The Dirty Dozen:

Your Guide to a Successful Community Garden

Text by Becky Lovejoy, Design/Layout by Christy Evans
© 2009 Portland, Oregon

Congratulations! You are about to embark on a thrilling adventure, bringing the magic of
growing things to people whose lives will be changed as they tend a productive garden. You’ll
be helping families live more sustainably, eat healthier food, save some grocery money, get more
exercise, and build friendships with people who were strangers just the day before. Can all of
this come from a patch of peas or a tomato plant? You bet! The demand is there, with people on
waiting lists for garden plots numbering in the hundreds.

Use this practical guide to lead you on your way to a successful community garden. You can get
started with just one person who is committed to manage the garden, and some land with a water
source to hook up a hose…

Becky Lovejoy has a Masters in Education and is a certified Master Gardener and manages a
25-plot community garden at a church in Portland.

The Dirty Dozen: Your Guide to a Successful Community Garden © 2009 Page 1
 Ta b le of Contents:

Land Page 3

Money Page 4

Raised Beds Page 5

Tools/Supplies Page 6

Compost Page 7

Garden Layout Page 8

Garden Improvements Page 9

Recruiting Gardeners Page 10

Garden Management Page 11

Social Aspects Page 12

Legal Stuff Page 13

Helping Others Page 14

Appendix Page 15-16

The Dirty Dozen: Your Guide to a Successful Community Garden © 2009 Page 2
 L and
Many community gardens are on land loaned out by a church, community center or school.

• An unused area of grass in a school playground, an empty lot in a neighborhood, or the

sunny side of the church make ideal places for a community garden. You’ll need 6-8
hours of summer sun to grow vegetables and fruits.

• Get official permission! Have a signed agreement with the landowner, ideally for a few
years. Gardens improve with age as you amend the soil and people get invested in their
rental plots. If the area will be paved over as a parking lot in a year or developed for an
apartment complex, find a more long-term location.

• Have a water source. You’ll need to hook up one or more hoses to irrigate in the summer
months, and it should be convenient to the garden.

• Be sure there aren’t toxic wastes in the soil before you start growing food. Farmland that
has used toxic herbicides and pesticides, or areas with pollution runoff or wastewater
from industry are not good bets.

• Level land is best, to save you the work of terracing and to guard against flooding or
drainage problems.

• A fence around the area is handy if you have a deer problem, but it is not necessary
unless you want to keep casual foot traffic out.

• Perfect soil is not required. Most gardens purchase soil for raised beds.

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 Money
NEVER let the lack of money hold you back. Nevertheless, it’s good to figure stuff out on paper
before you promise a community garden to dozens of waiting gardeners.

• Your biggest ongoing costs will be soil, amendments (fertilizer, compost, etc.) and water.
Asking each gardener to provide their own soil can be costly and overwhelming for new
gardeners or those on a limited budget. Instead, order soil and manure in bulk. Know that
every year the rain will pack the soil down so expect to make at least two years of soil
purchases before garden beds are rich enough to only require amending from time to
time. One cubic yard covers about 50 square feet to a depth of 4-6 inches and you’ll
want a depth of at least 10-12 inches in your plots. Prices vary, but an all-purpose
planting mix is about $25/yard plus a delivery fee.

• It’s a nice gesture to pay your portion of the water bill to the church or school that’s
donated the land for your garden. A quick-and-dirty way is to calculate the water cost
using the OSU Master Gardener’s recommendations of how many inches a vegetable
garden needs (1-inch a week), multiplied by the square footage of tillable plots, and
multiplied by the number of weeks that we need to water. There’s not enough rain from
May through mid-October.

• With church gardens, why not tithe 10% of your rental fees to the church? The rest could
be left over for repairs, improvements, or to give to your local food bank or other agency
that feeds the hungry.

• Check around to see what the going rates for garden plots are in your area, by making
some calls or going on the Internet and searching for community gardens. Ballpark rental
fees are $10 to $15 for a 4x8’ bed and $30 to $50 for a 16x16 plot for the year.

