Do you belong to a community garden?
Posted on June 17th, 2009 – 10:48 AMBy Jaime Chismar
I do! It all happened so fast, I haven’t had time to blog about it.
When I first moved to St. Louis Park, community garden plots were in super short supply. The wait lists were seventeen people long. As one organizer put it, “Basically someone has to move out of the neighborhood — or die — before you can get into our garden.”
Yikes.
Earlier this year, I called the park service to check my status on the wait list. To my surprise, the city was starting a new garden less than a mile from my house.
“Sign me up! Where’s your office? I’ll drop off a check in 15 minutes!”
I got off the phone and did a little dance around the house. The cats were confused by my girlie little squeals, but eventually resumed napping.
Out of 25 plots, I chose plot #13, right smack in the middle of the garden.
So far, I met only a few of my garden neighbors. Everyone seems really sweet even if their planting techniques seem a little confusing to me. And, of course, here is where my questions begin…
What makes a good community gardener? Other than the golden rule, what are my obligations to my neighbors and my neighbors’ plants? Is there an unspoken code of conduct? How curious is too curious? How much advice is too much advice?
10 Responses to "Do you belong to a community garden?"
Back in the days when the Twins were winning World Series’, my housemates and I helped turn an empty lot near Chicago and Lake in Minneapolis into a community garden. I loved the way gardening brought neighbors together and we learned from one another. I think it’s almost always okay to ask what others are growing and why they are growing them in certain ways. One of my favorite lessons, though, was never to plant morning glories in a public space — unless your neighbors really want them in their gardens the following years!
I’m actually starting a community garden in my area (www.fpcommunitygarden.com). We built our first demo plot a couple of weeks ago and have been fundraising like crazy. I’ve got a lot to learn so I’ll be following the comments on this post. Good luck with yours!
Robyn: LOL on the morning glories! That’s the FIRST thing one of my neighbors planted.
Gina: I am drooling over your raised beds! My FH is from Skokie. We spend a lot of time in the Chicago area. Are there any must-see community gardens in the area?
Isn’t one of the best things about gardening the fact that gardeners love to chat about their efforts? I can’t count the number of times I’ve had lovely, out-of-the-blue conversations with strangers at garden centers because one of us happens to say, “What a gorgeous plant! What is that?” So while I understand the need for boundaries, my guess is that your fellow community gardeners will welcome your interest, questions and gently made suggestions. 
Ah… “gently made suggestions” is well said, sparklegirl. I too love the random conversations in garden center. You never know what you will learn!
Community gardens are great. Might I suggest square foot gardening?
http://www.squarefootgardening.com/
The Master Gardeners in Red Wing did a trial plot last year and donated all the goods to their local food shelf. Enjoy~!
We just created the South Hawthorne Community Garden in North Minneapolis. It has been a great and exciting adventures for us. We have 17 families raising vegetables, with hopes that we will expand that next year.
The most important thing to remember that this is a community garden. Something that requires participation by everyone. It is important help out with garden maintenance, mowing, weed whipping and the like.
We have a pretty extensive garden agreement that we adapted from the GardenWorks Web site and the Dowling Community Garden, the mother of all community gardens in the country.
All in all, we have had a good start to our first year.
Mike,
17 families? That’s amazing!
I love the Dowling Community Garden. They have a heirloom tomato tasting day in early August. It is heavenly.
I just got a plot at the Dowling Community Garden! I’m very excited, but also a little nervous about what to do with the space so late in the season.
Jaime - I think the Heirloom Festival is scheduled for August 22nd.
I second the square foot garden, that is what I have been doing this year in my back yard.
I hadn’t seen many community gardens on the North side when we moved in, but I should check again. I regularly bug the mayor’s office (and when I’ve seen him in person) that community gardens would be a great way to deal with the newly vacant lots while also providing food to a poorer area.
Greengirls Connie Nelson, Robyn Dochterman and Jaime Chismar are dishin' the dirt from the backyard garden and beyond. Whether you're a greenthumb or greenhorn, they're eager to learn from your misshaps, mistakes -- and most importantly, your sweet successes -- all growing season long.
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