I think you may be referring to a different kind of communty garden than the ones we establish around here. Here, they are mainly for vegetable use. Everyone has their own plot, so whatever they grow, they are responsible for watering/weeding.

I have been a member of one for six years and am in the process of starting a new one in my neighborhood. I definitely don't think running it is easy, but maybe you will find some of our rules useful..

-gardeners pay a $40 deposit. if they leave their plot in good condition, they receive the deposit back. if they leave it full of weeds and bugs, it becomes a 'clean up fee' (donated back to the garden fund to purchase tools or seeds) and is cleared at the next work day.

-everyone has their own plot. they are only allowed to plant plants in their designated spots, and they are the only ones responsible for those plants, and the only ones allowed to harvest.

-gardeners must sign an agreement/contract...they must put in 2 hours of service per month, and they must keep their plots and pathways tidy. if plot is unkept for 2 months, they must surrender their plot.

-garden manager usually organizes one workshop per month, sometimes less depending on the heat (it can get to be 90 by 10am during july and august!)

-our tools are bought with garden members' dues. we keep them locked in a shed, and usually have the shed open weekends while more than one garden manager is out there (when most garden members are out there working). members can bring their own tools out if they want to work outside of weekends, but it is always recommended you label them and don't leave them behind.

-we have a spring and fall potluck/social. it's BYOB and everyone brings something. if there isn't a burn ban, we have a fire. sometimes at these socials, we will have a farmer from the area come and give a talk about something relevant to the season (for example, we plant garlic in fall, so the fall social will be about garlic. we have the social right at planting time, buy a few heads of garlic with garden money, that way people can plant them right away). it gets people more involved and willing to try planting stuff that they dont normally plant. also, at these socials, we have people bring extra seeds for swapping.

-at the one work day per month, if there isn't any major weeding or garden work to tackle, we will have a workshop. The possibilities/topics are endless. Have an expert in the area come talk about companion planting, composting, etc.

...hope this helps with some ideas, ways to tackle common problems. though i will say, it is hard to depend on people. it is very true that there a few you can rely on, outside of that, it's iffy. some people are just crappy workers. maybe bring refreshments for a work day, or pair a workday with an informational talk/workshop/seed swap.

I also think that the negative experience is a result of running the garden as a collection of shared beds instead of a collection of beds assigned to individual gardeners. I manage a garden with 100 different gardening families and we don't have gardeners stealing from each other, nor having confusion about who grew which plants, nor abandoning things they planted. I have several gardeners who left other community gardens because they were ran that way, though. I have yet to come across someone who had a good gardening experience in that kind of community garden.
I can honestly tell you that of our 96 plots, two were planted then abandoned, and they were assigned to new gardeners within 24 hours of the initial gardener admitting to the abandonment. We also have never had things planted in stupid places - but ours is a raised-bed garden on cement so it would literally be impossible to do so.

I agree with leahsurfer and would say it this way: If you run the garden professionally, with plots assigned to specific gardeners and with contracts in place with every gardener, and with a deposit, you will NOT have abandoned plots nor will you have people taking other gardener's produce. If you run the garden all willy-nilly, with no designated planting beds and no hard rules, you will get walked all over and end up exhausting yourself. My advice is professionalism: Treat every gardener the same, make your expectations clear at gardener orientation, have written clear and precise rules, have signed agreements that you adhere to, and don't do communal beds!

I am in a community garden and we have both a communal plot and individual plots and that seems to work well once in a while ur veggies still get poached but such is life I always plant way more then I need and share anyway so it works out

I am in a community garden and we have both a communal plot and individual plots and that seems to work well once in a while ur veggies still get poached but such is life I always plant way more then I need and share anyway so it works out

We run monthly work days but I have noticed a lot more chatting than actual working however I guess for the most part our garden works out same system as above individual plots each person responsible for own plot. Some plots seem to never get planted or tended though.

We just started garden out here but it's painful. Most of the gardeners are new to community gardens. I'm not new.

Don't let the public into the garden.

The pilfering has started. I am going to use fake tomatoes with a wireless sensor to stop pilfering. About $20 with a magnetic sensor (GE or some such) and a fake plastic tomato.

Hello, I am writing a story about community garden difficulties and disputes for Modern Farmer magazine. I would love to speak with anybody who has relevant experience. Please contact me: jesse@modfarmer.com

Here is a link that might be useful: Modern Farmer

I just started as a community garden manager and tripped over this thread. Thank you all for the great list of pitfalls to avoid! Forewarned is forearmed and all that.

Anyway, I saw that Jesse's article mentioned above was published, and thought others might want to take a look at it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thievery, Fraud, Fistfights and Weed: The Other Side of Community Gardens

I just saw this thread, altho it is from 2013. I had posted about my problems and glad to see I am not alone as is clear from the OP. The set-up where I am is each person has their own plot. I am not aware of produce being pilfered, but when I told someone about my hoe being taken from my plot, they said I should not leave any tools there. I guess they are right - it is not so much the cost of a tool - it is the idea that a fellow gardener would walk INTO my plot - my tools are deliberately kept in the center - and take something.

I feel so vulnerable. Most plots here are fenced in, mine i snot, so I guess my stuff is there for the taking. It really makes me not want to garden there anymore.

Don't be discouraged. The tool loss is, imo, much more annoying than the odd plant - I have a shed on my allotment or I would take my tools home. I have been gardening on a large shared site for 16 years - the most annoying thing was the year a bunch of local kids stripped all my (unripe) apples from my cordons - I honestly wouldn't have minded too much if they had been eaten but they had simply thrown them at each other. And there are all the usual gripes about weeds...but for me, it was my only chance to actually have some space - I have a minuscule home garden - so I put up with the irritants. And it can be nice to be convivial (although I am a surly grumpy sort). The more you invest in time and effort, the more you see the time gardening as more precious than the actual results...and the setbacks tend to appear more minimal and just part of the usual cycle of death, loss, rebirth that is so familiar to gardeners.

You are unfortunate enough to have a community like what you shared to us. Ours are shared labor and at the same time shared veggies as well. But we realized that sharing with the same area with plants that need to be well taken care of might be a little hustle since there will come a time that someone might take advantage. What we did was we have our own plot and put a family name in it. Well of course, the plants that already been planted in the garden will be divided and each one of us must cultivate, water and clean the weeds in our area in order to be active in the community because whosoever will not take care of their own plot will be called in the meeting.

We organized it because it seems like others are not participating when it comes to cultivating and cleaning the weeds and then suddenly will come out during harvest time like your problem in your community garden.

There can also be the problem of gardeners meaning well, but their 'help' actually doing damage to other people's gardens. Like my current problem, where people were assuming that because they didn't see me (I like to go down early in the morning and late at night when people aren't there) that I was neglecting my bed so they were watering it for me. Every Day, even after I had clearly watered. I just finally put up a sign telling them to leave it alone, but my rosemary, dill, basil, and flowers are all very small because of it, and some seeds, like my marigolds, never emerged.

The mole has been more helpful, eating all the slugs!