Your neighborhood has decided it wants to start a community garden. So now where do you begin?  With a task force!

Task force

Before selecting a task force, make sure a real need or desire for a garden exists. Consider that if the garden is intended to benefit a particular group or neighborhood, it is essential that the group be involved in all phases of the planning. To enhance the success of your community garden, your plans should include building and working with networks outside of your neighborhood. Consider including representatives from your city government, neighborhood association, food-bank, and farmers market. Can you think of others who should be included? Now you are ready to organize a meeting of interested people. Make sure you choose a well-organized garden coordinator. If needed, form action-groups to accomplish specific tasks such as fund raising, youth activities; maintenance; construction (if necessary); and communication.

Sponsorship

Consider finding an individual or organization to sponsor your community garden. Sponsorship can be a tremendous asset to securing contributions of land, tools, seeds, fencing, soil improvements or money, all of which are vital to a successful community garden. Some community gardens can provide most of their provisions through fees charged to the membership; but for many, a garden sponsor is essential. Schools, citizens groups, private businesses, local parks and recreation departments, and even other neighborhoods are all potential supporters. Community Development Block Grants are sometimes available through your municipality.

Garden site

Decide where your community garden will be. In many cases, it will be on privately-owned land. However, if your neighborhood association does not own extra land, consider looking for a nearby vacant lot for your garden. Then identify the owner of the land to see if they are interested in your gardening project. If gardening on private land, you should then obtain a written lease or agreement from the property owner. Try and get a lease or agreement that allows the space to be used at least three years.

Some garden site considerations include:

• Make sure the site gets at least six full hours of sunlight daily (for vegetables).
• Test the soil in the fall for nutrients and heavy metals (such as lead).
• Check for availability of water from a nearby building or hydrant.
• Research past uses of the land. Is any contamination present?
• Will your neighborhood group need additional insurance?

A note about insurance: It is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain leases from landowners without public liability insurance. Garden insurance is a new thing for many insurance carriers and their underwriters are reluctant to cover community gardens. It helps if you know what you want before you start talking to agents. Two tips: you should probably work with an agent from a firm that deals with many different carriers (so you can get the best policy for your needs) and you will probably have better success with one of the 10 largest insurance carriers, rather than smaller ones.

Who will the garden serve?

Consider the populations in your neighborhood and community who might benefit from your gardening efforts. Examples include children, youth, seniors, special populations, and people who just want an alternative to trash.

What will you grow?

Vegetables? Flowers? Trees? Herbs? A combination? All of the above?

Communication

Most likely, you will use your neighborhood’s mailing address and central telephone number(s). At least three people should be familiar enough with the garden to field questions. A telephone tree might be helpful.

Budget

To assist in the development of the budget, create a list of items needed for the garden based on the design that includes tools, supplies, materials and services like tilling if necessary, fencing, water lines, lumber for beds and signs. Come up with a budget for these things and then see what you can get donated or funded. Survey your neighbors - you will be surprised what they can provide! If your community garden has a budget, keep administration in the hands of several people.

Participation

Consider who will be involved in the garden. Are there conditions for membership (residence, dues, agreement with rules)? How will plots be assigned (by family size, by residency, by need, by group or team, such as youth or elderly)? How large should plots be (or should there be several sizes based on family size, crop, or other factors)? How should plots be laid out?  If your neighborhood charges dues for a plot, how will the money be used? Who will decide? What services, if any, will be provided to gardeners in return? Will the group do certain things cooperatively (such as turning soil in the spring, planting cover crops, or composting)?

Other questions to consider include:

• When someone leaves a plot, how will the next tenant be chosen?
• How will you deal with possible vandalism?
• Will there be a children's plot?
• Will the gardeners meet regularly? If so, how often and for what purposes?
• Will gardeners share tools, hoses, and other items?
• How will minimum maintenance (especially weeding) be handled both inside plots and in common areas (such as along fences, in flower beds, and in sitting areas)?
• Will there be a set of written rules which gardeners are expected to uphold? If so, how will they be enforced?

Garden management

To offer a high-quality, community garden program, good management techniques are essential. Included here are the main ideas to consider in management, along with several different ways to carry them out.

Having written rules is very important with established groups as well as new gardeners, since they spell out exactly what is expected of a gardener. They also make it much easier to handle burned out volunteers should the need arise. (Visit the American Community Gardening Association Web site for samples.)

