A quick update on my experience, for those who might be googling and are unsure about starting a plot... In general, I don't think this has been a good year for gardening in the midwest. Lots of rain early on! My summer squash are doing well, as are my tomatillos, but other than that everything is quite slow. I've gotten a few cucumbers and peppers, and my corn seems to be doing well. I think my tomatoes have blight, and I've noticed tons and tons of cucumber beetles. One of our plot neighbors says that in the evenings, the deer come out of the surrounding woods, wait until there aren't any more people left, and then just swarm! They have definitely gotten the best of my broccoli. There are quite a few plots that have been given up on, so there are lots of weeds everywhere. BUT, even though it's been more difficult than just gardening in containers on my porch, I do think I've learned a lot. I started out trying to do it with minimal fertilizers and insecticides, but learned quickly that it's worth a few bucks to invest in that stuff. I think I'll try to figure out a good mulch to use a bit earlier next year. I might also go for two plots instead of just one (20x20), as I think the rewards might be a bit greater with more plants and more space per plant. My favorite thing is to walk around and check out everyone else's gardens and see what is working for them! It also helps me not to get too frustrated, as it seems that no one is having a good tomato year.

Nora ... I echo the admiration of other comments for you efforts ... I'm of the generation when our school had a Victory Garden and have very happy memories, not to mention fortifying familial gardening pattern for a lifetime of enjoyment. May I add to the list of educational benefits to the children, the cross-generational habit/culture .... also the example of starting small [workable money/ time/ experience/ manpower-wise] is HUGE! The children will really feel the importance of their contribution if the scale is small. Visual aides are also valuable ... both for children and adults/community to see the scope of the plan. Re: soil tainted with toxic materials ... raised beds are great, but the pathways will kick up dust and airborne problems unless well-mulched. Because the oldsters and youngsters may be already at risk to airborne toxics. Again, a reason to start small, so as to throughly cover all the bases. Even if the soil test comes back OK/CLEAR, the fact that construction waste was dumped on the site is a major argument in favor of raised beds. Would you be able to use those rocks in the picture for some of the raised beds? They would be so pretty, not to mention FREE!

Okay, I shouldn't even be responding because I have zero experience with community gardening (having been on our local waiting list for three years now!), so take everything I say with a huge grain of salt, but... to echo what rlewing says, I'd recommend that you start small! I'd imagine that, like anything else, a brand new community garden program will have a huge learning curve for everyone involved, as you figure out what does and doesn't work for your school and community. You will probably want to look at the next few years as being a bit of a pilot project and for a while, you will probably have a big list of "lessons learned" after each new season. Remember, you won't be able to feed the whole community or even the whole school right away, so I'd recommend setting aside (for now) your initial worries about not being able to accommodate the whole community. Arguably, it's better in the long run to slowly and methodologically develop a well-operating program, even if it means that fewer people can participate in the short term. Sounds like, first off, you'll need to find some land (preferably where you can start small and later expand) and the necessary materials. What about creating a gardening club among your students, to start with? Perhaps they'd be willing to solicit donations of money and materials, while you investigate the property aspect? They might also be able to provide input on whether they'd rather work the whole garden together as a club, and split the produce, or create and assign separate plots to individuals? Then, when the garden is up and running for a few years, perhaps new plots can be created and provided to the community on an individual rental basis, with your garden club volunteers growing additional crops for charity or just generally running the garden? Or plot renters can be either required to donate a certain percentage of their harvest, or asked to voluntarily donate a certain percentage of their harvest (although you'd need a system in place, practically speaking, for them to do so). Or there could be a procedure for waiving rental fees where appropriate. Or the garden club could do an annual fundraising event to fund the garden without the need for rental fees-- there are lots of ways to approach the matter, but I think it will really depend on what works in your community, which is something you'll only be able to learn once the program is up and running--hence my recommendation for an initial "pilot program" for the first year or two. Just a few ideas--they may or may not be practical in your situation, but I would definitely recommend considering creating a gardening club of interested students so that you have a core group of hopefully dedicated kids who can share the work and have the opportunity for input. Do you have a local 4H club? If so, it might be worth talking with those club leaders to see whether there are any interesting opportunities there. The fact that your county is rural but some growers are using progressive agricultural methods makes me think that there have to be people in the area that would great contacts and may be willing to donate materials or even just time to help get this program off the ground. I also agree with DirtandYarn that fostering a sense of ownership among the students (or other gardeners) will likely be important, especially to keep people interested and inspired when the initial excitement wears off. Let's face it--cleaning up beds for the winter and turning compost in the summer heat are a lot less fun than picking tomatoes. In my opinion, a program that starts out too big, with too many people who may not currently fully appreciate the work that will be involved, runs the risk of losing steam in the long run. Starting small, on the other hand, allows you to expand to meet demand once you have an established program. Just my uninformed two cents, in rambling multi-paragraph form! And knock on wood for me that I'll get my own community garden plot next year! Then I might actually have a leg to stand on when I post on this forum. ;)

It depends what neighborhood you're in. In some neighborhoods you could leave the doors to your house unlocked and be gone for a year and there would be nothing to worry about. In other neighborhoods, anything not bolted down will be gone within 24 hours. I was told about one incident where some thieves climbed over a high fence to steal someone's barbeque—a crappy cheap little one that the owner had actually picked up at a garage sale. Thieves have been known to actually dig out the bushes in people's front yards, in that particular neighborhood (which shall remain unnamed). It's really a shame that you can't even grow any vegetables without someone stealing them. Is this what the world has come to where we need a 24 hour armed guard to protect vegetables? You ask how to prevent theft? Well, I'm not sure exactly how bad it is in your neighborhood, but you might locate your plot near an elderly person's house who spends all their time sitting on their porch, overlooking the garden. Then put up an electric fence with attack dogs to keep it safe at night. Another idea might be motion-sensor activated cameras. They are used for hunting purposes and are surprisingly not too expensive. They can be camouflaged and easily hidden. So put the fake cameras near the entrance and hide these cameras in the garden. They can be set to only be activated at night (they have a light sensor).