Oh my gosh, what a frustrating situation! I am so sorry you’re having to go through all of this! The saga continues 😔

This is a frustrating game of musical chairs.

Oh for heavens sake. I do hope management gets an ear full

Can you put your name on a big clay flower pot (or rock) and set it in the middle of the plot?

Oh brother!!!

I'm with Maddie... and then also add, "Take it to management!"

What’s the worst that could happen just did. I am so sorry it happened to you and your DH, especially after all you went through to try to get it right, or at least what you thought was right. And Ida is correct, even if you are volunteering for a job, you should take it seriously and do the dam job properly.

Pink, when I first read your first post my initial thought was "did they give the same plot to two different people." My first instinct might have been right. (I've had it happen... more than once.)

You said all plots but yours were planted. That means that yes management is renting plots with no attention to how many they actually have to rent? If they didn't mark out the plots it's easy for me to imagine everyone expanding their plot just a bit so eventually the entire space has one or more less plots than the managers thought they would.

What a mess. Not sure if this helps at all but is there any way to make certain that at least next planting season you get the right plot?

Sounds like a free-for-all. A true 'community' garden!

Sounds like a modern day Victory Garden with a localized war going on. You'll need to "plant" mines with a barbed wire perimeter.

The garden may need a HOA. 🙂

I did a quick search for info about our community garden‘s plot maps. Looks like they are numbered with the corresponding ‘owner’ name listed on the main map.

The running of such a place is more complicated then I knew. Someone keeps track of Crop rotation, soil testing, drip line irrigation, hand washing stations, raised beds, etc. Hope the Head gardeners are appreciated.

I will be more than happy next year to volunteer to do the plot marking. Also, make a better map of the area!! And also, I asked if there was any type of club or social group associated with the garden and the office said no. So I'm going to take that on this year, maybe just put a flyer out in all the beds and say maybe we can create a FB group or whatever to share stuff. Nothing too taxing obviously. I bought a "mark your territory" small horizontal flag pole. I just need to get a flag with our names on it.

And in the defense of the "management" this is a plot at the local high school career training center. They have an agriculture and horticulture track. They are all busy doing this as their main job, and are providing this community garden plot purely as a community service. It's not anyone's job responsibility as far as being held accountable. And that's the rub with volunteerism, often volunteers have the best of intentions but other things critical to their jobs or survival compete for their attention. They didn't have the garden for several years and have just started it up again. They probably stopped because it was too much of a PITA. Anyway, I too am busy, but hopefully I can volunteer to do some thing to help it run better. And they have a new farm manager who was supposed to mark the plots, and he does not seem like the brightest and most ambitious bulb in the pack . . .

As a professional project manager, I can say this is what happens when nobody is in charge with accompanying accountability. They have an extensive set of rules and contract, so that's not the issue. Implementation, that's the rub . . . but if a lot of people complain about how poorly run it is, I imagine they would say, "Fine, we won't do it again." They are clearly overextended, as are many institutions during this difficult time. I'm not a blamer, just frustrated at how convoluted it is to try and problem-solve this amicably. Making sure I got the right plot . . . well that was the point of my frustration, there really is no way to make sure. I think perhaps either not do this again next year or seek another spot to garden. We are busy enough without this kind of headache to deal with . . . It's just so close and convenient . . . so maybe the solution is for me to get more involved with organization. Yeah, more work for me, that's the ticket!! But it's the only community garden spot in town . . .

BTW, this is why any job working with people is way more difficult than it seems. People have needs that have to be constantly attended to. Just like plants . . . systems that include people need a distinct set of people-managing skills and those skills are not easy, and not easy to learn either. And we rarely pay people with this skill set a lot of money for it . . . for example, if you rent out garden spots, you have to clearly mark them BEFORE you rent them out, because people are going to start using them right away, and if it's not clear, all kinds of chaos will ensue . . .

