I think the plot would be big enough to produce a decent yield for one person or one small family. But the OP wants to make a community plot, for multiple families. It's just not enough room for that, as envisioned.

Crop rotation would certainly help. Planting the lettuce and chard first forex and tomatoes between when it gets warmer, so they have room after the greens are pulled. But it's already late to start that.

@Woohooman

Do you have an example of your plot you could provide?

Thanks everybody!

ltilton: You're right. A tad overzealous if one would want to get ALL their veggies from this plot. There would definitely have to be some supplemental store-bought veggies. Nothing wrong with that -- some veggies just aren't worth the hassle to grow for what you get out of them as far as space and cost. e.g, spinach.. But a little shared amongst the masses would be a good thing.

mmiesse: No I don't. My plot isn't actually broken up like I mentioned. I use different plots throughout my backyard to achieve the "needs" I mentioned above.

I'll give my 2 cents here but your best bet is going to be being creative-- which you've already shown with your layout.

MY opinion:

First, I'd ask everybody involved what they REALLY want. Certainly, not EVERYBODY wants okra ---;).

Then, maybe a combo of yours and growsy's -- a couple of trellises -- ditch the bush cukes though.. they can CLIMB trellises. But, definitely Indeterminate tomatoes spaced more but I had just 3 early girls last year and i had tomatoes coming out of my ears. As far as watering needs are concerned, it appears everything likes a lot of water except for a lot of the herbs -- that's why i say containers for them. I also would go with peppers in containers since they do like water but they like to wilt in between waterings. Tomatoes like long deep soaks, while cukes and other shallow rooted veggies like to be consistently moist. Peppers are also ideal for small (5-10 gal) containers. You could surround the whole perimeter with peppers and herbs. If you're insistent on onions and potatoes, you may want to keep one area a little acidic. Me, I don't grow potatoes(too cheap and it never rains here). Also, I love colored bells but they're weak producers and in the middle of the summer, dirt cheap. I still grow some though :)

You may want to think -- best fresh, what everybody likes, prolific for the space they take, pricy and/or rare. You'll figure it out -- you've already given the space and sunlight some thought. I just wanted to point out OTHER "needs."

What do I know, though? I'm an amateur myself.

Good luck.

Kevin

definitely get together with your group & figure out what everyone is interested in growing & go from there.

A couple of years ago (at a different house) we had 2 beds that were 4' x 12'. We planted half of one bed with beans (pole on a trellis in the back & the front with bush) & half the bed with cukes (same deal). For the climbing cukes we had Straight 8 & a pickler & the bush cukes were all picklers. (I think they were Burpee's Picklebush & Homemade Pickles.) We had a lot of cukes & enjoyed making fresh pickles. That's why I put dill in the little plan I sketched for you! My favorite eating cuke, though, is Armenian. I just didn't have any that year. At any rate, for a small space we got lots of produce, so that's what I was thinking of - that those are pretty productive veggies.

This year I'm very pleased with our chard. Summer squash is pretty miserable on the East coast because unless you can cover or will spray with a pesticide, squash vine borers can take out your plants in short order (in my experience). If you aren't in the East, then they produce wonderfully - but they are also pretty cheap at the store. Etc.

If you can put things in pots & perhaps 5 gallon buckets, as others have brought up, that could potentially give you a lot more room to play with. Also, you might consider talking to someone at a local gardening center to find out what does well where you are & where you might run into trouble. I think if you stick fairly close to things you're likely to have success with the first time around it will be more enjoyable.

I hope you don't have too hard a time coming to a consensus with your group & that you all find the whole thing a rewarding endeavor. Good luck, again! :)

Potatoes may not produce much in relation to the space they are given but if there are kids involved in the project they might be worth doing. My son loved digging the potatoes the one year we did them.

But potatoes simply can't be grown in the space allotted on the plan. One potato plant will need its own square.

A surprising amount can be grown in a tiny space....but you need a good strategy - absolutely not a kind of miniature market garden but think, instead of micro-greens, pea sprouts, cut and come again lettuces, spring onions, mustards, oriental veggies, spinach and chard - you can harvest the plantlets while tiny, intercropping with fast (3 week turnover) broccoli leaves, beet leaves - these have all the tastiness of mature veggies, look lovely in salads and share around (a crucial reward for hard work). Things like potatoes and squash are a bit insane - you might harvest 8 decent tubers but you can keep fresh green saladings all summer. Fingerling carrots are doable. Or 1 bush courgette. and parsley, lots of parsley.

