oh wow. thats a lot of stuff to maintain and someone keeping it organized. we make people bring their own tools each time they come. the city maintains the grass around us and we have a public park bathroom available so no port a pot for us. thank God! we do have a big white tote witha water hose attached so we can water the plots as needed. the city comes and fills it for us for free.
Sounds like you've got a good system there already Carolyn! Imagine, not just a porta-potty, an actual bathroom!! A town that mows for you! A town that delivers water for you!! You've got it made in the shade. I know I sound like i am joking, but I have a serious case of envy. We have none of those things.
This is a great foto and text spread, Cayu. Your neighbours have shown great ingenuity. It was interesting to hear that the solar option was less reliable. Seeing the sheds of tools and machines was impressive and mobilizing scouts to help out was also inspired. And employing the geezer force was really a win-win situation. Expertise is always a useful thing to have at one’ s disposal. You can see that these groups of gardeners are serious about gardening because the things that they have organized to be able to more effectively enjoy their hobby. It is just great and inspiring to see. I hope that more of this sort of threads will be forthcoming. Thanks so much for your posting. Carolyn—it sounds like you are getting some good support from your municipality. Is it because you are in a park, or are they committed to your gardening group?
C and S, yes the community garden is well supported by the city. we are in a park right next to a water tower but we don't use the water directly from the tower. they bring a big tote and fill it for us once a week. it is a collaboration between the library, the city and us volunteers. My first assignment for the coming year is to do a live presentation of " a first time gardener" at the end of feb. we had a 3 hour meeting last night at the library... the first meeting they have allowed since covid hit. I was actually surprised as we hit a high yesterday of 6,000+ cases I guess. I only know of a couple people who have been sick enough to go to the hospital. For most everyone else its pretty much a "cold".
CM,, perhaps it would help if you and a few of your members planned to be at the next city council meeting ! Tell how the community garden would benefit the town and especially the seniors ! If a town doesn`t help its seniors it is really frowned on ! So it would be a win win for both ! Even if it is a port-a-potty it would help ! Just get with the members and decide what you need most that the town could help with and then speak up !
Carolyn, I wish I could be a fly on the wall too! Mart, yes we do plan to approach the Board of Selectmen in town after we figure out what we need. There is a Community Preservation grant we can apply for....if granted they pay 50% of the project. The other 50% has to come from elsewhere: in kind contributions from, say a hardware store, $ donations, etc. We are contemplating a 'Go Fund Me' effort as well. Our town is very small: maybe 1000 families and we have almost no industry. So everything is funded through real estate taxes. Unfortunately our Town Manager takes a dim view of seniors as does one of the selectmen. It is so short sighted, seniors require very few services....aren't being educated in the K-12 school. And pay real estate taxes! The schools are where the vast majority of our tax dollars go. We shall see.
Cayuga... please share any tips or ideas we should impart to first time gardeners. you know I have no remembrance of NEVER gardening. always we have had a garden. from the time I can remember being little and being expected to help in the garden I have never had a year without a garden. how do you impart "first time" tips and information when you can't ever remember the lightbulb moment of "I grew this". the satisfaction of harvesting anything is a reward but until one puts a meal on the table and can say "I grew all of this " you don't "get" the deep seated satisfaction of this feeling.