• Don’t make the mistake of giving people plots for free, no matter how ‘deserving’ or
needy they seem to be. Without an investment on their part, their commitment is bound
to be low. Sweat equity is an option where renters work a certain number of hours on
communal projects to get a plot, or are put in charge of a communal area.

• Get creative about raising money. Create a memorial garden where people sponsor a rose
bush that’s planted for a loved one. Sell inscribed bricks and pave a path with them.
Find a private or business donor and honor their contributions in some way in the garden.
Encourage kids to develop little businesses and sell earthworms, pumpkins, flowers,
herbs or crafts. The possibilities are endless!

Summary of Costs: Summary of Revenue:

• Soil/Manure • Plot rental fees
• Water • Fundraisers (produce, herb and
• Tools and hoses flower sales; garden crafts, etc.)
• Materials to build raised beds • Donations (in-kind or cash

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 Raised Beds
Raised beds are created by mounding soil above the existing ground, or building structures
(usually wood) to contain fertile soil in which to plant. Oregon’s clay soil doesn’t drain well
enough for most vegetable and berry crops, so having raised beds is an easy solution.

• Check out other community gardens for construction techniques and dimensions. I’ve
been successful with using 1x6 boards, reinforcing corners with 4x4’s or 2x4’s, and
having the outside dimensions be 4x8’. Coming up 10 to 12” is best to allow enough soil
depth for good root growth.

• Oregon is going green, and sustainability is the name of the game. Why buy new lumber
that’s expensive and uses up our forests, when there’s plenty of usable wood around?
Poll your congregation, neighborhood, or potential community gardeners, to see what
two-by-fours they have in their garages. Who just took down a cedar fence? Who is in
construction and has scraps around? Who is ripping down their back deck? There are
also places that sell used building materials for a fraction of the cost of new.

• If you use pressure-treated wood (new or used), line it with 6-ml plastic that you can get
in rolls from home improvement stores, and staple it down to protect produce from toxic
chemicals which may leach out into the soil.

• With donated materials, your only cost could be the hardware. Use screws instead of
nails to build the raised beds, since they’re stronger. Have skilled folks with power tools
and some notion of construction techniques to make the beds. Try scheduling a weekend
work bee and get it all done at once.

• You open yourself up to liability if you let each renter make his/her own bed, since
accidents can happen with power tools. You also want uniformity in size so you can re-
rent for the same price next year, and a quality product that will last a long time.

• Lumber yards and construction companies may be willing to donate materials if they can
get a tax write-off (for approved 501©(3) organizations) or some free publicity.

• Consider making one or two wheelchair-accessible beds by having the top of the bed 30-
36” off the ground. Old hot tub surrounds can be modified nicely for this purpose.

• Cinder blocks and other large concrete bricks or blocks can also be used to build beds.
Reinforce with rebar if needed.

• If your site has grass, consider putting down up to three layers of cardboard or multiple
sheets of newspaper, and pile soil on top. Over time, the grass will die, the paper will
decompose, and roots and micro-organisms will break up the soil. If the site has
compacted earth, break it up with a spade before adding garden soil.

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 Too ls/Supplies
You need a few basics to set up the garden—a wheelbarrow for moving soil and amendments,
rakes to even the ground, a spade or two… Then decide whether you want to provide tools or
have people bring their own. If you provide 4x8’ raised beds, most gardening can be done with
hand tools that people bring themselves.

• Ask for tool donations. Neighbors, congregants and garden renters always have extras in
their garden sheds and garages. Our 25-plot garden has a wheelbarrow, two watering
cans, two spades, a dozen hand tools, and a pitchfork. That’s all we need since people
provide their own gloves and any special tools they want to use. You can also find
inexpensive tools and maybe even a used storage shed at yard sales, thrift stores, or at
Craig’s List on the Internet.

• Do you need a locked shed to store stuff? Assess the neighborhood and decide for
yourself. Sometimes having older tools and hiding them from view of the street or public
areas is all you need to do.

• Store your tools from November – March when few people garden. This also protects
tools from rust or theft.