That's a sensible approach.

Although in the US, a garden w/o tomatoes is unthinkable.

Thought I'd update you all on the garden, as its main season is coming to a close!

It was VERY successful and all the advice was useful. Everything grew really well but our space was a bit cramped, so next year we're hoping the landlord will add another garden bed for us to plant in.

Up until about 2 weeks ago we had veggies still growing, but now its frozen. We have started plants and are going to try our hand at winter gardening!

I guess I can only upload one photo, so here's a list of what we planted:

Watermelon, cucumber, cantaloupe, spearmint, stevia, okra, peppers, swiss chard, mustard greens, collard greens, tomatoes, basil, tulsi (holy basil), lettuce, echinacea, yellow squash, marigolds, oregano, sweet marjoram, chives, lavender.

Also, we had a tinybug problem with our greens and I purchased ladybugs to help...except I miscalculated and ordered 4,500 ladybugs instead of 400...

Turned out to be a blessing and they kept the bugs away after that!

It looks very good. From the watermelon I can smell success.

Melons family need room to run. So you plant them on the edge and let the vine go away.

Also, consider the plans' height for visual effect and sunlight.. by starting the tallest one( climbing peas/beans, sunflowers, tomatoes, okra, eggplants , peppers , potatoes..). The herbs should be at the south most part, as they are shortest.

I am sure you have learned a lot from your experiences along the way. So then the next season will be even better.

I think it's wonderful ! You must have all had a great time making a great garden !

Looks really good! You have a totally different growing season as us here in No CA! We are still in the 70-80* temps (pretty crazy even for No CA!!!!)
No matter where you live, I would say to keep the herbs either in pots or in a separate bed from the other veges! They tend to take over! Many years ago when I started my beds, I planted a bunch of herbs in one 3x3 bed. They went absolutely crazy, and I didn't know which one was which!
I ended up tearing all of them out and re-planting in pots, but here we are 10 years later and they are coming back up to haunt me! I just keep clipping them back! LOL Nancy

Oh, I think you can also award yourselves major grats -you made a fantastic use of a little space. Top class.

Great job on successfully using the space! I hope your landlord appreciates the effort and give more space for you all :)

I just remembered a video about growing tomatoes on a single stem that might be of interest to you:

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Single Stem Tomatoes Vertically in a Square Foot Garden

Thanks for the link ameera! I'm definitely going to try that next season.

By doing so you will grow the things in your area but I can't assure the optimum productivity as this can be too much crowd of different kinds of vegetables. Moreover you must also judge the clay of your garden whether it is fertile enough for all these varieties.

Mmiesse, I wonder if you are planning a garden this year and did your landlord give you more space?

Prairiemoon2:

Thanks for checking back!

We just started planting last week, actually. The landlord is letting us expand the garden to our liking. We have altered one of the in-ground beds to make it larger and more space efficient; I am really excited about that! I think we will grow squash in that section.

We are also building a second bed about the same size as our current. We will build this out of wood we sourced from the community - I think we'll hold it together with rebar, plus that way it's portable in case our plants don't work out so well there.

Last week we planted snap peas, swiss chard, spinach, all sorts of herbs, early jalapenos, 3 tomato starts somebody bought (we will see how those work out in this weather, but we've been covering them overnight), garlic, marigolds and eggplant.

We are also planning on creating a little pumpkin patch and are really excited about that!

Next weekend we will plant summer squash, tomatoes, peppers, probably lots of other things I'm forgetting right now.

We have a lot more help this year as well - last year it ended up about 3 of us doing all the work but this year I think more people will stick around.

There is an interesting phenomenon, though. People will not accept the free vegetables - I think it's because they don't know how to cook them. Especially the families with children do not accept them, and one family even claimed they do not eat vegetables! Most of the people working on the garden are mid-20s folks (including myself and my fiancee). I'm thinking of trying a few cooking classes with the garden veggies but I'm not sure if folks will come...

Anyway - we are super excited about the garden this year as it's going to be bigger and better! We live in Northwest Arkansas so the weather is a bit unpredictable, hoping for rain and warm temperatures.

I'll post pictures throughout the season if I remember!

Mmiesse,

Wow, you are all having a great time, it sounds like!! :-)
I started vegetable gardening when I was almost 30yrs old. Had only had houseplants up to that point. I've enjoyed growing vegetables for a LONG time now and it just never gets old.