Preparing the site

For a successful gardening experience, the site must be prepared. If necessary, do any cleanup work. Begin planning by drawing a design of the space. Determine what resources you might need, and see what free materials you can gather. Begin organizing volunteer work crews and make sure you have a job for everyone, young and old, then schedule workdays. Consider how the land will be prepared. By plowing? Sheet mulching? Who will do this work?

Where will tools be stored? Include plans for a storage area for tools and other equipment. The storage area might be a good place to post a bulletin board announcing garden events and messages.

How will the garden be organized? Will individual gardeners have their own plots or will teams of gardeners share responsibilities for particular crops? Your response will determine plot sizes. Once the plots are outlined, mark them clearly with gardener or team names. Be sure to save a space for the compost area! Consider placing flower or shrub beds around the visible perimeter of the garden to promote good will with non-gardening neighbors, passersby, and municipal authorities.

Designing the site

Draw a diagram of where each element should be. Research the kinds of plants and trees that do well in the city with low maintenance and add these to your diagram. Consider structures like benches, arbors, tables and artwork like statues and murals. Be sure to include a compost area to collect plant refuse and to create your own garden fertilizer.

Planning the work

Create a list of tasks and a schedule or time line. Work out a system so garden volunteers can do a share of the work. Look ahead a few years and think about how to phase in planting and building projects. Don't try to do everything the first year, but start with the "skeleton" of lot clearing, bed and soil installing, and a few plants in year one and build up from there.

Be prepared to do the following tasks:

• Winter–Plan and hold several meetings to plan garden and assign work (Time:  one or two meetings a month).
  
• Spring–Clean, prepare soil or build and fill beds, spread mulch, purchase seeds and plants, plant and water. (Time: several long work days and then at least once-a-week care to water, weed. Time depends on size of lot and number of volunteers!).
• Summer–Weeding and watering as necessary, general plant maintenance such as “deadheading,” fertilizing, mulching, and composting (Time:  at least two times a week for two hour shifts).
• Fall–Harvest, remove plants and add to compost pile, fertilize, plan winter meetings, update garden journal and garden diagram to help when planning for next spring. (Time: two or three times a week in two hour sessions.

One or two hours of volunteer work a week can accomplish a lot of planting and weeding and of course harvesting at the end of the summer and fun all season long!

Troubleshooting

Vandalism is a common fear among community gardeners. However, the fear tends to be much greater than the actual incidence. Try these proven methods to deter vandalism:

• Make a sign for the garden. Let people know to whom the garden belongs and that it is a neighborhood project.
  
• Fences can be of almost any material. They serve more to mark possession of a property as to prevent entry, since nothing short of razor-wire and land mines will keep a determined vandal from entering. Short picket fences or turkey wire will keep out dogs and honest people.
• Create a shady meeting area in the garden and spend time there.
  
• Invite everyone in the neighborhood to participate from the very beginning. Persons excluded from the garden are potential vandals.
  
• Involve neighborhood children in learning gardens. They can be the garden's best protectors.
  
• Plant raspberries, roses or other thorny plants along the fence as a barrier to fence climbers.
  
• Make friends with neighbors whose windows overlook the garden. Trade them flowers and vegetables for a protective eye.
• Harvest ripe fruit and vegetables on a daily basis. Red tomatoes falling from the vines invite trouble.
• Plant potatoes, other root crops or a less popular vegetable such as kohlrabi along the sidewalk or fence. Plant the purple varieties of cauliflower and beans or the white eggplant to confuse a vandal.
• Plant a "vandal's garden" at the entrance. Mark it with a sign: "If you must take food, please take it from here.

Children's Plots

Children included in the gardening process become champions of the cause rather than vandals of the garden. Therefore you may want to allocate some plots specifically for children. The "children's garden" can help market your idea to local scout troops, day cares, foster grandparent programs, neighborhood groups. Consider offering free small plots in the children's garden to children whose parents already have a plot in the garden. A fun type of children’s garden is a pizza or salsa garden, where they grow pizza topping or salsa ingredients.

Problems and solutions

Choose bylaws carefully so you have procedures to follow when members fail to keep their plots clean and up to code. A well-organized garden with strong leadership and committed members can overcome almost any obstacle.

CREDITS: American Community Gardening Association and the Openlands Project. Note: Resources used with permission of ACGA and Openlands Project.

Read more on starting a community garden.

For this and other community  gardening resources, visit the American Community Gardening Association.