• Donated hoses with leaks can be repaired easily—patch kits from home improvement
stores are easy to use. New hoses aren’t too costly but buy the better quality versions
which last longer.

• Keep a current first aid kit in the garden for cuts and scrapes.

• If you manage your rental fees well, you may have extra money to purchase a few new
tools each year to upgrade/add to what you have.

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 Comp ost
Making compost is a great way to enrich your garden soil and dispose of discarded plant
material. It’s sustainable and inexpensive – what could be better?

• Instructions abound on how to make compost. Basically, you layer browns (dried leaves
and other dry dead stuff) with greens (grass clippings, green plant materials), add some
water, turn it regularly, and the worms and bacteria will eventually turn it into wonderful
compost that provides nutrients and good drainage to your soil.

• Keep weed seeds, diseased plants, food that might attract animals (mice, rats and
raccoons), and trash out of compost piles.

• If you have a communal compost pile, assign someone to turn it regularly and keep things
neat.

• If you rent large plots, invite individuals to have small compost containers that they
maintain on their own site.

• Consider planting cover crops in the winter to fix nitrogen in the soil and protect the
nutrients in the soil from being leached out by winter rains. These plants (rye grass,
vetch, clover, fava beans, field peas) then get turned under in the spring and will compost
in the soil over time.

• On a related matter, think of what you’ll do with all the bio mass at the end of the season
(tomato vines, corn stalks, etc.) if you don’t have compost bins. A dumpster is often not
big enough for all this material. In Portland, check Metro’s website under “Find a
Recycler” and you’ll get a list of places that will take plant debris for a fee. Another
option is to rent a yard debris container which is hauled away for a fee.

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 Garden L ayout
Combine function with beauty and you have a community garden to be proud of!

• Decide how big the garden will be and then play around with graph paper, a pencil, and a
big eraser. 4x8’ raised beds are a great size for individuals. 16x16’ plots are a nice
standard size for a family plot, which you’ll mark off with permanent stakes. This keeps
the plot boundaries from expanding into paths, and creates a hose guard so that hoses
aren’t dragged over plantings as people water nearby plots. Metal t-posts are inexpensive
and come in various sizes. Just pound them in with a sledge hammer.

• A combination of small beds and large plots works well, and you can always convert
large plots to small beds down the road. My experience with large plots is that they
quickly become unsightly repositories for all sorts of wood structures, bags of old leaves
or cut grass, buckets and plastic tools, and old lawn chairs. Check out other gardens and
see if it’s a “look” you can live with. Otherwise, stick with small beds or have policies in
place that junk should not be stored in the garden.

• Convention says to have the long side of raised beds running north to south so plants
won’t shade out each other from the sun. Beds too close to large trees may get filled with
roots seeking rich soil. Beds in low areas may get flooded in winter, rotting the raised
bed’s wood and souring the soil.

• Create paths between your raised beds. Three feet wide is a good rule of thumb, to allow
room for wheelbarrows.

• Paths will get muddy or weedy over time. A great solution is to put sheets of cardboard
over the grass or mud, and cover with a 4-6” layer of wood chips. Asplundh, the current
contractor for PGE that trims trees that are in the way of power poles, is happy to donate
tree chips when they’re in your area. Get on their waiting list and follow-up regularly. In
winter, private tree removal services in the Yellow Pages may donate their chips since
they save money in dump fees, but be sure it’s not from diseased trees. Be prepared to
refresh chips every year or two.

• Designate a way for trucks to come up to the garden to dump soil or manure, and a place
for gardeners to park cars or bikes.

• Get permission for gardeners to use a local bathroom, or rent a port-a-potty for the
gardening season once you’ve checked for any zoning requirements.

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 Garden Improvements
Start small and get the basics done the first year, but be ready to do improvements as time and
resources permit. Many community gardens take three years to reach full capacity.

• Think of having communal flower beds to attract bees and other pollinators that are
essential for a successful garden. Is there a fence that you’d like to cover with flowering
vines? Do you want to include a rose garden or a cutting garden for fragrance or beauty?
Is there room for a few fruit trees, a grape vine, or some raspberries for all to share?

