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Gardener's world the other day was talking about community gardens. They seem like a great idea and would be a project that I would like to get involved in at some point in the future. Anyone have any experience with community gardens?

Hi Andy, We have just taken over a spare piece of land and are starting a community allotment, but coupled with that we would like to turn the nearby playing fields into a park. So I guess you could say that's a community gardens.

We have permission to use the space in between the sports areas which are quite big. There are already quite a few tree surrounding the fields, so we have plenty of scope.

Our first phase is to cut flower beds into a part of the area,and we have printed off a flyer and put them through local doors to see if we can get some community interest and manpower. We got two people out of one street and one person out of another, so not an ovewhelming response. We would like to have a wild area with a pond, and a sensory garden and a wild flower meadow, but it all takes time and effort, so we are just taking one very slow step at a time. We have been given a polytunnel so we can grow some plants from scratch, so lots of hope for the future, but it is not an easy thing to attempt, and I am always looking for ways in which we can advance our plans. maisypark

It depends on how big the streets are to how many people will respond. If that was two streets with 4 houses then a very good response

Perhaps asking the local church, scout group or schools might generate more of a response. Ask if you can go in and talk to people, people generally respond better to face to face communication. A lot of leaflets end up straight in the recycle bin when I get them without even a read.

Also getting in the local paper could generate a response and they are generally crying out for stories, especially the free papers.

It all sounds very promising though and good luck with it.

It is on my list of things to do.

There is some vacant land just over from my house, I have been going to approach the council to see who owns it and maybe we could get a community garden going there...

Nev

My mum used to run one to brighten up a patch by the railway. Unfortunatly people saw it as a free garden center.

Mind you, it was a place lacking somewhat in community at the best of times.

Our town's community garden is run by a small core group, who don't seem to advertise, or encourage anyone else to join in. Could be just my perception, but they almost seem to treat it as their own giant allotment....

I suppose that is the danger of such things...............they can get a bit clannish!

Nev

I'm just wondering if geo-caching (not sure that's spelt right) would be any use in helping you kick start a community garden. The way I had it described to me was that if a local rep or group (?) agree to support a project, they publicise the grid ref or whatever across the geo-caching world with a named date. On said date, anyone in the club (from anywhere in the region/country/world) uses their personal GPS to descend on the given location, with the set task of clearing as they go (and on arrival). They seem to be very environment focussed. If this is the way they work, it may be that a scrubby bit of land could be reclaimed for a community garden with a huge boost of maybe 20 or 30 bodies turning up to help with ground clearance.