I have no idea what it's like in other places, but the plots in the one I belong to are 14'x29'

Plots are variable in size here, ranging from about 100 square feet to 1000. Average is around 300. I'd suggest looking at your total area, then figuring out how many gardeners you want to accommodate (and don't forget about path area, composting, community gathering place, recycling area, etc.). We have one site that is 2.5 acres and has about 150 garden plots.

Another important factor is the goal of the garden: is it about giving access to land, or about creating community? Plan for some community gathering spaces if you want to build community and get the wider community involved as advocates and for goodwill.

A couple good websites to investigate are the Amer. Community Gardening Assn. and Vancouver's city farmer site, www.cityfarmer.org/

In Austin, at Sunshine Community Gardens, we have two plot sizes: 20x20 and 10x20. The larger plot requires a serious commitment and consistent maintenance. You should come up to Austin and have a look around. We're near 45th and Lamar, right next to the state health department.

The things you should consider are things that you would never have to consider if people were decent and honest.

Security.

* Clearly labeled plots assigned to certain people.
* A modicum of Security cameras.
* At least SOME fencing around each plot to establish boundaries.
* Very clearly laid out rules on a large placard.

I know it shouldn't feel like prison, but it should also be clear that borrowing soil, plants, and harvest from other plots is strictly forbidden and will result in prosecution.

Unless I had people backing me up and willing to enforce this, I would never setup a community garden based on the horror stories I've read.

The plots in our urban garden are about 4' x 25' long. There are now so many families involved that they have been subdivided into 4' x 12' long "half"-plots.

And still, for some folks it is still too much to manage.

We are just setting up our new community garden and making our raised beds 4' x 12' each. Initially we thought we'd give everyone two of those beds, but now we're having second thoughts because our land area is so small that it would seriously cut down the number of members we can have. 4x12' doesn't seem like much to offer, but I'm glad to hear vicki_vale say that even that size is too much for some people to handle. I suppose she probably means beginning gardeners, of which we will have a few.

What I wouldn't give for "several acres to develop!" Bagins, you are so lucky!

I have just joined a garden in NYC where the plot sizes range from 5x12, 4x12 and 3.5x7. While I was hoping to grow tomatoes, cukes, green beans, and some small (trellised) melons I will need to be creative with intensive planting to fit on our 3.5x7 plot. I dream of having a 4x25 plot! While we realize that there is no way to please everyone being new to this garden seems to have left us on the short end of square footage. I applaud the gardens that have managed more consistency in sizes.

Here in philly at Benjamin rush community gardens the plots are all 30 x 30 and you really can get a bunch of them and have a even bigger plot.

Our plots are 20 x 20 feet. We have a couple large areas that are tilled each spring, so having a regular grid to lay out makes things easier. We also have some no-till organic areas, also 20 x 20. People can apply for up to 4 plots (down from 6 previously as we had so many interested in gardening) but they have to work their way up by being good gardening citizens.

I just joined a community garden, and the plots are 10x10 feet. I'm a longtime gardener, but have never been able to have a vegetable garden because of lack of sun, so I'm excited. Previously, I tucked vegetables wherever I thought they might thrive - a tomato here, a pepper there, and so on.

Joann, sounds like you and I are in a similar situation. For years I have struggled with trying to grow tomatoes in the sunniest part of my garden, which only gets 5-6 hours of any kind of sun a day.

We have many community gardens in our area but the wait lists are years long. Luckily, I found out about a new one going in just 1 1/2 miles from my house and there is about a 90% chance that I will get a plot! I have to because I have so many tomato and pepper plants started and I need a place to plant them!

These plots will be 12x12 and cost only $20 per year! Yippeeee!

If there is lots of land, I'd still go for smallish plots and then let gardeners take more than one plot, with the understanding that their long term rights are limited to one plot and you can take back the excess if more people apply for a plot or they can't maintain all the land.

I think that 10 X 10 is about all the garden that most beginners can handle. From what I've seen that much can overwhelm most folks who go into it without any idea of the amount of labor involved.

Our housing complex has its own community garden on the property. We have ten plots, and a couple half plots. The full are about 9x9 feet and the halves are at the ends. The overall garden space is an odd shaped thing but we make it work. The plot next to me was supposed to have been taken but May long weekend came and went and still no action. I talked to the head garden lady, another tenant, about the weeds which were very tall and about to set seed and spread. She said that for cleaning the plot of weeds my daughters and I could use it this year so they could grow something of their choice. (flowers for one, strawberries for the other. Pickling cukes and a paste tomato for me.) One nose got out of joint but this person's nose is always out of joint over something so nobody cared. It's all good. :D

Our community garden is 20x30 and was $15. It was my first garden this year, so it took a lot of research, but i'm managing it just fine. :) My neighbors however.....WOW. Jungle-rama.

I live in Falls Township PA and we are getting our Community garden started finally this year. We have 39 raised beds built and they are each 10 by 4 feet. We worked on filling them with soil today and will have a deer fence put up next week I hope and then we should be ready to take applications and get planting!
Joann

Here along the shoreline of CT, we have a community garden which is 20x20 for $25. Last yr, for the first time, I shared this plot w/a friend. I found that there was always something more I wanted to grow in my space so this yr I am in the plot alone. I also found that by the end of summer most had enough of gardening and everyone was donating their crop the local food pantry.

All of the community gardens near me generally offer 10'x20' or 20'x20'.

My plot is 4' by 40' and I am learning to go vertical! what a blast!

Our community garden plots are 10'x50' or 23'x10 about $25 or $15 for a six month lease. They come tilled and there is a spigot for everyone to use.

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Most of the large plots are doing amazing!!!! Most of the smaller plots are abandoned.
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I have a large one. It keeps my husband and I from buying veggies for about four months. Any smaller and I don't think it would be worth it for me to go and tend it because really how much food can you grow in 250 square feet. (The plots back up to one another -- part of that space needs to be paths.)

mmmm, in the UK, we have allotments which are leased by the local council. These plots of land are enshrined in legal statute (they became part of parish law in the 19C - there were 3 million but are now only 300,000 in the UK) and have a specific measurement based on rods (or poles or perches - a very ancianr system. A rod is 5.5 metres. Allotments are 10 rods - 5.5 metres x 55 metres or 6 yards x 60 yards or 1/8 of an acre. Councils can lease half or even quarter plots. I have 2 or 1/4 acre for around $50 a year.

I have plots in two urban community gardens in Milwaukee, WI and both are 4X8 raised beds. Seems to be a standard here, in the city limits.

At my CG the plots are 20x25 = 500 sqft.. $40 per plot, 2 plot maximum.

We have a brick garden shed, w/electricity aka frig, and flush toilets, w/water spigots through out.

http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/tips-for-gardening

Very useful when I did my 3 outdoor gardens. I grew excellent heirloom tomatoes thanks to this site ;)

At Morgan Springs Community Garden in Bennington, VT our gardens are 10 x 10 with no limit on number you can have. Our garden is small and no waiting list. Prior years tenant gets first dibs on keeping their plot before it is turned over to a new tenant. The charge is 20 a year.