• Don’t have gardeners think that they’re limited to growing produce. Some people prefer
growing flowers to growing food, and it can be easier if they are short on time or
gardening skills.

• Storing tools out of the rain is a good idea. If you have a shed, great! If there’s a fence,
reinforce it with a board, include an overhang to keep the rain off, install hooks, and hang
tools.

• Compost bins and worm bins are fun to add. Include educational signs explaining how
they work.

• Gardens are a wildlife habitat, and you can improve them by being sure you have food, a
water source and shelter for beneficial birds and insects.

• Maintain a non-toxic environment by not using herbicides or pesticides in the garden.

• Water features are a great addition to the garden. Think of a small fountain, a little pond,
shallow dishes for butterflies to drink from, and bird baths. Remember that deep water is
a liability since it’s a drowning hazard for children. Also, from July through September,
empty and re-fill water regularly to protect against mosquito larvae.

• Have benches! Planks on bricks painted with cheery colors make terrific places to sit and
socialize, and add vibrancy to the garden. Used picnic tables or benches from yard sales
can be prettied up as well. Think of storing them out of the rain in the winter, or covering
them with tarps.

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 Recruiti ng Gardeners

With a little bit of promotion, you should have all the gardeners you want and more. Waiting
lists for garden plots abound all over Portland, so it’s just a matter of getting the word out.

• Decide whether to limit your renters to the church, school, or neighborhood that has
provided the land, or to open it to the general public.

• When renewals come up next year, decide whether your waiting list will be on a first-
come-first-served basis, or whether preference is given to a certain group. Stick to
your decision and don’t play favorites.

• Decide whether an individual or family can have more than one plot. Limiting
families to two 4x8’ beds or one larger plot is reasonable.

• Advertise with flyers in the local neighborhood, or on Craig’s List on the Internet.
Ask the local paper to run a story on your new garden and include your e-mail as a
contact. Contact gardens with waiting lists and see if you can help meet the need.
Have interested individuals recruit their friends, so they can garden together.

• Seniors, kids, and everyone in between loves to garden. Target your recruiting to
places like local retirement homes, pre-schools, health food stores and garden centers.
Don’t forget the local food bank or other social service agencies that help low-income
folks get back on their feet.

• In general, people who have to travel a long distance to work in the garden will not
come often and will eventually drop out. Focus on the immediate neighborhood.

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 Ga rden Management
Leadership is essential! Four or five committed helpers are a good rule of thumb. Your work
gets easier after the first year and you can certainly delegate many duties. Expect it to take a
while before you find the best form of governance…Here are some things to think about.

• Know up front that enthusiasm for the garden will come from you. Attendance at work
parties, peoples’ adherence to policies, and the solving of problems, are a direct reflection
of your energy and skill sets. Every person has unique talents so delegate what you don’t
enjoy or do well.

• Do you want to require community service hours from your gardeners? This can save
you some work, but you’ll still be in charge of scheduling work parties, setting them up,
and supervising. Six to ten hours a season is a reasonable amount of time to require your
renters to work.

• Work parties are best when you schedule them in advance, remind gardeners about them
often, and include evening and weekend times.

• Here are some duties that need to be done or delegated:

- Coordinate recruitment and sign-ups of plots. See Appendix for forms and a suggested
timeline.
- Make some ½ sheet colorful flyers advertising the garden and post them everywhere.
I keep some in a mailbox in the garden, where people can exchange notes and pick up
flyers like this.
- Send regular e-mails to gardeners and/or have a place to post information at the garden
site. This keeps enthusiasm up and allows you to pass on information. Tell them when to
plant which type of vegetable for folks who are new to gardening.
- Have regular work parties or garden potlucks to get the social thing going. People
LOVE this but you’ll need to organize it for them.
- Have a trash can on-site and empty it regularly. Pick up garbage around the site as well.
- Maintain paths with chips and cardboard. It’s good to do this in Nov/Dec when nothing
else is happening and it keeps weeds down that will sprout in late winter/early spring.
- Shut down water in November and start it up in March to protect pipes from freezing.
- Store tools for the winter.
- Repair and/or replace tools and hoses.
- Think of sending a quarterly report to the landowner/organization with a few paragraphs
of what you’ve accomplished and what you plan to do next quarter. It keeps everyone in
the loop. As a start-up garden, think of doing this monthly to crow about your successes!
- Make a garden map, update it each year, and laminate it. Include first names of renters
so people can confirm which plot is theirs and know the names of others.
- Have an official presence in the garden. Walk around, know everyone by name, have
them comfortable about giving you complaints and suggestions, and give them gardening
tips as needed. People new to gardening need confidence boosters.
- Delegate as much as you can so one person isn’t overwhelmed.

