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Community gardens

synclinorium

synclinorium

I recently discovered that our park service has a community garden program that I might be looking into next year... they say they often have open plots, and it's a $10 deposit and $12/year for a 20x20 foot plot... more than enough space as far as I'm concerned.

I was just wondering if anyone has experience growing in community gardens... I think I can avoid most of the usual issues because part of the requirements are that only organic methods are observed, which is more or less how I've been gardening anyway.

However, being a community garden, part of the focus of the program is sharing and donating excess food to the needy... I can foresee some amount of awkwardness here with our usual crops. "Well, you can have some if you want... :hell:" :rofl:

Maybe induct a few more chileheads into our ranks?

There's also the fact that I've met someone who insists his favorite Aji-peppers can't be grown here. I'm growing a couple plants this year and they're looking fabulous, I'm thinking if I can grow some on a large scale it'd be great to bring him in and see the look on his face.
 
will they let you put up an enclosure? they have community gardens at my school and everyone puts up some kind of fence to keep people from taking what they want.
 
I am on my third year at a community garden, and for the most part, the experience has been a positive one. Most of the tennants are friendly, and generous, always offering up their excess to those who want it. I have never experienced anyone helping themselves to my garden, and no one has fenced off their area.

Our garden also has an organic only policy, though one lady, who ironically works at Lowe's garden center, didn't seem to understand what that meant, and sprayed weed killer over her entire plot, and the walkway between her plot and mine. The garden manager had a talk with her, so hopefully that won't happen again.

The biggest issue I have had is with irrigation. The town provides non-potable irrigation, and the tennants supply their own hoses, sprinklers, etc. The problem comes in when someone waters their plot, but their sprinkler hits mine as well. I have showed up and found and inch or two of standing water on part of my plot before. Then I had to figure out who it was and ask them to either water less, or try not to water my area. The irrigation ditch runs right behind the garden, and last year the water overflowed the banks, and flooded the back half of the garden. The town came and built that side of the ditch up higher, and it hasn't happened since. There are several spickets at the garden and eventually I'd like to hook a timer up to a sprinkler that just covers my area, and leave it hooked up permanently, because some days it's difficult to find the time to get over there to water.

The only other issue is weeding. Hardly anyone ever does it. Everyone one is supposed to help keep the common areas, and walkways clear of weeds, but I seem to be the only one that ever does it. There are people that plant in the spring, and don't appear to ever check on their plot, and it's just a solid block of weeds. The weed seeds then blow to all the surrounding plots, making it more difficult for the rest of us to keep our areas weedfree. I guess they think the garden will take care of itself. Maybe on the application form they should explain how much time is necessary to maintain a garden ...

Anyway, in spite of the issues, I am glad to have the extra space, since I don't have the room for a big garden here at the house.

Here is a picture of my 20' 20' plot:

CommunityGarden-Overview7-11-11.jpg


I'm growing tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, zucchini, melons, beans, and ground cherries.

Hope you'll post a follow up if you decide to rent a plot. I'd love to hear about your own experience!
 
I'm in year three at my city's community garden. My yard is REALLY shady so I can't grow much at home (although I do have about 40 tomatoes and chiles growing in containers there). Our garden is also all organic, but I'm jealous of you other posters - we only have 10x20' plots!

the only problem I've had is that the garden uses flimsy deer netting as fencing, but every year, the deer get through, eating all the crops! I don't have any long-season plants in the garden for that reason.

400 sq ft is PLENTY of room, so maybe devote some space to tomatoes to donate?
 
I have a 15'x15' space at one of the two community gardens in my city. The other garden is on the nicer side of town and I've heard some of the gardeners are a little unfriendly, but it all looks great and well taken care of. My garden is a little looser on the rules and we have a lot weed plots and weed paths because it is so cheap and some people have just signed up and never done anything else. The other major annoyance is when people don't remove their sick or weak plants. It's almost impossible to grow tomatoes peppers and eggplants because every plot has a neighbor who is infested with blight, flea beetles, aphids etc... It would be much better if we could revoke the lease for the bad eggs and get someone else in there to take care of things. Still, with some extra work, good neighbors and the right crops, it's an awesome program.

My advice. Try to pick one next to the nicest plots, make friends and keep it weed free. Visit regularly and patrol for ants. Stay organic and be patient.
 
Sounds good... don't know if I'll have the time to devote to that much space next year, but I'll definitely take it under consideration. The local public television station did a piece on the plots a couple years ago, and save some weeds they looked pretty well kept. A couple of the plots are grown specifically for the local food pantry, and most of others will donate their excess crops to that.

And yeah, tomatoes are definitely an option to fill in some space... plus they grow so quickly compared to the peppers I can probably use their shade to help the peppers keep producing through the summer heat. This year I have a little 5'x5' space with a Florida weave setup for the tomatoes, and I'm getting far more than I can ever use from that alone...
 
This picture is a little dated, but basically this is what I'm doing for my tomatoes this year, and I'd probably do something similar in rows if I use the plots. I find the Florida weave to be a very effective use of space; I think there are 9 plants in that mess. Most of the vines have flopped over the top and are growing back towards the ground.

IMGP1088.jpg


Those heavily set tomatoes are some sort of Burpee plum-type hybrid, lost the seed packet. Very few seeds, and there are always several ripe ones every day. I'll probably be making sauce soon:

IMGP1188.jpg
 
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