what makes a good community garden?

[habitat-gardener]

So my neighbors decided they can no longer be the garden coordinators in one part of our big community garden, and have passed the torch to me. The job description is basically keeping a waiting list (no one is on it) and showing new gardeners the available plots as they open up, usually in late winter. I don't need to collect fees or enforce rules or really do much of anything. It's a big garden, several acres all told, but my area is only a third of it. I spend so much time on my own plot that I hardly ever walk around to look at other plots, but I did walk around the other day and was amazed at the overall weediness and lack of gardening. I was shocked to realize that my plot looks like "this gardener must spend all their time here and really knows what they're doing" and most other plots look like "is this abandoned?" In-between are gardeners who get good harvests but either don't pull weeds, or don't fully use their space. One of the former coordinators thinks that most of the gardens here are "vanity projects" because people just don't take gardening seriously.

We live in a year-round gardening climate and it's sad to see gardening space going unused! The plot next to mine was taken over by someone who planted exactly two tomato plants (now overrun with bindweed) and let the rest go to weeds. So one day another neighbor used a nifty hand tool to mow down all the spiky grasses and other waist-high (and taller) weeds in the paths and two of the beds.
Another new gardener nearby planted only a buckwheat cover crop and wanted to see "what the soil wants," which in our climate is bindweed and Bermuda grass, which are running rampant.

I've gardened at quite a few community gardens over the years. But tell me, is there a way to motivate people to take care of their garden plots?

[MissS]

The community garden that I used to garden at had a rule that weeds had to be tended and the plots be planted. If you didn't use or care for your plot, then you were not allowed to have a plot the following season. Uncared for plots just make your neighbor's plots harder to care for with all of the weed seeds moving in. We still had plots that people didn't manage too well.

Make a rule that plots must be tended. If you can find somebody to do it, you could have them cut or weed wack the untended gardens and send the tennant a bill for the work.

[Ken4230]

So my neighbors decided they can no longer be the garden coordinators in one part of our big community garden, and have passed the torch to me.

But tell me, is there a way to motivate people to take care of their garden plots?

Good luck carrying the torch, because you're going to need a lot of luck getting people motivated to properly care for their plots.
Most people start out really Gung Ho about their plots, probably their first time with a garden, all along thinking this is going to be so easy.
Then they slowly realize that maintaining a garden takes work, not only work but hard work. The daily visits morph into once a week and when they see all the weeds, their enthusiasm vanishes and they may never be back.

Is there a way to motivate people? I don't think so. I know dozens of people who have started a garden and abandoned it for one reason or another. I still take them extra produce. One group that I am really dedicated to are the old time gardeners who are not able to garden anymore, I make sure they have fresh vegetables even if I have to deprive myself. My grandparents taught me at a young age to give your best and eat the culls and that's the way I try to live.

[Paulf]

Many, many years ago where we lived had no space for a garden and we were forced to take part in a community garden. While most of the participants enjoyed their efforts for most of the year there were always those who started and then ignored their spaces. That was not so bad because what weeds they ignored didn't spill over into our plot...too much. The worst part were those who felt a community garden meant that anyone could harvest anything in any plot. I guess they were all a bunch of socialists...what's mine is also theirs. Again that was a small number but ruined the whole idea. Two years was enough, we rented a plot in a space a local church owned, fenced in and watched over by several church ladies in the neighborhood. They all were invited to share the harvest. Worked out great.

[slugworth]

Several Church ladies make the best guards.
They can be scary.

[Ken4230]

Many, many years ago where we lived had no space for a garden and we were forced to take part in a community garden. While most of the participants enjoyed their efforts for most of the year there were always those who started and then ignored their spaces. That was not so bad because what weeds they ignored didn't spill over into our plot...too much. The worst part were those who felt a community garden meant that anyone could harvest anything in any plot. I guess they were all a bunch of socialists...what's mine is also theirs. Again that was a small number but ruined the whole idea. Two years was enough, we rented a plot in a space a local church owned, fenced in and watched over by several church ladies in the neighborhood. They all were invited to share the harvest. Worked out great.

I knew where you were going before I got to the second sentence. People nowadays are nothing like they used to be. Lots of people now are lazy inconsiderate bums. I seem to remember someone saying that it takes a community to raise a child. If that's true, then it's only natural that what's yours is also theirs.

[Seven Bends]

Many, many years ago where we lived had no space for a garden and we were forced to take part in a community garden. While most of the participants enjoyed their efforts for most of the year there were always those who started and then ignored their spaces. That was not so bad because what weeds they ignored didn't spill over into our plot...too much. The worst part were those who felt a community garden meant that anyone could harvest anything in any plot. I guess they were all a bunch of socialists...what's mine is also theirs. Again that was a small number but ruined the whole idea. Two years was enough, we rented a plot in a space a local church owned, fenced in and watched over by several church ladies in the neighborhood. They all were invited to share the harvest. Worked out great.

I knew where you were going before I got to the second sentence. People nowadays are nothing like they used to be. Lots of people now are lazy inconsiderate bums. I seem to remember someone saying that it takes a community to raise a child. If that's true, then it's only natural that what's yours is also theirs.

Maybe sometimes it takes a community to raise a child because some parents are really bad at their job and don't bother teaching their kids right from wrong, or they even teach them that wrong is right. If there's a decent community around (teachers, neighbors, church, coaches, scout leaders, whatever), the kids may learn something good from it despite their parents' worst efforts. Remember, the community is us. It's not something evil or government-imposed.

