VictoryGarden.io

Your guide to VictoryGarden

VictoryGarden helps you grow food where you live and find local food, seeds, compost and help nearby. It covers Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties.

What do you want to do?

Find a farmers market, farm stand or u-pick farmDirectory Find seeds, compost, plants or garden helpDirectory See everything near me on a mapMap See what local growers have this weekThis week Start a pickup spot or a small farmers marketGuide Share a one-page pitch for hosts or growersPitch See what neighbors want, as countsDemand Ask for something: food, help, a teacher, land, toolsMe → Want Share extra produce, space, tools or know-howMe → Have See what to do next on my propertyHomestead Score Ask a gardening questionGrowGuide

Getting started

You can browse the map and the directory without signing in. To save a property, post something, send a message or track your progress, create an account.

When you sign up, the app asks what describes you. You can change it later, and you can be more than one.

I have space
I grow
I offer help
I want food
I teach

Use the EN / ES switch at the top of any page to read the app in English or Spanish.

The map

The home page is a map of what is near you. Use the filter chips above it to turn layers on and off:

Land: yards and land that owners offer for growing.
Services and Guides: builders, irrigation installers, teachers and other local help.
Farms & markets: farmers markets, farm stands, u-pick farms, CSAs and urban farms.
Seeds & supplies: seed libraries, compost, nurseries, community gardens and garden help.

Open the Pin key in the bottom right corner to see what each color means. Tap a line in the key to hide or show that kind of pin, for example to hide farmers markets and see only farms. Show all farms & markets zooms out to the whole region. Pins in a crowd group into a numbered circle; tap it to zoom in.

Farmers market
Farm stand / on-farm market
U-pick / agritourism
CSA (farm share)
Urban farm / homestead
Pickup point
Seeds & plants
Compost & soil
Farm, feed & garden supply
Community garden
Garden help & classes

Some places have no pin. We only pin a place when its source published a street address to visit. Others show the town only.

The Local Food & Growing Directory

A free list for the eight counties, open to everyone. Pick Food to buy or Seeds, compost & supplies, then narrow by county and type. Switch between List and Map. Search by name or town.

Pickup points are gardens, churches, shops or homes that host a weekly pickup day, so several farms can drop off and neighbors collect in one stop.

Run a farm, garden or business?

Tap Add your farm, garden or business. A person reviews each submission before it appears. You choose whether your street address shows.

Have space and a weekly hour to spare? Tap Host a pickup point.

See something wrong?

Every card has links to Report a problem, Claim this listing and Remove this listing. A removal request hides the listing right away.

Check before you go. We build the directory from public lists and from what listed places send us. We do not inspect or verify anyone. Hours change and some sources are a year or more old. Each card shows where its facts came from and when. Call or check the place's own site first.

Open the directory →

Me: Have, Want and Grow

The Me page is your home base.

Have: post extra fruit or produce, offer yard space, share tools or supplies, or offer to teach.
Want: look for local food, garden help, a teacher, land to grow on, or tools and supplies. Each choice also shows the matching directory listings.
Grow: pick where you are, from curious to running an operation, and get the next step.

Homestead Score

A checklist of seven phases for your property: soil and beds, water, planting density, animals, energy and waste, vertical growing, and selling. Check off steps as you finish them. The score shows your next phase, and each phase links to seeds, compost, supplies and local help that fit that step.

My properties and rules check

Add a property address and VictoryGarden looks up its zoning and which local rules apply to things like raised beds, chickens, bees, farm stands and rain barrels. It can also build a permit packet and a due-diligence checklist for buying land.

Information, not legal advice. Rule coverage is limited today: the City of Santa Barbara and the unincorporated parts of Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties. Other addresses show “not covered” instead of a guess. Always confirm with your city or county before you build.

More tools

GrowGuide: ask how-to questions. It answers from an approved library and says so when it does not know.
Vision Studio: see what your yard could become.
Starter Kit: what grows well on the Central Coast, with seed and compost sources.
Forum and Messages: talk with neighbors, growers and providers.

Your information

Your project details go to a contractor only if you check the box that allows it, and only to the ones you choose.
You can ask us to correct or remove a directory listing at any time.
VictoryGarden does not sell food or take payment for food. Any purchase is between you and the seller.