Re: offering tilling as part of community garden services

Marci,

We garden south of you in NYC's Clinton Community Garden (web link:  Clinton Community Garden ) and the idea of a gardening coordinating group like yours coming in and tilling garden plots that should have been lovingly composted and amended by the community gardeners themselves seems quite alien.  However, in some areas out of NYC, it is done as a service to gardeners, but like anything else, should be contingent on funding and manpower considerations.

Quite frankly, the more that individual community gardens and gardeners do for themselves in the actual running and bull work in their gardens, including to learning how to do fundraising and neighborhood advocacy for their gardens, the better off they will be in the long run.

Please  realize that my comments come from the common NYC experience of having to clear a rubble, rusted car and garbage strewn abandoned urban lot with my mates, and while eternally grateful for the support work that Trust for Public Land, Green Guerillas, Green Thumb and the NYC Parks Dept gave the Clinton Community Garden in our early years  order to help us survive and  get organized as a 501(c)(3) corporation,  there comes a point when the doctor has to slap the baby on the rear end, have it take a big deep breath and learn to be self reliant.

You need to be frank with your gardeners about what your limited resources are, how few of you there are and what can realistically be done. Expect whining, and not a few to use it as an excuse not to garden - -

That's OK.  The gardeners who learn to do for themselves ( with the exception of kids, the disabled or seniors who really need the hand) will be far better off in the long run.

Best wishes,
Adam Honigman,
Volunteer,
Clinton Community Garden

 

For the history of how we did it, here's our link -   Clinton Community Garden 
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