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 Social Aspects
We are social creatures, and although picking tomatoes can be fun alone, having a harvest
potluck, helping someone else plant their carrots and beets, or designing a flower garden in a
common area are the things that build community and foster strong and lasting friendships.

• Pick a day to do sign-ups for plot rentals so people can get excited, meet one another, and
maybe get some free prizes like seeds, starts, or snacks. You can finish sign-ups by mail
or e-mail, but it’s fun to have a kick-off to the gardening season. Anytime in March
works.

• Schedule a harvest potluck, perhaps in mid-September. Invite people to bring lunch

items that include produce from their gardens. Have a garden tour where each gardener
shares what worked and what didn’t, so everyone can learn and celebrate successes.
Take photos!

• Schedule work parties ahead of time so people can put the dates on their calendars.
People love to design and plant communal flower gardens, spread chips/soil/manure,
hang up bird feeders, swap seeds and plants, or do large clean-up projects. Provide
refreshments and thank people for coming. Limit work parties to 2-3 hours so you don’t
tire out your volunteers!

• If you’d like to raise additional funds for the garden, have kids and adults do fundraisers
and invite the general public.

• Consider a communal bulletin board for announcing events, posting messages,

coordinating people to water for vacationing gardens, or offering invitations to share
extra produce.

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 L egal St uff
Have as few rules as possible but enforce them uniformly. See the Appendix for useful forms.

• Liability Waivers: These protect the school, church or community center from being
sued if something happens. A sample is in the Appendix that you can modify for
your use. Have someone in charge approve this, and keep a signed copy on file for
each gardener.

• Insurance: Be sure you have adequate public liability insurance coverage.

• Contact Info: Have basic information on file for all your gardeners. I find
communicating by e-mail is quick and easy, saving time and paper. If someone
doesn’t have e-mail, think of posting information in the garden or have a small part of
your budget for stamps and envelopes.

• Policies: Some rules are essential! Be sure people agree to the policies going in, and
be ready to enforce them if they’re not followed. It just takes one or two people
misusing the privileges of community gardening to make others feel resentful.

• Timeline: Signing up people before February 1st in western Oregon doesn’t work –
they’re just not thinking about being outdoors yet. Not much happens before March
1st in the vegetable gardening world, unless you’re starting some early peas. May 1st
is the time when everyone is out, since tomatoes and other warm-weather vegetables
are so popular. By October 31st, everyone heads inside as the rain starts pattering
down.

• Ownership: Be sure people know that they are “renters,” not “owners” of their little
piece of Eden. Their plot can be revoked if they don’t abide by garden policies. You
might consider a refund policy, if things don’t work out with a gardener. You’ll no
doubt have a waiting list so you might have deadlines for having ¼ or ½ of their fees
refunded, and then turn around and rent the plot to someone new.

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 Helpi ng O thers

Gardening reminds you of the abundance of the earth. Anyone who has planted more than
one zucchini plant or grew a few too many tomatoes knows that there’s often extra to share.

• Encourage gardeners to plant a row for the hungry. You get food to donate but also the
added value that comes from people committing to help others, or people in need being
resourceful and learning to grow their own food.

• Donate food to the nearest food bank, church pantry, or social service agency serving
those in need. Donations to non-profits are nice tax write-offs as well. Put someone in
charge of delivering the produce to charitable organizations, and designate a place for
gardeners to swap produce amongst themselves at the garden.

