A recent study of neighborhood community gardens examined whether shared cultivation of vegetable plots affects the social fabric of dense urban areas. Surveying residents in twelve districts, researchers found that people who tended a plot reported knowing, on average, three times as many neighbors by name as residents who did not garden. Gardeners also volunteered more often for other local initiatives, from tutoring programs to street cleanups. The authors are careful to note, however, that they cannot establish the direction of cause: sociable residents may simply be more inclined to join a garden in the first place. Still, the consistency of the pattern across districts of differing income levels suggests that the gardens themselves may knit communities more tightly.