Anyone gardening in a community garden?

If you are involved in or have had experience in a community garden, please "weigh in" at this thread:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/653522/#new

Community gardens are a gardening opportunity for many who would otherwise not have the space to garden. They are a place to share gardening tips, successes and help each other out with gardening challenges. They also encounter issues that most "private" gardeners don't have to deal with. I've asked if this could be a new forum on DG to keep the related thread together. Please add your commentary to the thread listed above. I'm posting this on several forums to try to reach as many interested parties as possible.

Thanks.

Hi,
I wish I had a success story for you. The last place I lived was in a small development with small houses on tiny lots. We called it Tiny Town. There wasn't much room for gardening in the yards and the HOA had an empty patch of ground with a healthy crop of weeds. I thought it would make a great community garden for the homeowners. My boyfriend was the president of the HOA and the landscaping committee so it was easy to get it started. We put a fence around it to keep the local vandals out, planted some flowers around the borders, and built a bed for ourselves. We invited all the other residents to put in garden plots with free water but only one other couple used the area. We figured the other homeowners would only be persuaded if we built all the beds, planted and tended the veggies, and brought the harvest to their doors. The next spring we moved to a bigger house with a much bigger yard and plenty of room for a garden (Yeah!). An old neighbor told us no one has even used the garden this year. It's sad because it's a really nice spot but no one is willing to take care of it.

Our city does have a community garden in our neighborhood and the beds always seem full but I don't know any of the people who garden there.

I would love to have a community garden plot, since my yard is too small (my fault) and shaded (neighbor's fault) to successfully grow as many of the vegetables as I'd like. But here, I've only found 3 kinds of community gardens in this area:

1) Community plots for low income residents (as much as I grouse about my paycheck, I don't qualify)
2) Communal marketing gardens (but I want to keep what I grow)
3) University sponsored community garden plots for university students

Fortunately for me, last year a former co-worker who was taking classes at the university and knew of my desire asked me if I would like to share a university plot with her. I gladly accepted. She had never grown vegetables before, so she started with peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini, mulched with newspaper and grass clippings. The plot was on the other side of town from me, so I concentrated on vegetables that didn't require daily attention - peppers, beets, winter squash (straw mulch), and popcorn. Water was available. Organic practices weren't mandated but were encouraged. The other gardeners were a mix of races and nationalities, but everyone I talked to was friendly and helpful, and I enjoyed seeing the different mix of plants they grew. The peppers didn't do well (but they didn't do well for me at home either, the ones she grew did much better), the beets were wonderful, the winter squash varied from barely tolerable (only one butternut squash) to great (7 nice sized pumpkins), and even though the popcorn was severely hurt by a windstorm, I grew enough to last me through the winter and to use the crank handled popper.

I'll look for another plot this year definitely.

Cybrczch, thank you for sharing your story. Good luck on finding another plot.
Perhaps you could help create a new community garden in your area?
American Community Gardening Association
http://www.communitygarden.org/index.php

We also now have a community garden forum on DG! Hope you will visit that forum.