We joined a community garden about 3-4 years ago and it has been all drama ever since. This one talks about that one and that one talks about the next guy. A whacky lady(former member who thinks she is still on the board) who is mentally unstable tried to run a former gardener over with her car one day. We think she keyed a door on our truck when we accidently got dust and weeds on her car while cleaning up one day with a leaf blower. Now she records us with her phone. We wave at her and laugh...LOL. We try to keep to ourselves but somehow got drawn into the drama and now the guy next to us is badmouthing us to the club president but the president won't tell us what he said. By the way, the guy bad mouthing us is friends with the whacky lady. They smoke pot while they are gardening and personally I can't stand that stuff. There are also garden plot hoarders who continue to pay dues for spots but don't grow anything at all, she is saving it for when her nephew comes back to the garden but he hasn't been there since we have been gardening there. We are thinking that this might be our last year. A long time member next to us gave up his plot last year because of the drama.

Well Richard, you have also confirmed what I am afraid might be my next nightmare . . . I hope not, but I can see it happening if people are starting off frustrated, angry and confused. Folks struggle to get along under the best of circumstances . . .

After how you described this as a purely volunteer venture for all concerned, the best would be as you suggested, you need to get involved next year.

They need an organized person for this project to work.

If your plot ended up being the only one not planted then wonder where the plot is for the persons showing up claiming that plot was theirs?

I wish I could garden in my yard but it's very small and I would have to rip out other plants and shrubs. Last years we planted eggplant along with the flowers and it really flourished. This year we are going to add a few pepper plants too.

It's like today people do as they please, when they please, disregard others' feelings, and "they'll get over it" is their mantra. ugh.

l pinkmountain

"And that's the rub with volunteerism, often volunteers have the best of intentions but other things critical to their jobs or survival compete for their attention."

Sorry I don't agree. Regardless of the fact the job is volunteer if you volunteer for a job, do the damn job. Otherwise don't volunteer.

A community garden is a great resource but it needs to be managed properly to avoid conflict between users. The unfortunate part is the Manager takes the brunt of the abuse simply for enforcing the rules.

I feel for you. Although I have an allotment, this kind of thing doesn’t happen because they’re run by the council. ie it’s somebody’s paid work to run them. They are clearly mapped and demarcated with grass paths between each plot. Each plot holder must display their number clearly. They’re inspected regularly and grumpy letters are sent out to people who aren’t keeping up the maintenance. Once you’ve obtained your lease you have it as long as you want so there is personal investment from year to year. I’m so glad I don’t have to start again every year.

As someone who has had many jobs organizing volunteers for many different organizations: church fund raisers; faires; Red Cross blood drives; scouting; etc., I came to realize that you have to accept what a Volunteer brings to the table. If they can't do the required job, you have to find one which they are capable of doing... timewise and abilities. But still, you have to accept what they can give.

If running this Community Garden really isn't part of their job, (sure it isn't?) and is totally volunteer than you get what they are willing/able to give. Pink, you say this is part of a school garden project and these are the teachers. Oh dear. One has to wonder how well those classes are run. 🧐 😧

Yes, I've visited allotments in Europe and UK. So nice. We haven't been at it as long here in the US, and certainly not in my rural, agricultural neck of the woods. There are some lovely community gardens in some areas of the US, but not where I live. Most folks have yard gardens, but we are seeing more and more apartment dwellers come into our community as more and more apartments are put up. Apparently (so I've been told) there is a huge demand for apartments vs houses, of which we have plenty . . .

Unfortunately like Richard, our home's lot is very short on space that would work for a vegetable garden, and whatever space we do have is maxed out. We like to grow a lot of tomatoes to make various sauces and can. Being such heavy feeders we just don't have the extra space for them by our house.

As negative as I feel about the way the garden is being managed, my only other alternative is not do it and not grow the tomatoes. I don't know anyone or any other place close where I could garden. I thought about even starting one, but my town is known for having a very thin group of community-minded people and a paucity of some of the community amenities enjoyed by other places. Lots of great community project ideas never get very far and the pandemic surely hasn't helped. Community gardening is one of those things, like CSAs, that has not really taken off in rural areas, due to the low demand. So many people still have access to their own or friends and relatives gardens. It's not like there are none, they are just few and far between. Even our farmer's market is small and short season.

I signed up for a community garden this year, for the first time ever. I was naively thinking clear sailing ahead. The coordinator for the garden is a master gardener and it's been set up to be organic, although they allow synthetic fertlizers. They said they turn over the plots and add compost before the season began and the soil was dark looking.

