Do you have any signs posted? We have a sign at the entrance welcoming people to walk around the gardens, and saying that picking is not allowed. The sign also says it's a misdemeanor, which means we can call the police if we do see outsiders picking. I think we now have the "no picking" sign in 3 or 4 languages. And, since my garden is near the entrance, I'm still asked if the food is free, if it's grown by the city for food banks, or if I take care of the whole (150 plots) garden. Last year I heard of someone who would regularly visit the garden to poach, and one of the gardeners used to follow him, cell phone in hand, while she called the police, and then he'd leave soon after.
If you have electricity, maybe a motion-detector sprinkler/light at night would work? (or maybe that would get stolen too). As a long-term strategy, events in the garden that would involve more of the surrounding community could create goodwill and more eyes on the street looking out for the garden. Simple things -- a seed-starting talk, face painting for kids, whatever activity would be popular and fun in your community. At 9:25 AM -0400 7/23/08, Ian Kinross wrote: >Hello community gardeners, >My name is Ian Kinross and I am the volunteer coordinator of Thorncliffe >Community Garden in Toronto. >We have plots for about 100 residents (and their families) of a >multicultural, high-rise neighborhood in Toronto's east end. >I would appreciate any advice you have on the issues of: >-- safety >-- theft prevention. >In particular, any best practices, and anything to avoid. I would >appreciate hearing about solutions that have worked well to minimize >theft. >We've had a number of thefts this year, and would like to step up >efforts to prevent them. Thefts may come from within and outside the >garden. >Any information would be helpful. _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org