• If planting a row for charity is a goal for your garden, you might be able to obtain grants
such as neighborhood development grants.

• Ask your community gardeners or invite Master Gardeners or other experts to give
hands-on workshops in the garden. How to grow tomatoes, garden basics, growing
herbs, and making compost, are some basic ideas. People love to share their expertise.

• Teach kids business skills like how to sell garden items or promote the garden in other
ways. Having Eagle Scouts build a compost bin, or a home-schooled group haul soil to
your raised beds, gives everyone great work experience.

• Think of having garden mentors. Experienced gardeners can be assigned to plot renters
new to gardening, and can help them be successful.

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 Appendix
The following are some useful forms to modify for your use.

INFO SHEET
<Name of your Community Garden>

NAME __________________________________
ADDRESS ________________________________________________
CITY _____________________________ ZIP CODE ___________
PHONE _______________________
E-MAIL _______________________________
(used for routine garden communications)

LIABILITY WAIVER

I, _______________________________ have reviewed, understand, and agree to abide by

the policies relative to the use of the Community Garden and understand that use of the
Community Garden may be denied if policies or rules are not followed.

I understand that gardening is a potentially hazardous activity and hereby agree to

expressly assume and accept all risks associated with gardening and the use of the
Community Garden including, but not limited to, those caused by terrain, facilities, soil
conditions, temperature, physical exertion, insect/rodent exposure, chemical exposure and
actions of other people.

I understand that my use of the Community Garden is voluntary and I do so at my own risk.
In consideration of being allowed to use the Community Garden, I hereby agree on behalf of
myself and my executor’s, etc. to waive, release, and forever discharge <YOUR GROUP’S
NAME HERE>, each of its officers, agents, employees, representatives, the Garden
Manager, and all others from any and all responsibilities or liability for injuries (including
death), damages or loss including claims or causes of action, including those caused by the
negligent acts or omissions of any of those mentioned, resulting from my use of the
Community Garden or in any activities connected with the Community Garden.

_______________________________ _______________________________
Signature Date

_______________________________ _______________________________
Signature Date
(If two people share a plot, both should sign.)

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 TIMELINE, POLICIES & PLOT ASSIGNMENTS
<Name of your group here> Community Garden

Timeline: (March 1 – February 28 is the official ‘garden year’)

March Time to renew plots.

March 31 Deadline to pay annual fee to renew last year’s plot.
May 1 Work should be started on plot to show intention to use it.
Unused or unkept plots may be reassigned after a 1-week warning.
Nov 15 Plot should be cleaned up and mulched or cover-cropped.

Garden Policies:
Our goal is to keep the garden neat and safe for the enjoyment of all gardeners, and to
make a positive impression on people visiting the garden for enjoyment and reflection. So
that we can all enjoy the garden, please:

• Keep your plot and the area around it weed-free so seeds don’t spread to other
gardens.
• Keep your plants inside your plot boundaries to keep paths clear for hoses and other
gardeners.
• Only use organic products that are safe for people, pets and wildlife. The garden is a
pesticide-free and wildlife-friendly zone.
• Conserve water when possible, coil hoses after using, and mulch when appropriate.
• Use communal tools on the premises, cleaning and returning them when done each
day. Tools will be stored and unavailable in the off-season: October-March.
• Store personal items/materials neatly within your area or at home, not in communal
areas like paths or tool storage areas.
• Pets are welcome in the garden but must be leashed, stay on paths, and not eat or
damage plants. Pick up after your pets and dispose of waste in the trash can.
• Get permission before watering or harvesting from plots or areas other than yours
and do not use compost containers in others’ plots.
• Households may rent up to two beds if available.
• Failure to follow these policies may result in your plot being reassigned.

Plot Assignment:

Plot Rental: $30/year for larger unimproved areas.

Bed Rental: $10/year for 4x8’ raised beds.
For irregular plot prices, contact Garden Manager.

Name __________________________________ Date __________________

Amount _________________________ Check # _______________
Plot(s) Assigned _______________ Time Period: March 1, 2009 – Feb 28, 2010

Welcome! We’re glad you’re here!

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