It is kind of startling to think some people actually don't eat vegetables. Amazing! I imagine as with anything else, if you are excited about it and can make it a success, other people will 'catch the bug'. I think you are right, if people knew how good vegetables can taste in certain dishes, they would be looking for them.

Here in New England the weather has not been the greatest so far this year, but it will all straighten out pretty soon. We are getting rain right now. Temps have been in the 40s and a few 50s, and we're due for 4 days of 60s and then back into the 50s. Not exactly May weather, but at least we are getting enough rain to start the season off on the right foot.

I think all of you who work the garden will have a delicious season! Will love to see photos as you go along.

It's a shame that you say no one will eat the produce.

My neighbor snow plowed my drive way all winter because of the insane amount of cherry tomatoes he'd get to eat from my garden. My neighbors are dying to have me grow their favorite veggies again this year so they can reap the benefits. One went so far as to collect compost in her back yard for me to use.

Maybe with time people will grow accustomed to the fresh produce and will see what a blessing it is that you're growing all this food!

Here is a photo of what we're working on now. We plan to add a similar-size bed to the right of the current.

The concrete blocks area is where we'll plant squash - last year it was divided in two spaces with a gap in the middle for some silly reason. This year we a using the space much more efficiently.

(Turns out I do not know how/cannot flip the photo. Sorry!)

You can just click on the photo and it will open in a new window in the correct position.

Looks like you're getting ready for the season. Having double the space will be great! I see you already have chives coming up.

We're building new beds this spring and haven't got them filled yet, but hope to this weekend. Spring garden is late. Look forward to see another photo when the 2nd bed is ready to go and when you have it all planted.

:-)

just read through this thread for the first time - one of the things that is so great about these forums is when people follow up over time and a thread actually continues in "garden time" which is slower than typical "internet time." ;)

very inspiring to see your community garden mmiesse! well done. keep updating us!

Hi all. We are on our second season of this community garden and I must say...we have more production but unfortunately this year's garden is far more unorganized than last year. Lots of plants did not grow in our raised bed, but those in the in-ground bed are doing great!

I have a couple of questions I'll get out of the way first:

1) If anybody has any suggestions for how to build a permanent structure (and what materials to use) for our trellising AND so we can cover it to create a makeshift winter garden. Last year, we propped up some thick plastic with some items and rocks, and lots of greens grew very well! We want to try this again, but figure we may as well create a more permanent, multi-use structure for this project.

2) Any suggestions in general for use of space? I realize the middle of the raised bed does not have well-used space. We planted items there but they did not grow. Dormant seeds? Maybe.

3) What items grow well that might be good for a community garden? Any specific varieties? I am thinking we should do potatoes sometime - when should we plant those?

PS: Sorry, our garden does not necessarily look nice, but I am focusing right now on learning how to grow. After that I will start to spruce up the look of my future gardens!

Here's the garden update for those who wish to know!

We have an abundance of squash bugs this year, but we are planning to pull up our summer squash plants this weekend and plant new ones for the fall.

Our tomatoes are doing great and are FINALLY ripening in this cool weather we've had this year.

Some things we cannot get to grow super well this year: Broccoli (had trouble with it last year) and peppers (problems this year only).

What is in our garden this year: tomatoes, peppers, snap peas, kale, chard, various other greens, basil, green beans (bush), cucumber, watermelon (not doing well), cantaloupe, lettuce, chives, walking onions, loofa squash, spaghetti squash, yellow squash, zucchini, butternut squash, chives, malbar spinach, strawberries (obv. not producing anymore), eggplant (not groing well this year for some reason), okra, rosemary (a tiny bit), thyme, radishes

We tried various things this year. We planted our spaghetti squash, cantaloupe and watermelon (just 1 plant) in an untreated pallet. We have a lot more trellised items this year.

Not sure how to post multiple photos so I guess I will post a few more here. Sorry! If somebody can help me figure this out that would be great - I have tried to find out how but am not sure.

Spaghetti squash pallet. Damn squash bugs! This is on the west side.

This post was edited by mmiesse on Fri, Jul 25, 14 at 14:50

Summer squash and tomatoes.

Some things did not grow well here. Once again, sorry about each individual photo post. :(

Tomatoes, cucumbers, loofa squash at the end.

Loofa squash, tomatoes, iris

Thanks for updating us! Weather definitely affects the garden tremendously. I had a cold June and it wiped out half of my cucumbers. Last year I had tons. I love all the pics!

I'd love to see this thread updated. Really interesting. Fun read too.

