the people and community building best
politics least

The fellowship with others on nice days in the garden best.

The waiting for others to weed their plots least.

I participated in a public park's community garden program for the first -- and last -- time last summer. There wasn't much I liked about it. A fence around the plots was promised, in order to discourage vandals and thieves; it never materialized. The location of the plots left gardens even more vulnerable to theft and vandalism -- poor planning, I'd say. There was no nearby source for watering; for much of the summer we had to haul buckets from the kitchen in the park's office.

I heard lots of promises about how wonderful this community gardening experience was going to be. But park officials certainly didn't plan it through, so the results would be rewarding for its participants.

I love my community garden, the people who keep an eye on it are actual gardeners, so that helps. It has water and a fence, and we have the tree guys dump their shredded tree piles for mulch, and we have boxes to take the weeds away. I wish we did not have so much theft, we lost some highly prized wheelbarrows, and we are by a high school and I have caught some kids jumping the gates to steal fruit and veggies. I wish the headhoncho was a bit less like a head honcho and realized that mother nature dictates when we can weed in the spring, and that workdays should not be dictated but agreed upon by everyone like the old head honcho use to run it.
I dont like it that my neighbors dont weed, and that they dont take care of their part of the paths, keeping them weed free and clean, but I know I do my part, and the other consciencious gardeners know I do my part. I also wish we had a better drainage system...all in all, I love my garden and am glad I can grow things there.

Least: Rudy Crueliani, bane of NYC gardens.

The best part about my community garden is it's proximity to the school at which I teach. Each year, my class has had a major garden project: a pond, a Peter Rabbit garden, this year, a full-out landscape design project. I love my special lots.

I hate the stupid politics that creates more of a problem out of management than it should be. But things are coming along in that area, too. The worst must be crummy neighbors who don't take the time to weed properly before planting, who then let thier weeds creep into others' lots.

I appreciate the things I learnt from others.I was involved in a small cg last year.It was my first time gardening and I learnt alot.We where a small group only about nine of us all decisions and rules where voted on. We had group meeting every second week.I believe this cut down on the politics of things.We did not have a fence and vandals where a big issue.

What I like best is a place to grow things ...in full sun! What I like least, I hate to say, are the rats that live in mulch and straw piles on people's plots. They can be very destructive.

As a sophomore college student studying horticulture, I have an internship as the community garden coordinator for Outagamie and Winnebago counties in Wisconsin. I was, as my fellow coworkers would say "the savior" of a community garden project that was becoming wild due to the previous coordinator's disorganized managment and total lack of planning.

After I straightened out the mess, I began to love my job as a community garden coordinator. There is a lot of planning involved and it takes a lot of time and effort. I worked with the county's master gardeners, a behavior health youth group of juvenile delinquents, and the garden participants. Many of the garden participants were Hmong and grew unique Asian crops. The experience of the garden was great--getting to know and work with different people and establishing a "green" area in the community. Educational programs were also great ways to expose the garden as well as teach garden skills and horticultural knowledge.

Right now, there are only two of us working in the 'community garden.' It's on a corner of two streets in the middle of Chicago. The neighborhood is one that has gone from 'up and coming' to simply 'up', with the exception (as there always is in Chicago) of one street across from the garden with gang activity. The joy I get from it is, the reaction of people as they walk by and see us working. They appreciate our work and promise to take the garbage they see out of it. Makes me think that when one or two people show concern and act on it, it makes others do the same- and become more attuned to their world because of it.

Bad? People who complain about the site but don't offer time, money or plants. Want it better? Make it so.

It has been several years since my community gardening experience. I maintained two plots at a community garden about 1 mile from my house. Overall it was a good experience. Our family had plenty of veggies to eat fresh and can. It was good to say our Thanksgiving meal came from "our" garden. I was forced to stop gardening at the community garden by two things.

1. The county government saw fit to sell the land, moving the garden much further out from my house.

2. After babying the garden through a summer dry period, I hoped for the harvest of a fall garden. My broccoli plants looked great. I set out from home one evening to reap my harvest. Much to my disappointment, individuals from an apartment complex had made a raid on the garden, harvesting all of my brocolli (they subsequently also harvested the side shoots). I was mad and hurt.

