“Often, people have started up community gardens or gardening projects, thinking if people could just grow their own food then it would alleviate some of their need to purchase food and it would help them to manage,” she said.
But Tarasuk found people who garden were not less likely to be food insecure.
“I know, again, it seems counter-intuitive — you think well if you’re growing your own food you don’t need to buy it, you should have more food,” she said. But small urban gardens don’t produce enough, she said, and fill needs mostly temporarily because they are seasonal.