Carolyn, yes i know exactly what you mean. I have no memory of never having a garden. It is second nature to me. You are smart to realize this! I didn't initially and I was initially shocked multiple times about what new gardeners don't know. What's that saying, when you are new to something, you don't know what you don't know. Once you are well experienced, you lose track of what you DO know & think it is all self-evident. Anyway, here are some suggestions. Forgive me if you have already realized you'll need to cover these: 1) Soil. One of the things that has shocked me with first time gardeners is their tendency to WALK on their soil. Yes, just walk all over the planting bed! I have seen many a new gardener do this not realizing they are compacting the soil. So maybe a brief discussion of soil being a living breathing organism (my phone just autocorrected that word to you know what!) and it is their gardening FRIEND. I try to clarify the difference between dirt (what's under your finger nails) & soil. I tell them you want soil that is loose & rich. And paths between their beds are a good idea. The path idea is not intuitive to many a new gardener! 2) Soil #2 The importance of adding organic matter. (To make it loose rich & friable) I know this is controversial here on the Stew, maybe it depends on soil quality where you live. Our community garden soil is clay based and definitely needs organic matter. 3) Watering, particularly when seedlings and transplants are young and vulnerable to drying out. Maybe covering them initially with a loose row cover. Even an umbrella. New gardeners don't realize how vulnerable they are just at the beginning. I tell them to think of them like babies. Again, maybe this is not true everywhere. 4) Weeding weeding weeding. I tell people that it's better & easier to start early & not let the weeds get ahead of you. They compete with your plants for water and nutrients, etc And I tell them to ESPECIALLY not let them go to seed. A mulch can be a good idea but that depends, as you know, on whether you all have a problem with voles. 5) Match the garden size to ones ability to weed and water. For the first year, less is more. 6) Observe. When problems arise, I tell them to observe their plants for the source.... This is self evident, but we've all seen how many times a new poster on the Stew posts a problem & they haven't really observed the plant yet! When a new gardener asks me a question about their... whatever, i go over to examine it WITH them. (Self evident, I know!) 6) Encourage. Will these plots be newly cultivated? As in the first time they have been used for gardening? If so I always prepare new gardeners that the first year is the hardest, combatting weeds (& prodigious weed seeds) and improving soil quality. It then gets easier after that. I reassure them of that. More than once. I also always praise them on their gardens! 7) Compost bins education. I give new gardeners a tour of our compost bins & go over with them what can go in & what needs to be disposed of elsewhere (tomato plants at the end of the season...i tell them about the soil born blight affecting tomato plants, diseased plants, dandelions! And other weeds that have clearly gone to seed). I am sure your community garden has rules about their compost bins. New gardeners don't know what should & shouldn't go in the bins. 8) Cannabis. BTW, at one of the community gardens i visited, they have a rule against growing cannabis. Here in MA it is legal to grow it for one's own use, but this community garden didn't want to attract controversy or teens (adults?) doing some maurading. I thought that was a good idea. I plan on bringing it up to our garden. I am sure you have already thought of a bunch of these ideas. I am also sure other gardeners on the Stew will have some more ideas. I think it's really great you are doing this. You have an incredible amount of knowledge to impart. I also bet you will rediscover just how very much you know! Let us know how it goes.
Thank you. It is amazing how much we have learned over the years and take the automatic recall of what it is and what to do for most situations in the garden for granted. We just know. It's ingrained.
What a great list, Cayu. Very thoughtful with so many good suggestions and examples. Aside from the more basic and gardening technical aspects it is so important to be available for advice and encouragement to new members. You always want to see prospective allotmentiers succeed. You can’t go far wrong with Cayu’s writings above. She has the recent experience and an ongoing experience...very helpful to you, I imagine. I too hope that you will keep us up to date with the progress of your gardening community.
I would not have thought about the cannabis problem ! Its still illegal here in Texas ! For now at least ! One thing you can add to the list is how, when and what to plant ! No point in planting a row of cucumbers if you only eat them occasionally ! Could make pickles or relish but most don`t know how ! Save space for what is most needed !
We have cannabis prohibited in our rules. Not so much that it goes along with laws, as it is to not attract outsiders of bad nature. A case in point was a few years ago — a man was allowing his son to grow a plant in his lottie. A youth saw the plant from the passing train which borders the allotmenteer’s garden. So the youth decided to come and harvest the plant. One of our members asked the youth what he was doing on the complex and if he could help him. The youth threatened him with knocking out his teeth and hurled a few insults towards the elderly man that had spoken to him. Obviously that youth did not have a garden on our complex so there was a list of violations that he made. There are enough problems with vandalism as it is, we do not have to also attract drug users. The man could have been kicked out of our assoc. but was let off with a warning not to dabble with soft drugs again. It was a stupid thing to do, but it illustrated clearly why the rule is necessary.
You know,, its odd but I don`t even know what it smells like or looks like ! Just never got into that !
