Community Garden Group

In our village great group and we are taking this derilict piece of ground back to a blank canvas so we can get perepared to lie over winter to get started again.

Anyone else involved in community gardening we are all volunteers giving up part of our own time.

 

We had a similar initiative on our street (a patch where years ago three or four houses were knocked down leaving a gap). It just fizzled out though, which is a shame.

Good luck with your one. I guess the hardest bit my be keeping the enthusiasm going. For some that will come naturally but for many they will start off full of beans and one by one they'll all start making excuses and stop coming.

 

I think ours will be ok as getting funding from council .

 

So did ours, or at least from the New Deal fund. Some contractors came and tackled the knotweed, and stuck some posts in the ground in what I believe is meant to be an artistic way, then nothing else happened. Now it could only be called a garden by someone who loves ragwort, thistles and long grass.

I'm not saying that will happen to yours, but motivation and encouragement should always be part of the agenda.

 

I have got involved with our local Visitor Centre which is planning a community veggie-growing scheme next Spring for people who don't want a whole allotment but haven't got garden space to grow their own veggies. I think it's a great idea but, as I say, it won't start until 2010. I shall be getting posters and flyers done on the comp to promote it.

 

Perhaps (depending on the dreaded health and safety, and liability insurances) you could organise a barbecue and few tinnies for the end of each working day. Maybe find a way to keep the kids entertained too.

There needs to be a clear goal too, so that people can see that they're making solid progress towards that goal. That way you keep motivation up.

Once the garden is 'done', it needs to be used so that interest doesn't wane. Perhaps some sort of local community events (barbecue, kid's play days, kid's nature trail etc) to keep people coming and making them feel that it is their garden.

If you can achieve all that, you'll not only have made a nice garden, but you'll have built a much tighter bond in the local community, and that has to be a good thing.

 

I have just done 2and 1/4hrs this morning in our community garden and we can now start to see progress.
Tiarella if you have ground you may want to start now and get it prepared and ground opened up to hae it prepared for Spring.

Good luck on your venture .

 

I was involved in the design and build of a Sensory Garden in the village where I work.
I got the easy bit in a way - the folks who were involved in fund-raising, planning permission etc had the tough bit and didn't want to do any more afterwards.

The garden is a great success and includes 5 octagonal raised beds - each planted to represent one of the senses. The whole garden is used daily by mums and toddlers, old folks on mobility scooters and young people 'hanging out'
Yes there's been a bit of vandalism but nothing like the Jonahs predicted - overall a successfull community garden

 

Good morning Lovage this is exactly what we are doing as this waste piece of land is behind college and in a prime place to be used by everyone.

Its very rewarding althought for now only a few of us doing the hard graft.