This is a great thread. It is inspiring to me as a new gardener to see progress. I love the pictures. I am wondering if you are winter gardening this year?
kim

This thread is awesome, to walk through two seasons of your adventure was really cool. One thing I would suggest is to keep things as tidy as possible, on that line I was wondering what the purpose of the pallet is? Sorry but it looks kind of like it was discarded and something grew up out of it. I also have to wonder if there is any possibility that it could be providing some cover for your squash bug problem.

I hope none of that sounded negative because I truly do believe what you have created there is nothing short of amazing and wish that you not only had a great harvest this year but spend the winter mulling ideas on how to make it even more grand next year.

Oh yeah, one other thing. The area where you mentioned things did not grow well. It looks like there is a walk path through there, I personally think it is important to define walking areas in the garden and try to always use them. One might imagine that in a community garden this would be doubly difficult as not everyone will understand the importance of preventing compaction in the rootzone which for some plants can be quite large.

Not sure if that contributed to the growing problem for that area but worth a thought.

Again, wonderful work and you deserve every bit of the applause and praise given in this thread for your efforts of not only providing healthy food for yourself but others too and to top it off learning together and showing others how to do just that. Kudos...

Nexev,

Thank you for the kind words and suggestions!

The pallet was an experiment. We tried growing a few things out of it, some squash, lettuce, herbs. But it didn't work out. Mostly we are trying to find a way for the mowers to definitely not mow over our plants.

I think next year we might just take apart the pallet and create a little in-ground bed with pallet-wood border.

I was intending to have a winter garden this year, but I sprained my ankle a month ago and haven't been able to do anything in the garden just yet. Our lavender, garlic, chives, cilantro and onions are still growing strong. However, after today's drop in temperature from 70 yesterday to 25 today does not bode well for the survivors.

I will try to continue this thread as year 3 progresses - it's quite fun to look back at the progress!

Again, thank you everybody for your support and suggestions. Keep 'em coming!

You could use the pallet wood to make several small planters say 18" square and 8 or 12" tall. Set these out as corners to 'protect' the enclosed area you want to plant in. Thinking of something like the steel poles in front of stores to keep cars from driving in. Maybe that would give the mowers the hint and allow you to claim a larger space with the limited material.

Be aware though that pallets can be notoriously stubborn about coming apart. Many use a screw type or twisted nail that make them quite durable in their function but not so friendly about being repurposed.

Fantastic comments and great gardening! Mmiesse, don't apologize for the multiple posting of photos. With GW's image uploads, you can only add one picture per post. I use Photobucket when I want to post multiple photos in one post, and it's free.

Gorgeous garden -- love how filled in and vibrant it all is.

In addition to the actual garden updates, I would love to hear about the team work that gets it all done and the sharing of the food that results. The fact that it is a shared garden is just as impressive as the photos.

Elisa_Z5 (And everyobody else),

It's been an interesting journey in these two short years with the teamwork.

Our first year, we had about 5-7 folks help out consistently (there are probably over 100 people in our complex). As with almost any group, the number was steady around 3 who showed up to help every time. That can be disheartening; though, perhaps I am not a great leader in this aspect because I am often okay with just getting things done myself, haha.

We have had some struggles repeated each year - the biggest is our ability to create/build structures. All of the contributors are lacking in the 'building things' department, and some of us don't have a lot of time to dedicate to finding affordable materials. We also live in an apartment complex, so power tools are few and far between.

That said, we have had some wonderful help in getting structures created. The first year, our landlord provided the raised bed and the wonderful soil/mushroom compost. Our soil was so healthy, and there are trees near the garden bed so leaves compost in it during the winter.

The second year, a new neighbor and one of our most involved gardeners had her father come over with his tiller, some tools and supplies to create the wood-lined beds around the raised bed. The soil was tough, but this 3rd year should be better as we've worked it now and added some nutrients with our plants.

All of us who are gardening have only been doing so since the garden began. I grew up helping my mother but I am sad to admit I was not invested in it. It was such a happy surprise to my parents when I started to care about such activities as gardening. Because of this, we have experienced these problems:
- Overcrowded gardens
- Ill-planned planting
- Planting too much (one person thought you put about 8 seeds per hole, so he had MANY tomato plants sprouting up)
- Poorly built or a lack of structures for vining
- Lack of consistent help and money

Surprisingly, though maybe not really, most of the people who live here do not pick and eat the food. This could be because they have not helped, but I also believe it's because they don't know how to cook the food. I would like to teach a cooking class, but honestly don't have lots of time and am not sure I could get anybody to come!

