good luck with your search. one sort of site that you haven't mentioned is on the grounds of a retirement home. a garden out back would be good for both the gardeners and the residents (and good for the staff, and for the visitors, and it would be a service to the community, and . . .). best, karen.

I'm wondering if in your search for finding a place to put your community garden, have you come across anyone who has used Geographic Information Systems to find the best location to put one. Using Census Block Data, you could figure out where large percentages of elderly people who live in apartments or senior housing live in your area. Then you could locate a site by looking at parcel data around those areas to find vacant sites. I'm attempting to look at this application for a GIS class. Am I the first one to think of this or perhaps this is just going a little bit overboard?

I am presently employed as a Parks and Recreation Planner in Oregon and I have worked with developing community gardens from the public side. I can seriously empathize with your plight. Dealing with politicians and red tape is so frustrating and it can take forever- especially if there are no examples in your area.

You are wise to go on a publicity campaign. That is exactly what it takes to get anything done in local government- I ought to know. You would be amazed at how quickly politicians can solve these little "problems" once the press applies some pressure. Get some examples (maybe other people on this list could send photos) and maybe some testimonials from groups with political clout. I.E. an elderly person who uses the garden to grow food and as a social outlet. Maybe a single Mom etc. Show a wide variety of people who would use the garden- maybe get people to pre-sign up for plots so you can show numbers of how many people really want this. Then, take your data to the local paper. If you do the background stuff and provide them with contacts to interview, they will likely do a story. The story can in turn draw attention from more people and start a snowball. It takes a lot of energy and commitment but it can be done. Good luck!

recherche d'une personne qui a des connaissances comme designer en aménagement paysager

Becky, we have been trough the same thing here in Montgomery County (Texas). The local county agriculture agent has trained a class of Master Gardeners, who are trying to earn their "points" in the form of volunteer hours, and we thought a community garden would be perfect. There was some land near a community building that looked good, and the community churches had a food pantry in the building so it would have been perfect. However, the grounds keepers planted St. Augustine grass and installed sprinklers instead. There was a local museum area with several old buildings, restored and open for tours. The board of the museum area allowed the garden for one year, but did not want to keep on. Apparently, it doesn't fit their idea of what the community looked like in the 1800's. Some other park land was looking good, but it is being developed as an extension of a Little League park. I offered my own back yard, and am trying to get some people over to talk about a Fall garden. I am not all that young, and do not own a tiller, but I would be willing to do what I can. Keep trying. Talk to elementary schools and Junior High schools, especially the Biology teachers. They just might have a site on the school grounds that can be used as an outdoor classroom for botany lessons on occassion. Contact local officials and just keep looking until you find a true gardener with a heart. They must be out there somewhere. -- Marie

Amy, that is a great application of the Geographic Information System (GIS). Large cities would be more likely to have a department with the needed information in the data base, but even small cities and counties are using GIS more and more. If you are lucky, your county soil conservation district will also have soil types and percipitation records in a data base. I guess one would just have to call around until the answer is revealed. I am a great fan of ArcView, a popular GIS program, and I think all libraries should have this for public use. Community Colleges might have it also.
-- Marie

I agree with Marie--if you can find a teacher who is interested in gardening, enlist their help for a "classroom project". Maybe it could turn into something bigger and better. My parents were both elementary school teachers, and my Dad taught kids about vegetable gardening. It depends on your area what crop the kids could raise and see the results during the school year. Daddy always planted snap beans as one of the things. The kids grew them, picked them, snapped them, and Daddy talked the lunchroom ladies into cooking them for lunch for his class! Some of the kids ate snapbeans for the first time ("I don't like them") because THEY grew and took care of them! In later years some students told him that they had vegetable gardens every year, because of that row of beans in the 5th or 6th grade. Other teachers brought their classes out to observe sometimes, so try to get the teachers interested. If they don't have to do a lot of the work they possibly would be interested!