So I got my seedlings, bought 3 bales of salt marsh hay, $17. a bale, really? I missed opening weekend, so I rushed up there the next Saturday morning to get things planted and mulched before it was a mass of weeds. It looked great. It was larger than they said, 14x20 instead of 10x20. They installed a fence at the back of it that was 4ft high that I could use for beans? We dragged all this stuff up a long flight of stairs etc. pitchfork, rake, the hay, the plants. We started to make a path down the middle and used their pile of woodchips to cover it. So far so good.

So the next step was to turn it over and loosen it a little and start planting. Stuck the pitchfork in, and it only went down 3 inches. I had my daughter with me, she tried jumping up and down on it, it didn't budge. Tried multiple locations and the same thing. I'm used to my own clay soil that is loamy and never have that problem. I can dig down a foot and a half without that much trouble. So, my guess was that this is hardpan underneath the top 3 inches that someone ran over with a tiller.

Someone showed up while we were working and he was working on the plot next to me and digging what looked like a moat around the edge - he was installing a fence. He said two people who gardened there had recommended it. Yikes, why? He said he was having trouble digging and had to bring out his pick axe to get the posts in.

So, I've called to explain that to them and said I'd be happy to just give up the plot. They want to have a look at it and see what they can do. I highly doubt they can do anything with it to make it useable. So, I've started planting at home. I pulled out some perennials to put in tomatoes, so far. Disappointing.

Yeah, hubs notes that the soil was kinda marginal when he was planting, although it is a plot of land that has historically been used for agricultural purposes . . . obviously it will do no long-term good for us to amend our little spot if they plow the whole thing every year . . .

We still have some tomatoes left. Maybe time for Plan B.

Edited to add that the plot is on the grounds of a school of agriculture and running a community garden is not in their job description. No one is paid to manage it. I'm not even sure if the people who are managing it even volunteered, perhaps they were commandeered. From the way they act, it seems like that might be the case. Every organization has its management issues. some are well run some are not, volunteer or no. Like I said, the option is this or nothing so I may just go back to nothing. Can't help but be very disappointed, because it all looked fantastic on the surface.

The ag program does have a good reputation. But doing agriculture with farm implements, crop management system and plants, is not the same skill set as running a community organization and managing staff and volunteers. You can be great at one thing and not the other. The program isn't run by the teachers, the folks marking the plots and keeping the records are office and maintenance staff. I think the school admin just said, "Sure, OK, they can use that plot over there" without thinking it through. This happens in a lot of organizations, the top brass make a decision, don't consult with the folks who actually have to implement it. Nothing much I can do if the organization is poorly run other than walk away.

Two thoughts for you. It's probably too late now to suggest simply amending the planting hole, but that's what I would do in an area that is "complicated" to build up the soil.

Secondly, if you love to grow tomatoes at home, but don't have the ground, there are several varieties well-suited to growing in containers. There are lots of dwarfs that do well in 5-gallon buckets, and several compact varieties that can grow in one to three-gallon pots.

Linda

I agree with those who have stated that there are no good excuses for mismanagement. If anything, I would expect better from a garden affiliated with an Ag program, because a well-run garden would reflect favorably on their reputation. If the institution in question is too apathetic or incompetent to run even a community garden on their own grounds, it calls into question the competence of their training & advice in larger matters.

Someone with good communication skills could perhaps point out to management (school, not garden) that it would be good PR to turn that garden into a shining example of community outreach & land stewardship.

If nothing changes, it might be wisest just to walk away. If people are allowed to steal plots before anything is even planted, chances are good that anything grown there would be just as likely to be "misappropriated". When I lived in San Diego, I left a community garden for that reason. With absent management, and poor/no security, you are only growing food for thieves.

As an alternative to community gardening, I should point out that there is often vacant land available for enterprising gardeners. After turning away from community gardening, I have gardened on other people's property for the better part of 30 years, including a large rural garden for the last 15 years. In gardens past and present, I have offered in exchange to maintain the adjoining property; to provide after-hours security behind a previous employer; and share-cropped on a friend's property. All of those sites had water (and sometimes power) available. Vacant lots, absentee property owners, utility easements, or elderly who could use help with property upkeep are some possibilities. If you can offer a "win - win" proposal, you might find a great private garden site.

"Unfortunately like Richard, our home's lot is very short on space that would work for a vegetable garden, and whatever space we do have is maxed out. We like to grow a lot of tomatoes to make various sauces and can. Being such heavy feeders we just don't have the extra space for them by our house.

