I support what Tanya has to say below, but have some additional comments: 1. If the residential development has elderly or disabled people, consider having some elevated containers on sticks to waist level so that people in wheelchairs or walkers can garden. They have to be able to reach the center, so these will be small (?2x3?). You can build this out of 2x4s; just line the bottom of the container with (perforated) material to hold the soil. 2. I manage a community garden with plots that are 10x20. These are pretty large. You can get a lot of food out of it. Some people use them to the max, others don't. The size of plots you create should take into consideration how parsimonious about land you have to be. If it doesn't matter that some people routinely don't use their whole plot, then make them 10x20 and people can grow sprawlers like pumpkins, melons and sweet potatoes during part of the year. If land is tight, I would guess that 10x10 is enough for most people except the dedicated hobbyist gardeners. 20x20 is huge. 3. Have an area that fronts on the development or street for flowers - this can be a strip 2' wide along a fence. We plant sunflowers there in the summer and bulbs in the spring.. Someone, however, will have to take care of this: obtain the flowers or plant them, and water them. If there is a community work requirement, these can be tasks. 4. Paths between plots should be 24-36" on all sides to allow wheelbarrow haulage, unless the plots are so small that wheelbarrows won't be used, or you have, say, 5 postage-stamp plots in a row with wheelbarrow paths on only two sides of the strip.. 5. We have a shed with two sections: a room that everyone has keys to that holds the large tools, ladders, broom, and some plumbing supplies. There is also a smaller room in the shed that only the manager and a few others have keys to: this holds garden papers (e.g., purchase records for fruit trees), gasoline and weed whacker, sharp-bladed garden tools (pruner, saw, etc.), fertilizer that belongs to the garden for garden trees, etc,. I find this works well. We have 35 gardeners. If you need the dimensions of this shed I can get them to you next week. 6. We have one hose bib for every 4 or 5 plots, and that works fine.
Danila Oder Los Angeles ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] Date: Wednesday, October 2, 2013 9:07 am Subject: Community_garden Digest, Vol 1660, Issue 1 To: [email protected] > Send Community_garden mailing list submissions to > [email protected] > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > > http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org > > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > [email protected] > > You can reach the person managing the list at > [email protected] > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Community_garden digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Estimating demand for community garden space (Jonathan Berlin) > 2. Re: Estimating demand for community garden space (tanya) > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------- > --- > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2013 11:21:33 -0700 > From: Jonathan Berlin <[email protected]> > To: "[email protected]" > <[email protected]> > Subject: [Community_garden] Estimating demand for community garden > space > Message-ID: > <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > I can use some help with planning a community garden for a > residential development. This development would have up to 2,500 > residences total, and I'd like to set aside enough acreage to meet > expected demand. Do you have any experience or advice? > > 1) A ballpark figure on the percentage of residents in an area > that would participate in a community garden would be great. > > 2) What size do you recommend for individual plots? I've seen > that 10x10' and 20x20' are common. > > 3) Any other suggestions for designing a community garden? > > Thanks for your help, > > Jonathan Berlin, MESM > Associate Environmental Planner > > [cid:[email protected]]<http://www.rinconconsultants.com/>Rincon > Consultants, Inc. > 805 644 4455 EXT 22 > www.rinconconsultants.com<http://www.rinconconsultants.com/> > Environmental Scientists Planners Engineers > Ranked "#1 Best Firm to Work For" - CE News > > > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20131001/636f7599/attachment.html>-------------- > next part -------------- > A non-text attachment was scrubbed... > Name: image001.png > Type: image/png > Size: 1626 bytes > Desc: image001.png > URL: > <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20131001/636f7599/attachment.png> > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2013 12:00:36 -0700 > From: tanya <[email protected]> > To: Jonathan Berlin <[email protected]> > Cc: "[email protected]" > <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Community_garden] Estimating demand for community garden > space > Message-ID: > <CAA-ju_eGGVw2M35EiDFoaJqOBeKRmKoFhCUrd=uDpXe=r-u...@mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Interesting questions. I have no data, just some ideas. > > Will the residents have any space at all to garden around their > homes, or > is the community space the only option for gardening? > > I wonder if the local master-gardener program might have an idea > about the > popularity of gardening, or the level of interest. > > If I were setting aside land for a garden, I'd set aside as much as > possible. I'd expect the demand to increase over the years, as > residentssee what other people are growing and want to join in. > Beginning gardeners > can handle small plots. As they get more experience, some > gardeners want a > lot more space to grow all the seeds they've ordered! > > If this is a new development, it might help to get an idea of who > might be > buying in. What kinds of jobs? (If all the adults have a long > commute and > demanding jobs, then at best they'll be gardening only on weekends, > assuming they're not working on the weekends, too.) Lots of small > children?At one of the community gardens I belong to, every time a > family with small > children gets a plot, they're really enthusiastic the first year > (or the > first month), and then they never come back -- no time. But once > the kids > are big enough to handle tools, committed families do stick > around. So if > there are lots of families with small kids, smaller plots might be > morepopular. On the other hand, if you get a few avid gardeners, > they'll enjoy > having big plots and will share their bounty. So the best strategy > is to > have plots of different sizes, from 4x8 to 20x20 or more. > > It's nice to have fruit trees and a few herb beds for everyone to > share.Sometimes the fruit gets picked by one or a few people (or > by the roof rats > and squirrels!), though. I even know one garden that has a "food > forest" of > perennial edibles. > > A picnic table and some chairs will encourage people to stick around, > enhancing the "community" part. Some sort of shade structure (tree, > pergola, etc.) is nice, too. > > One hose bib per plot is ideal, but it's possible to have fewer. > Communalhoses tend to get trashed, though -- everyone coils them > differently and > they get kinks and then leaks. If you're in a dry-summer climate, > it might > be cost-effective in the long run if you offer drip irrigation, or > promoteit. > ? > ?Fences and gates are essential, even if they are ?merely symbolic. > Gardeners don't want dogs and cats wandering through. The fence > and gate > mostly mark the boundary. You can post notices to/among gardeners > on the > fence or on a kiosk near the gate. A community garden is a great > place for > people to walk, and visiting (without picking) should be > encouraged. For > dog walkers, a perimeter path is ideal. Having lots of foot > traffic cuts > down on any vandalism or stealing, too. > > ?It's essential to have a place for composting (or bins for the > city to > pick up) and a wide service gate there. It's also nice to have a place > where truckloads of compost or mulch can be dumped for gardeners > to use, > again with a wide service gate, on a road accessible to trucks. Some > gardeners will want to have their own compost bins, but many will > want a > place to put old tomato vines and sunflower stalks at the end of the > season.? > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20131001/dcf6e29b/attachment.html> > ------------------------------ > > Subject: Digest Footer > > _______________________________________________ > 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] subscribe, unsubscribe > or change your subscription: > http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org > ------------------------------ > > End of Community_garden Digest, Vol 1660, Issue 1 > ************************************************* > _______________________________________________ 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