Community gardens are now of a thing of the past for me. Due to teh city's wisdom, they are just too far away from where I live.

What I liked best about community gardening was taking a desolate "brown lands" space covered in garbage and turning it into a restful green space. Having participated from the very beginning in creating a community garden it was satisfying to see it come to fruition.

What I didn't like about the garden was the participation of a nearby home for street people or homeless people. They drank in the garden, did drugs,had sex there, set up residence in the garden shed, pulled plants out of other people's beds, cut loads of flowers, ate vegetables. We gave up our vegetable plot because there was hardly anything left to harvest. Idealism quickly lost its gloss; the 'gardeners' from the residence soon dropped any pretense of gardening and eventually we locked them out.

Part of the garden site was lead contaminated. It was very hard to get people to take this seriously even though it had been substantiated by soil testing. One day I found a nice middle class couple having a picnic in the middle of the unmarked lead zone. I went ballistic and wrote the mayor (it is City land). Someone from the City came and looked at the site and the shelter made all kinds of promises of action and did nothing. After that I put up a sign and fenced it off myself. Fortunately the fence stayed up until the committee got funding to remediate the lead. Unfortunately the contractors drove their heavy equipment right through our oak savannah/prairie garden, pretty much destroying it. So I am no longer in a community garden.

I gardened in Seattle's P-Patch program for many years, in the early start up phase, and later on when it was fully developed. It was almost 100% positive - the only thing I didn't like was having to drive to the garden, and losing a few tomatoes to thieves - oh, and being limited to 10 X 40 feet - I gardened in two different sites - well inside the perimeter in one site, and at the outside corner bordering a playground at the other - that's where the tomatoes disappeared. But I pulled fat gorgeous leeks all winter and nobody took any.

But the positives were far greater - well managed by a professional staff, the P patches all have water, compost sites, are all ORGANIC, and had great gardening camaraderie. I learned so much from observing other gardeners and asking questions, and always loved the vast variety of plant choice and design within the little plots. Some people just did flowers, others strict utilitarian vegie patches. Huge sunflowers next to finger carrots - someone even built a little shed on his tiny plot and had tea there. It was a great experience all told. I never served on a Board because I do my politics elsewhere, so never had that hassle.

I liked that we had keys to open it whenever we wanted to work. People we would not be with usually in our lives had plots with chairs and art. Some people grew Gooseberries, and currants. I dont understand people who want to use weed killers in the garden paths.

Last year was the first time my community introduced gardening, over all it went well .We were lucky, it was fenced and there was a water hose available, We all had our own key also.The bad ......i guess was the fact some ppl never refilled the water barrels , didn't weed thier plots ,a nd in the fall some abandonned thier harvest,leaving hundreds of beautiful ripe tomatoes rotting ?????????

I have had my 'allotment' for 10 years now. It is 5mins away from my house on foot. There is a water tap at the end of my 15 x 75 foot plot. The allotments are under the jurisdiction of the City Council Parks Department. They provides leaves in the Autumn from the city's open spaces which are dumped in huge bins for us to help ourselves. There is rubbish collection for non-organic refuse and weeds (for those who don't compost). The City Council does not interfere at all unless there is a complaint, which is seldom. Their approach is very hands-off but they respond quickly if you need them. The allotment holders have an association which is voluntary and each site (there are several in this small town) has a site representative who you can contact if you want to. Most people just get on with gardening and do not poke their noses into other people's plots. We are not allowed to put up permanent buildings on my particular plot because it is in an area of great architectural importance, but most sites allow a small shed. Nor are we allowed to keep animals. I keep my tools in a locked chest after a theft some years ago. This was the only time I ever suffered any theft and I have never had any vandalism. (Fingers crossed). I love everything about allotmenting, especially that it is away from my home, so when I am there I am my own person. It is my own thing, not a family thing. I have no dislikes, except people who use weedkillers and pesticides and don't compost. Also I would like bigger plot. I am on the waiting list, so even that might be solved eventually.