As negative as I feel about the way the garden is being managed, my only other alternative is not do it and not grow the tomatoes. I don't know anyone or any other place close where I could garden."

How many plants do you grow? I find that we can have a fairly large number in pots scattered around our house or on the deck ... I think this year we've got 10 tomatoes (paste, saladette, and cherry) and 7 peppers (all sweet) planned this year, and we could have fit at least one more without resorting to weird/haphazard places ... In general we use 12"-14" pots for the tomatoes and 11"-12" pots for the peppers. Several of the tomato pots have cracks/holes large enough for roots to continue into the ground, and honestly, we use very little, if any, fertilizer, and still get lots of tomatoes and peppers for eating and sauce (we're still defrosting last year's sauces (from 9 tomato plants); we use the peppers in the sauces, too). The pots need a bit more monitoring for watering, but they can put in places that won't accommodate permanent veggie beds.

This became serious when I read you pay for the plot. When the original plot was given to you, did you mark it off? That needs to be done before you leave the garden. Take some wood stakes and string and make it LOOK like you've planted. Make a little sign to stick in the ground saying "This plot belongs to the Pinks." Then take a picture.

If your current plot is fully paid for and they give no refunds, then stick the tomatoes in where you can, and anything else. Forget about the hard soil, there could easily be a rock under there. Then be done with it for the summer except for what you planted.

DH grew a huge vine of tomatoes in a container one year, people grow strawberries and all sorts of things in containers.

I paid a big ten bucks for my plot for the season. And when I say my own yard is maxed out, yeah, maxed out even in pots. I have a whole slew of pot tomatoes in addition to the bigger canning ones. I have been looking for some nearby plot to my home where I could garden. I was spoiled for many years, worked at an Arboretum and had a kitchen garden display that I was one of the biggest beneficiaries of . . . then I made friends with someone who had practically a tomato farm and gave me bushels of them. Not my situation right now though. Current problematic community garden spot is close to my home and also work and my elderly father. It's the perfect location. And yeah, I thought that being on the grounds of an agricultural school the garden would be a gem, not a poor stepchild.

Last year's tomato garden on my property. In my defense, I thought half of them would die when I planted them they looked so forlorn. I canned a lot of the harvest but it wasn't enough even for just the two of us.

Today hubs was out watering the tomatoes in our community garden plot. He met another nice retired couple who were complaining that only two out of the four water spigots worked and those were on the ends. They were using a hose from one of the working ones to their plot, hubs was hauling water in watering cans. We picked our spot due to it being near a spigot, both for landmark and watering purposes. But it doesn't work. The couple said they were going to complain at the office about that . . . hubs just smiled.

As I hear more of your woes at the community garden, I am reminded that the one I am in, is on a junior high property, next to a sports field. But you have to walk from the parking lot to the garden, which is some distance away, carrying all your tools or your plants or 3 bales of hay. And all they offer is watering with a watering can, so a similar situation. And I paid $50. for the summer. [g]

Oh, and your garden space does look maxed out, but I'm looking beyond that to your lawn....plenty of lawn to reduce for an annex to your existing garden space. [g]

I love your bees! I was looking for garden decor on Etsy the other day and maybe that's where I saw some and came very close to buying them.

Instead I bought three metal flower stakes.

Not my picture.

The green grassy area behind our little home garden is the neighbor's yard. In fact, our home garden backs right up to the property line. And while we have a cordial relationship with the neighbors, there is a whole host of reasons why it wouldn't work for us gardening in their yard.

Gardening is something I do for the satisfaction of seeing the fruits of my labor, and for the joy of having the end results. There are challenges and setbacks to be sure. But there is a certain satisfaction one gets from meeting them. I'm very down because when I found out they were offering community garden plots at our local career center where they teach horticulture, I for-sure imagined it would be well-run and I got excited and started all kinds of special tomatoes to plant there. We created a little mini grow house out of our large unused extra bathroom with the walk-in shower. We nurtured the tomatoes for two months. And now they are all pot-bound and dying and this community garden thing is just another negative hassle. Sigh. I have been anticipating planting this garden for three months. It was one bright spot in a lot of darks. That's why I am so bummed. And I certainly am not looking forward to this being another "project" full of administrative issues I have to solve. I was looking forward to puttering with my plants, beings who require attention but don't respond in annoyingly nasty and illogical ways. And now I'm back to more of same, arguing with people about things that should be no-brainers and extra time and work for me with little positive to show for it.

