Based on my experience as a gardener in community gardens, I'd aim for variety. I've seen a lot of very enthusiastic people come once or twice, and then it turns out they don't have time for the garden, so it turns into a big weed plot for the whole year. Or they're surprised they need to come more than once a week (we get no rain in the summer and don't allow automatic watering systems).
I think one crucial element is to have a good number of gardening mentors -- either plot holders who are there a lot, or volunteers who are available whenever new gardeners are likely to be in the garden. In my experience, people new to gardening don't know where to start and need just a little bit of encouragement to try something! If they feel out of their depth, they're likely to give up. And if they're too busy, they won't show up at work days, potlucks, or other community-building events. You might ask how much time they plan to spend at the garden, although someone who hasn't had a garden plot may have no way to predict or estimate that number. So I guess what I'm saying is you can't do it strictly by the numbers. But perhaps one crucial question is about their connection to gardening: did a grandparent or other relative garden? did they have a garden, ever? do they have good memories of plunging their hands in the soil, of picking a warm ripe tomato and eating it on the spot, letting the juice run down their arms? That kind of connection to the soil and to food, I think, is what keeps people coming back to the garden. Of the choices you mention, I'd lean toward first-come, first-served, but I'd make sure several experienced gardeners got in. On Wed, Mar 27, 2013 at 1:55 PM, Me <[email protected]> wrote: > Here at Waterboro community garden we are beginning our first growing year, > with an open garden day on may 11th to welcome our participants. > > We have assembled our waiver and by law packet, along with the actual > application. Plots are 4'x24' and $25 yearly fee. > > since we will be functioning with partial capacity, thus a limited quantity > of beds available, we have been discussing the selection process. We have > built in some trigger questions in the application (ie. What do you plan on > growing? Are you interested in participating in cg events? Are you willing > to volunteer for a pantry garden?). > > So how does your selection process take place? Wee on a time crunch and > would love input. The threw obvious choices are: > Selection Based on willingness to participate within the community & need > for those fringe low income families needed to grow food > first come-first served basis > Lottery > > Any help or input is appreciated! > Amy Beth Lucarelli > Waterboro Conservation Commission > Waterboro Community Garden Committee > > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20130327/0b68b481/attachment.html> > _______________________________________________ > 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 -- If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. -- Cicero _______________________________________________ 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
