not that this is going to be any help to you, but it's raining outside so I'm going with typing rather than mud-therapy.
first off, let me say that, as far as I'm concerned, Norfolk has one the greatest arboretum/botanical gardens anywhere. love the size of it, the water features, the library upstairs in that roundish building. cypress knees and cardinal flowers. it's fantastic. you could always tell when you were nearing the rose garden because you could smell the sevin before you could see the roses (there's a berm around it). I wish we had an arboretum here (ours is a couple hours away in Athens). I wish we had water like that, too. of course, being adjacent to the airport is a little distracting. second, back in the old days of community gardening, the "if you build it they will come" model rarely proved successful. but recently with the local food movement even that approach has been working for a lot of people. you don't mention proximity to senior centers or senior towers or other natural constituents, so is it safe to assume that you may be in a low-density area? your best shot at salvation may be one or two really charismatic gardeners who attract a lot of their friends to the garden. maybe you should check the local Slow Food chapter, they may have a receptive community for you, might organize local workdays for that matter that would introduce the garden to a lot of locavore-ish type people. I'm just winging it. you might also approach other community gardens about marketing your garden to their waiting lists. the worst case scenario would be that if a group of well meaning people of one socio-economic strata built the garden in a neighborhood they don't live in for the benefit of residents who may be experiencing a different socio-economic life journey. that could potentially discourage participation. if you don't fall into that category, you will likely prevail and thrive. sooner or later. just hang in there. and hold on a few minutes, somebody with a more thought-through answer will probably post in a few minutes, then you can delete me. -fgc Atlanta, GA -----Original Message----- From: community_garden-boun...@list.communitygarden.org [mailto:community_garden-boun...@list.communitygarden.org] On Behalf Of Suzy Stelmaszek Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2011 10:58 AM To: community_garden@list.communitygarden.org Subject: [Community_garden] starting a community garden Hello, We started a community garden two years ago in Norfolk, VA. We received a small grant and were able to develop about 30 family plots, which we offer to interested families for "free", in exchange for working 2-3 volunteer hours per week. However, we have not had much luck generating interest in the community, and after two years only have six families! We have knocked on doors, gone to local civic league meetings, written articles in the local online paper, and put up flyers at the farmer's market. My question is, what have you done to promote your community garden? Thank you, Suzy Stelmaszek LEED AP TYMOFF+ MOSS ARCHITECTS 512 Botetourt Street Norfolk, VA 23510 757.627.0013 x 16 757.319.7105 mobile www.tmarchitects.com <http://www.tmarchitects.com> The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain proprietary, business-confidential and/or privileged material. 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