We have some hopes and dreams for the garden:
- Create a functional winter space. Because of our structure-building issue we have not managed to create something stable. In the past I have had small success with some sort of wooden sides and covered in painters tarp/heavy plastic. Though this is not ideal health-wise (plastic never is) it works well. Unfortunately, I just do not have the finesse to build one that could function, say, as a vining wall during the summer and sides for the winter garden during the cold season.

- I need to plan better. I really, really need to do that! The first year was great, but this year we had more people and more opinions...and I am not great at decision-making.

- I would like to create a bigger garden. I want to have a space where kids can grow their own stuff; a space for experimental plants; a space for vining plants

- I have thought about, if we end up with lots of extra produce, selling a bit of it on the bike trail (we live next to it) to raise money to purchase structures and supplies

- We DO save our own seeds, but it would be nice to have a place to store them besides my own home - I think not having a universal shed or storage location kind of makes it seem like everybody has to come to me with questions or to do anything in the garden. Is that a bad thing? Maybe not, because I suppose somebody does need to be 'in charge' - especially when you have a single plot that everybody works on, not individual spaces.

Overall, this experience has been wonderful and I hope to learn more, gain lots of skills and continue this wherever I go.

Any tips, suggestions, structure-building thoughts, anything is welcome. You have a pretty good idea of what our area looks like - so any thoughts on expansion and the like are great.

Thanks for paying attention to this thread, folks! It's been nice watching this develop over time.

Hello again!

I thought I'd continue updating you all on our garden. We're now in year 3, and I think this is our most organized garden yet! I'm so happy to see how it goes, though I am a bit afraid that not all my seeds will sprout and they got a bit too warm on top of my toaster oven (Whoops!). However, we have backup plans in place so no worries.

Here are some photos of our garden, an a link to our garden plan! Let me know your feedback, questions, anything really. This has been so much fun and our community of gardeners is growing slowly but surely.

Here is the link to the garden plan. Let me know if it does not work (the link, not the plan) :)!

I think what you're doing is awesome, and I'm very excited that you have persisted! I love gardening so much, and am so happy to see gardens in apartment communities. Good luck this summer!

I've really enjoyed reading this thread and being able to watch your community garden from the beginning. How I would have loved to have had something like this when we were apartment dwellers. This year's garden looks absolutely beautiful, what a great job you've done.

Thank you much, @annew21 and @Humsi!

Looking great -- again :). And I was very interested to (finally) read your account of the garden "dynamics" (somehow missed it when you first posted it.)

Some brainstorming (which may have nothing to do with reality, but here goes):

You said you save your own seed (and that you're relatively new at this) so just wanted to mention -- you didn't save squash seed that was just left out in the open to be pollinated, did you? Just a thought (they always hybridize and usually turn out crummy -- best to use store bought seed).

Really like your idea about a kid's section -- yet I'll add that I've been able to garden with my grand kids, ages 2 and 3, just with plenty of guidance. They're great at planting large seeds like peas, or root crops like onion sets, gently placing starts into holes, watering.

And about the fact that folks don't pick and eat the food -- would a simple sign that says something along the lines of "Like what you see? Wish you could have some? Come work with us Saturday at 9, and take home the bounty!" And/or a sheet with a recipe on it -- used to do that for a CSA.

Thanks for the update and pics! And so glad to hear you're off to a great start.

@elisa_z5

All great suggestions and kind words, thank you! I like the idea of the sign...I do have one up in the mail room, but I think you're right that one by the garden would be best.

As for the squash seeds, I did not save any last year, but I do typically save my seeds. I didn't know that about squash - are there other seeds that shouldn't be saved?

other seeds that shouldn't be saved? I'm not a seed expert, so I'm not sure. I know that lettuce, mache, arugula and many of the other cabbage family crops do just fine for self seeding. Beans should be kept separated by distance (don't remember how much)from other types if you want them to come true, but I think they turn out just fine even if they cross pollinate. It seems that it's mostly the squash family that has that bad reputation for being promiscuous and turning out weird (often bad tasting.)

@illiveggies

Very interesting! Thank you! Your program sounds awesome - I hope it's successful for you. I will definitely utilize this plan for learning purposes!

@mmiesse - let me know if you end up creating an account - I can transition this plan to your account. Its free for this season. The account will provide you with the list of activities and weekly email reminders.

@mmiesse - how has the season been? If you have been tracking your harvests, would love to see how much you harvested.