Serra Mesa Community Garden and Orchard

The Serra Mesa Community Garden and Orchard is a garden run by volunteers. It is on unused church land behind Mission Village Christian Fellowship and Gethsemane Lutheran Church on Melbourne Drive. Residents rent 4-by-12-foot plots for a small fee. Fruit from the orchard goes to the Serra Mesa Food Pantry next door, along with produce that some gardeners donate.

The San Diego Food Bank proposed the garden as a pilot project to supply the pantry. Victory Gardens San Diego trained the founding members in an eight-week class, and the group formed on April 2, 2011. Volunteers turned a dirt lot into raised beds, and the garden opened on November 5, 2011.