[Community_garden] Starting from scratch: the small Community Garden

[Rebekah.L.Filipello at wellsfargo.com]

Greetings!  I'm new to this list, have joined because I really need your
advice and resources.

I transplanted last year to a little town in far northern CA, near Mt.
Shasta, in the beautiful Upper Sacramento River canyon: zone 7, most
years.

My own garden is coming along nicely. I've got lots of experience and
some Permaculture education to draw from. In talking with a new friend
who has run the little local Grower's Market as an act of love for 12
years, the idea of a Community Garden came up, and I would like to help
get that going. There's a need here, where lots and incomes are small,
and some sections of the town are heavily shaded by tall trees. And
there is a vacant lot across the street from me, where a house burned
down some years ago.

We approached the absentee owner last fall, who was wary, thought we
were a bit nuts, but was willing to entertain the idea, if we could
produce liability insurance. 

We approached the Chamber of Commerce, whose new prez owns a small local
nursery & is most supportive. And she presented the idea to the
Chamber's insurance agent who said that if we could produce a lease
contingent on liability insurance, he would cover it as an extension of
the Grower's Market.

This is where we are now. Or I should say I. My friend has given me the
job of producing the lease, as it was my idea, and I'm the contact
person.

Lease negotiation with an owner who is a persnickety real estate
developer and attorney, who has already warned that if the site goes to
weeds, that will void any lease in one month. 

IF we can secure the lease, the lot itself needs much work before it's
plantable, although there are some perimeter spaces that could be worked
this year. We'll probably need a couple of truckloads of clean fill
(topsoil if we can get it) to bury the broken glass where the house
burned down: we certainly can't till there, and help to level the lot a
bit. It's less than .25 acre, but gets full sun, no tree roots, no
blackberries. 

It has city water to the site, and our sympathizer at the Chamber thinks
if we apply to the City Council the right way, we could get water for
free, as it is abundant here. We'll have to be careful about the
sightliness of compostables, so's not to upset the owner when he shows:
his picture window looks over the lot. 

I've been dragging my feet about contacting this owner, as I'm feeling
overwhelmed and intimidated by him. This week I'm going to try to get a
meeting together of interested people, but we're a long way from renting
plots: I need folks who can help plan and work for next year. I haven't
pursued that just yet, as the liability issue was the sticking point for
the last several months. I collected a few names at the Grower's Market
last fall, and can send a one-time mailing out to the local Garden Club
asking for any others. Realistically, we will probably end up with half
a dozen dedicated people, folks that will last past 'planting fever',
and show up to water in August. 

As I write, it is raining, with snow on the hills above, but I can see a
flock of robins frolicking on the garden site, and I have the first
crocus in bloom.

Does anyone have experience to offer about getting and keeping a small
Community Garden going?  I'd be most grateful!

Build soil!

Beki in Dunsmuir