How to Deter Theft in Community Garden
terryincs
13 years ago
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strngelitlgrrl
13 years agoterryincs
13 years agoRelated Discussions
14 gauge or 12 gauge fence for community garden
Comments (12)I dug them partially in with a hand post hole digger and then had to slam the corner posts in my my loader t posts are easy to drive though either with a hand post driver or a little more carefully with a maul Wire fencing can be a pain to work with yet another reason to go with the lighter stuff its nice for growing stuff on too though 5 feet will easily deter deer and people there is never any garantee of keeping something out I can go over a ten foot board fence no problem but would probly go for eaiser pickings......See MoreSuggestions for preventing theft in community gardens?
Comments (6)If the government won't provide a fence, then the gardeners must have permision to start putting up their own. After all, one large fence around the outside of a whole garden will NOT PROTECT your individual plot. Believe it or not, many community gardeners feal that if you haven't picked your flowers/fruit/vegetables *yet*, then you must not want or *need* them. You will find that theft originates both inside & outside the community garden plots. It's a slippery slope that many community garders descend. They start to feal that if you are not picking your stuff, then they are helping to avoid *waste* by picking it for you! It's especially easy to justify when it comes to food crops. It's also a problem with items that get harvested late in the fall like pumpkins & gourds. These are items that have ready cash value & are easy to spot in a mostly dead garden. You really nead to both fence them in & hide them with garden debris to avoid theft. We've found that a five foot tall, wire fence with a locked gate is a good deterent. Obviosly, if people wanted to start using bolt, or wire cutters they could easily cut through the fences, but they haven't so far. I think people need a psychological detterent to keep them from getting greedy! Other ideas would be to adress waste at a meeting in the spring. Some gardens have rules that fruit & vegetables must be picked, or you must give the garden management permision to pick for you & donate to charities. Also, you might want to have some standards for fencing. I am in a community garden that is about 35 years old ... you wouldn't believe what some people call a fence. I must admit that I still haven't replaced some of the old fencing that I inherited, but I am working on it. Some of the "fences" are made of indoor quality particle boards & various other scraps of plastic & rotting wood & lethal looking bits of wire. Also, unless you rule it out, people can start putting up stockage type picket fences that will totally shade out their neighbors. Best to have a rule that fences should consist of a single layer of wire fencing material & wooden or metal support posts. (Also, be sure to specify no presure treated wood, as it's not aproved for food gardens.) I am also giving you a link to this Community Gardening organization ... they have other suggestions for reducing theft. Scroll down the page of the link that I am giving you. Look for the list titled : Troubleshooting. They have more ideas there. Here is a link that might be useful: American Community Gardens Association: TROUBLESHOOTING...See MoreHow to prevent theft in the community garden?
Comments (6)It hard to believe that a varmit would be so selective. Your really not going to be able to stop them with a sign. I would suggest though a basket with a sign from time to time with extra veggies in it along with a sign saying something like these are for you as we know you must be hungry and if you need more please help us it take a lot of work and time to grow this food. I can't think of why any one would do such a thing if they really didn't need it. You would see more damage and squashed produce if it was just kids being bad. I hope this helps with what could be two problems....See MoreBest veggies for community garden plot
Comments (22)This thread has helped me a ton to see exactly what I am needing here. It's really two separate issues: one, what to plant that people won't take and two, is the money spent for the plot worth it. As for the former, I was asked if I know that pilfering is a problem. I am not sure at this plot, but I have visited other plots and have seen people take things that they admitted were not theirs. I figure it it happens there it could happen anywhere. The solution for this will be garlic, onions, potatoes and other crops that you all mentioned that don't need a bunch of time visiting them until they harvested. As for the second issue, I am still unsure on that. I am so used to gardening for free that paying for my love of it seems to rub me the wrong way. Oh, if only I had a double sized garden! I would pull out my raspberries, Dave, but they are what keeps my family happily in my garden. Plus, I love all of the homemade jam and pies I make with it. I live in the woods so I have no other place I can move them to. I also think I will do more pots on my deck filled with carrots, radishes and other such things. Maybe I won't need the plot. Thanks again for any and all ideas. You have all gotten me thinking more about this and anytime spent thinking on the garden is well spent! :)...See MoreUser
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