How Does Your Garden Grow? Development of a Calculator to Evaluate the Economic and Dietary Impact of Edible Gardens

Edible gardens can increase fruit and vegetable availability and access. Weighing produce is a method to evaluate gardens, however there are limited methods that translate garden yields to dietary yields and that document Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - Education (SNAP-Ed) garden yields. We developed a Garden Harvest Calculator to evaluate edible garden economic and dietary impact. Over three spring-to-summer growing seasons, 12 - 18 gardens produced 6,499 pounds of produce worth $11,606.95. This equates to 24,922 cups, enough for 4,984 adults to meet dietary recommendations. SNAP-Ed supported gardens may positively contribute to dietary needs while reducing barriers to food access.