Enablers and Barriers of Community Garden Use in New Orleans, Louisiana: An Environmental Assessment and Qualitative Analysis.

This article examines factors influencing community garden use in New Orleans, Louisiana, through environmental assessments of 10 operational gardens and semi-structured interviews with 20 community members (users and non-users) and garden stakeholders. The environmental assessment found gardens scored high in design and cleanliness but low in physical accessibility and availability of information. Qualitative interviews identified skill-building, social engagement, and access to fresh foods as key enablers of participation, while time constraints and limited information acted as both barriers and facilitators. Community members viewed gardens as potential sources of fresh food, whereas stakeholders emphasized the social benefits over food production capacity, noting that gardens cannot sufficiently address community-wide food insecurity. The study suggests future research should focus on the relationship between social engagement in community gardens and health outcomes.