Share your veg gardening space?

[Hypatia Nachshon]

Wondering if others have something like the following in their communities:

Allow would-be gardeners who live in apartments or otherwise have no ground , to grow crops in your garden in exchange for ? a share of produce? other c onsideration? Of course taking care to know who they are and make entry arrangements.

ISTR there used to be something like that here; I'm trying to track it down , and if I don't find, start something.

I'm increasingly dubious about veg gardening, both because of water co$t pr obably increasing with CA drought, and because we don't really consume enough to b other. We have 4 farmers' markets in town, plus a Co-Op, plus Whole Foods (the lat ter of which I don't patronize), so even though organic is more expensive -

- hey, you only go around once.

It's a big life transition after [censored] years of home veg/fruit gardeni ng! I can remember standing at the corn patch, chewing the kernels off the cob w/o even cooking!!! Ditto tomatoes right off the vine. And divine li ttle fraises du bois hiding under their foliage. And crisp snow peas...(pa use to wipe mouth)...

But the good years seem, if memory serves, to have been not as frequent as the less good.

Sigh!

HB

[Brooklyn1]

There are ways to grow vegetables with minimal water... raised bed and/or container gardening work well... set up a drip system. There are inexpensive amendments one can add to soil that hold onto water and release slowly. Typically in dry climes the most productive gardening ploy is to bring in quality top soil and regularly amend... use a proper composter too. Too many people want to garden on the cheap, then they get what they pay for.

[David E. Ross]

Where I live (Oak Park, California), about half the dwellings are either apartments or townhomes (similar to condominiums but owning the land directly under the home). Our local recreation and park district (an independent government agency with a board elected by the voters) owned a parcel of land too small for making a park. A non-profit organization contracted with the district to create a community garden on the site.

The district and the non-profit share the cost of water. The district fenced the property, and the non-profit planted shrubs to hide the chain-link fencing. The non-profit paid to have a used cargo container brought onto the site for storing garden tools and then bought the tools.

To get a 10x20 foot garden plot in a 1-foot raised bed, a person needs to joint the Oak Park Gardeners (a committee of the non-profit). The Gardeners charge an annual dues to defray the cost of replacing tools, having trash collection, and its share of the water bill. A person does not have to be a resident of Oak Park, but Oak Park residents have priority for being assigned a garden plot when there is a waiting list.

The rules for this community garden require that only organic gardening practices be followed since the site drains towards a natural park and its creek. Gardeners must also maintain their plots, clearing them when annual plants die and removing weeds. Certain invasive plants (e.g., mint) are prohibited.

While most of the plots are used for vegetables, there are some ornamentals. Gardeners are not allowed to "poach" from plots not their own, but they are allowed to share as much as they want.

The surrounding fence has two gates with combination locks to protect against human thieves; but squirrels, mice, rats, rabbits, raccoons, and possums are quite adept at getting through the fence. I don't know how successful the Gardeners have been with their owl box in getting owls to nest in the garden and control those varmints.

Community gardens are quite common throughout the U.S., England, and elsewhere.

[Jenn]

We've had various problems with critters stealing produce from our garden. Last year I grew a 3 sisters 4'x 8' garden with corn, and we didn't get one ear of corn due to "something" eating every bit of it.

This year we put in new raised beds, replacing the old ones that were falling apart, and I finished up putting down outdoor carpet to keep the weeds to a minimum.

Here are some photos in case you're interested:

We have chickens, too, and use all of their poop for fertilizer. It's all organically grown.

[Fran Farmer]

There is certainly a move to do that in the UK. The wonderful Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall of River Cottage fame started it off over there (in current times) and from reports I've read online, it seems to be taking off in the UK within the private world. Of course the UK has had the local government run Allotments for many, many decades.

The (modern day) UK scheme is called Landshare and here are a few links in case you are interested:

What about making yourself a couple of wicking beds to grow the things that are best picked straight from the garden just before cooking/serving?

Wicking beds seem to be all the rage here in Australia where we share similar water concerns to California. I don't have one or intend to start one since we supply our own water and don't have to pay any municipal charges for its use.

[Hypatia Nachshon]

Yes, we have long had here (Santa Monica CA - just over the mountain from David Ross) such community gardens. One drawback, in the days of leaded gas, was that the community garden was wedged between two busy streets. Thank goodness that is a thing of the past!

My objective is to find reliable people to make their garden in my back yard.

[Hypatia Nachshon]

Goodness! I never heard of wicking beds.

('Course I know about "wicking" individual ornamental planters from an outside source -- in fact I have to run a tube into one isolated plant that keeps getting forgotten...)

But wicking veg beds? Went on-line, and did I get an education!

Question is, am I up for the work of building w.beds -- or will I just buy (mostly) organic vegs. Stay tuned

HB

[David Hare-Scott]

then speak to people who might be reliable who live nearby

D