is such a dense city. A lot of people live in apartments,” says Daniel Montes, SF Rec and Park communications manager. “Not a lot of people have access to outdoors, planting and gardening opportunities, so that’s what these community gardens are all about – ensuring that people have access to do what they love. Getting their hands dirty and growing food.”
Padley clearly loves her garden plot.
“This is awesome,” she says. “So, as a newbie to this place, it’s a great place to learn from people. Some people really know what they’re doing. Others may not, but they’re willing to share and help.”
And it’s that community spirit of sharing knowledge and time spent with one another that is the purpose of the program.
“This garden specifically seeks to support senior citizens as they age in San Francisco,” says Mei Ling Hui, urban agriculture director at the Golden Gate Park Senior Center – community garden space. “The whole senior center is for that purpose.”
She says there are known benefits to being outside in the garden.
“Being in nature both for your physical health and your emotional health,” Hui says. “There’s a lot of social science that tells us how people’s connections to nature reduces things like cortisol, blood pressure and helps improve happiness.”
Montes agrees.
“We know that just being outside for 10 minutes can reduce anxiety, stress, [and] depression. So, when people are out here, that’s really the goal is to make sure that people are active and enjoy themselves,” Montes says.
Growing greens and sharing with others
Padley’s joy is growing food from the ground.
“So, what I was growing was collard greens and honestly, they’re so much sweeter than the ones you can buy, even at the farmer’s market, because I’m harvesting them so young. I can eat them raw.”
The greens do well in San Francisco’s cooler climate.
“We have a lot of greens. That’s really common. Greens grow really, really well all over the city,” says Hui. “Kale is a big favorite.”
She says the seniors at this garden also grow bok choy, fava beans, tomatoes, potatoes, pumpkins, onions, tarragon, oregano, mint, and thyme, just to name some food items.
On a recent working day in the senior center garden, seniors could be seen mingling, digging in the dirt, sharing gardening advice and even sharing some of their harvest. One woman could be heard shouting out how she was going to wrap up some of the dill she’d been growing for everyone.
Meanwhile, Padley beams with pride as she shows off her fava bean stalk.
“The fava bean plants have grown this big. It’s like Jack and the Beanstalk. They grew really tall from three beans. I harvested a bunch of them. They’re yummy when you cook them,” Padley says. “I had to learn how to cook the fava beans, but it’s all a wonderful learning experience. To me, it’s like magic!”
You don’t have to be a senior to get in on community gardening in San Francisco. SF Rec and Park has seen high demand for community gardening. If you are so inspired, you can find out more information on how to get involved and sign up for the wait list here. There is also a Community Gardens Interactive Map with photos that shows where the individual gardens are located.
The Source: San Francisco’s Recreation and Park Department, interviews with seniors at the Golden Gate Park Senior Center Garden.
San FranciscoGood NewsEnvironmentFood and DrinkNews
Comments are closed.