Do you know anything about a community garden, and how they are operated?

Where I live, the city owns community gardens (hey, who knows, maybe there are private ones, too). The waiting list is super long. I don’t know what the fee is, but I’d expect it to be pretty reasonable. They are scattered throughout the city and not well advertised. Once you make it to the top of the list, you are assigned a small plot (maybe 25 sf?) to grow stuff in. Some people like to steal the literal fruits of your labor. I think if you don’t have the space to grow anything, and want to, this would be a tremendous opportunity. I have a house with a beautiful yard to grow things at the moment, but if I lived in a condo, I would probably grow potted herbs indoors or on a balcony and get my hands on one of these highly coveted plots to grow veggies and maybe papaya.

@lilikoi I didn’t know the city might be involved. That could be interesting, if they have other land around town just sitting there. I understand most cities need money. I have a large yard with my garden. But, there are condo’s and apartments in the area, and they have no room. Especially the condo’s near the ocean. They are really packed in. I love cooking with fresh herbs. Thanks for the information, I will check with our city.

We have one about a block away. It is run by the OSU Extension Service. It isn’t a place where people expect to get food from. But they offer lessons on how to grow organic food in a urban setting. They grow stuff but it is in a very dense residential area so nobody grows stuff with the intention of actually getting anything. But if you help out they will give you seeds and potting soil if they have leftovers. We met a nice guy that was a carpenter that helped us build a raised bed one weekend in our backyard.

Here in our town, the community garden is paid for by taxpayers, and is free to participants.

@johnpowell A raised bed is what I want. I have one complete replaced knee and another one to go. Kneeling is not an option. We just had our first artichokes from our garden 2 days ago. I started them from seed, no pesticides, and they were so great, we could even eat 2 inches of the stem. Maybe I can find someone to help us build one. I love to trade goods and services. Some people don’t have the money, but they have the know how to build, or something. Great idea with the raised bed. Thanks.:)

@YARNLADY Who owns the land? And who runs it, to keep things in some kind of order? Do a lot of people use it?

Here’s an article about the ones in my city including a link to the city’s page about them.

Raised beds are awesome. Hunching over the ground can be a real drag. I was just in Barnes and Noble looking at gardening books and they have some DIY books on stuff like this. I used to have a few cinder blocks stacked up with a few pine boards (from an old packing crate someone was tossing) spanning them to put my herb pots on. Worked well enough. Good luck!

@lilikoi That is a beautiful garden. I can see people working in it for the sheer joy of just being in it. It looks like a work of art.
I love the herbs. The cilantro is my hardest to grow. but everything else just goes wild. After using them, and then look at a jar of store bought herbs, just doesn’t cut it for me. Have fun with your herbs.

@johnpowell About those raised beds. Do you have to line them with chicken wire or something to keep the gophers out? And did you make them out of wood or bricks or what? How tall are they?

@Rangie :: Here is a bad pic of our raised gardens in the last house I lived in. That is during the odd snow from last year. That is crazy for Eugene. We had six large raised beds. It was pretty awesome to grab a head of Romain when you wanted a salad. I like knowing what goes in and on my meat and vegetables.

We made six raised beds with posts and wires running all over the place for the plants to climb in a weekend.

Seeds are really cheap and we got tons of great produce cheap. And the kids loved watering and watching the plants grow.

@johnpowell So you got way more than just food from your garden. Your pic reminds me of when we lived at 5000’ in the Sierra Nevada’s. We could get as much as 10’ of snow in one winter. I tried to grow a garden up there. My eggplant and broccoli came up through the snow.
So your beds were about 10” to 1’ high. I would have to go at least 2’. I broke my back a number of years ago and had it fused. It is great, until I try to bend over for 5 minutes. Eugene gets fairly warm in the summer doesn’t it? My Aunt use to live in Medford.
I also like to know what I am eating and where it comes from. We love to make soup and stews. Thanks for your pic. that is fun.

@Rangie :: My aunt lives in Medford too.

A two foot tall raised bet might be a little tricky. But I was thinking while I walked to my room past a lot of huge Rubbermaid containers. We use them for laundry but they are about 20 inches tall and cost about 7 bucks each. They are big, tall, and durable. And they are about seven bucks for each one. They would be good for some plants. And they are narrow so you wouldn’t need to lean over very far.

@Rangie :: We didn’t line ours since we don’t have gophers. But we had chickens and ducks so when the plants were making food we would wrap the bed in chicken wire to keep them out. And ducks do a fantastic job of eating anything that will harm your plants. A duck would kill your child for a snail. And my dog loved to eat duck poop. The circle of life?

Thanks @Rangie. Most times we have to work harder here to fend off developers wanting to convert fertile land to luxury homes than we do to grow things :P

@johnpowell Your raised beds look wonderful, but oh my does it look cold where you live!!

Something like this and this might be what you want. You could probably have a carpenter make them for you locally…

As with many things in life, you get out of a garden what you put into it. One year I didn’t have any time at all to put into it – weeding was done on occasional weekends, it didn’t get watered, etc. – so, not getting any food out of it at all, it was not very cost effective. However, other people were there daily, watering, weeding, caring, and they harvested a bounty. We both paid the same fee, though.

If you can put the work into it, it’s usually a pretty good deal and the food will be better than you get at a market. If you don’t, it’s not worth it at all.

I have never participated in a community garden as I have lived on property and grown my own for years. I think the most fun would be the sharing in the propagation with others.

I live near a huge community garden that operates on the honor system and gets tons of traffic. It’s an awesome place!

@johnpowell Hey, looks like we are Medford relatives.:) Love the idea about the plastic tubs. I never thought about that. Just poke a few holes in the bottom for drainage, and you are good to go. And the gopher can’t get in. The ducks are great weeder as well. We had a pair of mallards Mr. and Mrs. Duck. We didn’t have a fenced yard, because the deed restrictions didn’t allow it, so Mr. and Mrs. Duck either ran away from home, or a wild animal got them. But now I live in a place where I have a large fenced yard. I can get another duck.
You have given me many ideas, I sure appreciate it. :):):)

@lilikoi Yes, what is that all about with the developers. Not only the developers, but the County Supervisors that make the decisions to allow the building. What is wrong with this picture? The foothill surrounding the valley’s are filled with little rocks and some boulders. Hmmm, seems like it is not a good place for crops, but is a good place for homes. The valley floor is great for crops, not the best thing to cover it with houses.

@Rangie Our community garden is operated by the Parks and Recreation Department, on land use-donated by an adjacent nursing home. There is a small fee for the users to cover water use. The users sign a ‘lease agreement’ that spells out the rules, and if they violate the agreement, they are banned from the premises. Each plot is a set size, and you can lease as many plots as there are available. The multiple user can be asked to vacate a plot if another user is on a waiting list, but only after harvest.

Each user becomes a voting/working member of the steering committee.

@YARNLADY Sounds like it works well. I think I will go to the next city council meeting. Thanks a bunch.:)