Hello,

I'm the volunteer coordinator at a homeless shelter and an avid gardener. One of the city's numerous community gardens is directly across the street from the shelter. It's rarely used.

I've received permission to start a pilot initiative for interested clients. This garden contains 56, 4 x 12 plots. I've started small, taking 8 plots for the clients. I plan to grow lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, potatoes, corn, green beans, cukes, and border with pollinator plants.

I have a Plan A and a plan B.

Plan A: several clients (3? 5?) express interest and stick with it. With volunteer help, they grow food for use in our shelter kitchen.

Plan B: clients are uninterested. I attract volunteers; we grow food for the kitchen.

Would love tips from gardeners who've managed volunteers in a community garden, and/or gardened with a homeless population. It's not so much how to grow, but how to manage volunteers and/or clients, what to task them with, especially before the veggies really take off.

Also--does my planting seem too ambitious? How much help would I need to manage 8 4x12 plots?

I've downloaded this: https://www.nationalservice.gov/special-initiatives/days-service/martin-luther-king-jr-day-service/plan-toolkits/create-or-expand#plan and this: https://communitygarden.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/CGMgtmtToolkit.pdf and plan to read them cover to cover.