"Gardening is associated with health behaviors, including fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity. Maintaining these benefits is dependent on sustaining gardens and interest of gardeners, which can be challenged by lack of gardening skills and knowledge and financial cost. Gardener support programs reduce these barriers by providing gardening resources and education, especially important for new gardeners who may lack gardening skills and knowledge. The overall objectives of this dissertation were to understand how and why gardening influences diet, the challenges faced by new gardeners, and aspects of gardener support programs that may be most beneficial to sustaining gardens. The aims of this dissertation were to: 1. Investigate how and why gardening is perceived to influence dietary choices and food security, 2. Explore the experiences of new community gardeners, and 3. Examine the associations between garden characteristics, participation in components of a gardener support program, and continued program participation. For the first aim, in-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 28 experienced members of the Garden Resource Program operated by Keep Growing Detroit, a non-profit organization in Detroit, Michigan. Data were analyzed by thematic coding. Many gardeners perceived that gardening led to increased vegetable intake and decreased intake of less healthy foods, including fast food and processed foods. They perceived knowing how their food was produced, an emotional attachment to food they grew, and that home-grown produce tasted better caused these dietary changes. Gardening was perceived to influence aspects of food security by contributing to financial savings on food and providing ample access to fresh vegetables, which gardeners preserved for year-round use. In the second aim, in-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 15 new community gardeners participating in a randomized controlled trial of community gardening in Denver, Colorado to examine their perceptions of leadership, social interaction in the garden, and challenges. Thematic coding was used to analyze data. Key challenges described by new gardeners included limited time and lack of gardening knowledge. There was variation in new gardeners' perceptions of social interaction in the garden and support from their garden leaders. Engaged garden leaders and other experienced gardeners helped alleviate challenges by sharing their gardening knowledge and assisting new gardeners. In the third aim, data from Keep Growing Detroit's records on 2,318 gardens participating in their program from 2012-2015 was used to examine the association between components of their programming and continued garden participation using multilevel logistic regression and mediation analysis. Program components associated with continued garden participation in the Garden Resource Program included attending educational classes, volunteering, previous years of garden membership in the Garden Resource Program, and receiving seeds and plants. Comprehensive education indirectly increased the likelihood of continued garden membership through participation in other aspects of the program. Overall, these three studies advance the understanding of sustaining and expanding gardening's health impacts by demonstrating how gardening is perceived to influence dietary choices and food security and highlighting the importance of leadership and social interaction, and education and resources to sustain gardeners' participation and improve garden longevity."--Pages ii-iii.
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