Reviewed by: Mary Helene Hall
Birmingham ranked best place for urban gardening in Alabama
Reading time: 3 minutes
In celebration of National Gardening Day on Tuesday, April 14, LawnStarter, a national landscape services tech company, released its annual 2026’s Best Cities for Urban Gardening survey.
Out of 500 cities ranked, how did Birmingham do?
The Magic City ranked 31st nationally and number one in Alabama.
Urban Gardening: The numbers
LawnStarter considered 15 metrics including some of the following categories:
- Access to community gardens per 10,000 residents
- Number of food forests
- Average yard sizes
- Access to gardening supplies
- Civic support like “Right to Garden” laws
Jones Valley Teaching Farm: A shining light
Jones Valley Teaching Farm’s Executive Director Amanda Storey wasn’t surprised about Birmingham’s strong showing.
“Jones Valley Teaching Farm celebrates our 24th year in Birmingham this year — a testament to our city’s commitment to urban farming. Our downtown farm’s Center for Food Education serves as a hub for field trips, camps and workshops.”
According to Storey, one of the group’s proudest achievements is their Good Community Food program. Since its launch in 2022, the beloved and highly impactful local organization has accomplished the following:
- 200 community members have graduated from a 11-month fellowship program
- Hundreds of gardens have received over 110,000 seedlings
- 11 gardens built or renovated
- 87,821 pounds of produce distributed
“We also run 16 teaching farms on Birmingham City School campuses so that young people can begin a lifelong journey of growing food for themselves and each other. We are proud to work alongside so many organizations that are doing incredible work of growing, cooking and sharing food across our city.”
Amanda Storey, Executive Director of Jones Valley Teaching Farm
The rest of Alabama ranked well
The Magic City was not the only community in Alabama to do well in the ranking. Mobile and Huntsville were not far behind, ranking 65th and 68th respectively.
The rest of Alabama cities on the list ranked in the top 25%.
- Auburn — 112th
- Hoover — 114th
- Tuscaloosa — 115th
- Montgomery — 144th
Nationally, Atlanta topped the list. Nearby Nashville ranked 25th.
How are you going to celebrate National Urban Gardening Day? Have you ever worked with some of Birmingham’s gardening groups such as Birmingham Botanical Gardens and Jones Valley Teaching Farm?
Remember, this month there are several annual native plant sales. Check out our guide: 10 native plant sales + shops to know in Birmingham