The bees Oakley, were a thought I had because of the comb-like appearance of the chicken wire we used for the varmint fence around our home garden. It's not pretty but absolutely necessary to keep deer, chipmunks and groundhogs out of the garden. So I thought about adding a touch of whimsy. The white hoops were something we did quick last year before covering the garden with clear plastic to extend the growing season on the tomatoes. We plan on painting them this year and growing beans up and around them. When we put them up last year it was too cold to paint. If time and money allow, I'd like to add some other metal bugs for fun, like butterfly or dragonfly or ladybug. Not going to be a priority though

I sure wish we didn't absolutely need that ugly grey plastic shed. If there was any way I could get rid of it I certainly would. I don't need suggestions for that, it's on the "to do" list but not this year, too many other things have to happen before it can go. In addition to having garden issues we have storage issues at our house, which I struggle to overcome daily. That's why I am so bummed. One bright positive thing I thought was happening in my life has turned out to be a bust in the "spark joy" department.

Just adding also, that cash and staff strapped schools and other organizations are cutting back, not looking for new ways to do more work for the community. Community service does not generate income, in fact, it requires expenditure of both time and materials. There is a huge volunteer shortage in our community, we hear that everywhere, and also budget cuts have left many organizations with staff doing what was once two or sometimes even three jobs. When I quit my horticulture job last year they never rehired for the position, just added my job responsibilities on to someone already working there full time. People can complain all they want, there is no way that isn't resulting in a downgrade of service and maintenance. That's an example of how these organizations are going. My current job used to be full time but no money to pay anyone to do it full time, so they have full time expectations and then some, for a 20 hours a week job with low pay. So I imagine the school is no different. The teachers are already involved in other community things too. That's how I found out about the community garden, trying to get the teachers to either volunteer or recommend a volunteer for something I was involved with. No way, they are maxed out. I imagine if there are too many problems they will just cut the garden out all together, what they do for actual enrolled students is what pays the bills and where their limited time and budget get allocated. If this garden requires too much attention, I imagine they will just jettison it like they did once before.

Don't want to belabor my post, but wanted to update that G-d sent me an angel today to cheer me up. On the one hand, my small rural home town struggles to hold it together with community services, but on the other hand, one of the benefits and the grease that keeps the wheels running are long standing interpersonal relationships. Ran into an old family friend today at the garden, he expressed some of our same frustrations, but told us that he'd be happy to lend us his hose to use any time and help in any way he could. And on top of that, he was a volunteer at the local food pantry and the garden he was tending was part of their volunteer effort and named in honor of a former volunteer who started it but had since died. And yes, he expressed the concern that volunteers are in short supply locally, but that whole serenity thing, he can't do anything about that, but he could be our angel for the day and cheer us up and do his part for the community, just as he had always done. "I'm a doer" was his reply. He reminded me that I'm part of a long chain. Sometimes I want to leave like so many others have, but every once and a while I am reminded of some of the good roots I have here. The guy even laughed that when we first met we asked each other "Who are your people?" That is one of the pluses of small town life, although it does have its drawbacks too, lol! Which is why I am often overly tolerant and nice, because it pays dividends in small town social networks.

I guess you have to adopt the "serenity now" attitude to be a gardener. Hubs met another couple today at the garden that told how last year the farm manager ran over their garden plot with the tractor before they were finished with it. And yet they were back again this year . . .

The neighbor's lawn, huh? Oh well, glad you may have found an ally at the community garden. I hope it works out for you better than you expect.

I contacted the management of the community garden and let them know the problem I was having and they said they wanted to go up and check it out. Haven't heard back from them yet. But I have gotten creative on my own property and I'm fitting in more vegetables where I haven't tried them before. I normally only grow 2 tomato plants in my full sun perennial bed, but I've managed to fit 5 this year, by taking out a few perennials. I also decided to grow potatoes and two more tomatoes in large pots in the back yard, I can use a two wheeler to move them from the West side in the morning to the East side after 2pm and they can get a full day of sun. lol

I look forward to hearing more about how your garden goes this season.