[habitat-gardener]

The community garden that I used to garden at had a rule that weeds had to be tended and the plots be planted. If you didn't use or care for your plot, then you were not allowed to have a plot the following season. Uncared for plots just make your neighbor's plots harder to care for with all of the weed seeds moving in. We still had plots that people didn't manage too well.

Make a rule that plots must be tended. If you can find somebody to do it, you could have them cut or weed wack the untended gardens and send the tennant a bill for the work.

Oh yes, all the community gardens I've belonged to have had this rule, including this one. "Keep paths weeded" and "Plant a crop or keep plot mulched year-round". I think a hefty waitlist is a good incentive; I've heard of other gardens where people were eased out if they didn't take care of their plots. But the question is always, who will manage/weed/clear the plot if the person who paid the annual fee doesn't do it? There has been a tradition of allowing current gardeners to use an additional plot for free for a year if no one has signed up for it. (Actually, that's how I got my current plot. It was a little larger and in a better location than my existing garden, but it was in no shape to be used yet, and I spent the summer weeding it. Then in the spring, when I was able to switch garden plots, we had the landscape crew dig out tree roots, we removed all the trashed irrigation and rat-harboring raised beds, and rototilled because the surface was so uneven.)

I will bring up the idea of charging for monthly plot clearing in the next garden contract, because the weeds have been pretty bad this year. I doubt we can get it approved (it has to go through the horticulture committee and the board of the HOA), but it's worth trying. The landscape crew is certainly not looking for additional jobs, and it's pretty hard to get volunteers. There has been one volunteer work day at the garden in the 6+ years I've lived here. (I'd like to do at least one a year.) It'd still be a judgment call: is it weeds if volunteer sunflowers grow up between the bindweed and Bermuda grass? Is it weeds if someone has planted a tomato plant in the middle of a weed bed? But maybe we can at least make sure the paths are walkable.

[DriftlessRoots]

The landscape crew is certainly not looking for additional jobs, and it's pretty hard to get volunteers. There has been one volunteer work day at the garden in the 6+ years I've lived here. (I'd like to do at least one a year.)

Our community garden has a requirement to do a three hour work session each season or pay a $35 no workday fee. Workdays include clearing abandoned or recalled plots but they are limited by the number of people able to lead them. Surrounded again by multiple poorly managed or outright abandoned plots this year is the first time I’m seriously considering throwing in the trowel. I finally asked the powers that be if I could clear back the worst edge and was told that particular offender had until the 13th to clear out the plot or surrender it. If given the go-ahead I intend to be ruthless and then bury vertical boards as a defense against the roots of next year’s neglectful tenant.

[rossomendblot]

There is a massive demand for allotments in the UK. The two closest to me have 82 and 96 people on the waiting list! There's even a company which is charging people up to £500 per year for a patch on a private allotment.

Part of the reason the waiting lists have got so long is that people who have given up for whatever reason don't want to relinquish their plots easily. It doesn't help that the long term members will be buddies with the allotment council, so they get preferential treatment and the rules aren't enforced well enough. There are some really good, tidy allotments, but I think they need strong leadership and people with a lot of energy and motivation. My uncle was on the waiting list for decades, and he's incredibly lazy and has zero interest in gardening. I assume he just liked the idea of having an allotment, but wouldn't actually put in the work to maintain one.

[JayneR13]

I had a plot for two years and was Site Leader for one. The program has a rule book discussing maintenance expectations, pesticides permitted and banned, etc which is signed and a copy returned to the Coordinator. Part of my job as Site Leader was to report poorly maintained and abandoned plots, which I did. The rules clearly stated that poorly maintained and abandoned plots would be surrendered and given to another gardener.

The problems came in with the Southeast Asians and selective enforcement of the rules. They were considered a different culture even though the younger ones were born in this country, so the rules weren't applied to them. Some of their plots were very tidy, but at the end of my year as Site Leader I got to clean out 25 of the 32 plots at my garden! When the Coordinator who brought me on tried to apply the rules to them, they fought back as a family (they held half of the plots there) and made her life miserable. She quit halfway through the season so there was no one really enforcing rules. They didn't like me either due to my part in the attempt to enforce the rules, and left me that gift to express their dislike. The new Coordinator, who had helped me clean out those plots, let every single one of them back in the next year! Therefore they had no incentive to do other than what they'd done. They weren't held accountable and seemed to view the volunteers as their personal cleanup crew. So I tried suggesting changes to the program that would allow these people to do their thing without requiring the volunteers to deal with the fallout, which I was told happened in all 15 plots pretty much every year. No dice. The new Coordinator, the power behind the throne, and the older volunteers all nixed plowing rather than tilling, and expressed the opinion that the SE Asians can do what they want since they're a different culture, and the volunteers are expected to deal with the fallout. I quit at that point and gave up my plot. I wanted no part.

So what would make a good community garden, IMO? Enforcing the rules and holding people accountable who don't follow them. It doesn't have to be a strict to the letter enforcement, but abandoned & poorly maintained plots should be firmly surrendered and given to others. Advertising the garden might yield more interest from the community. In BCCG's case the land was donated and could be taken back at any time, and those church ladies didn't like to see the untidy way the gardens were being used. I'm pretty sure that the church who donated the land I oversaw is taking it back for next year. They've got a school now and could use the land to feed their own students, and didn't like the untidy way many plots were kept anyway. Action-consequence. People get angry however, and aren't kind when they're angry. Perhaps if you haven't already, talk to the last coordinators to learn the people and problems in your garden. Be sure you know the regulations imposed by your municipality and see what they might do for you. The city here tilled BCCG's plots and the fire department kept the water tote filled. Perhaps yours would help you? But IMO your biggest problem will be the people. Good luck.