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. ;)

Don't be discouraged. The tool loss is, imo, much more annoying than the odd plant - I have a shed on my allotment or I would take my tools home. I have been gardening on a large shared site for 16 years - the most annoying thing was the year a bunch of local kids stripped all my (unripe) apples from my cordons - I honestly wouldn't have minded too much if they had been eaten but they had simply thrown them at each other. And there are all the usual gripes about weeds...but for me, it was my only chance to actually have some space - I have a minuscule home garden - so I put up with the irritants. And it can be nice to be convivial (although I am a surly grumpy sort). The more you invest in time and effort, the more you see the time gardening as more precious than the actual results...and the setbacks tend to appear more minimal and just part of the usual cycle of death, loss, rebirth that is so familiar to gardeners.

Here in the New York area, there is an umbrella group called Green Thumb that administers community gardens located on city-owned properties. I am a member of such a garden. The Parks & Recreation Department owns the property and we are covered under their insurance. Good luck!

Now that everything is planted, I decided to bring this thread back, and post a few pics. Here's a list of what's planted there: Beans - Jackson Wonder Lima, Dixie Speckled Butterpea, Supernana Marconi Gold, Roma II, Garafal Enana, Black Valentine, Contender, and Vittoria Cauliflower - Chef's Choice mix Lettuce - Simpson Elite, Freckles Melons - Rocky Ford, Far North, Noir de Carmes, Collective Farm Woman, Tigger, Golden Midget, Blacktail Mountain, Sweet Siberian, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Sweet Passion, and Cream of Saskatchewan Tomatoes - Gold Medal, Caspian Pink, Earl's Faux (if it makes it), Brown Berry, Black from Tula, and Marianna's Peace Peppers - Ancho, Alma Paprika, Beaver Dam, TAM Jalapeno, and Senorita Jalapeno. Squash/Zucchini - Cocozelle, Black Beauty, Australian Butter, Bush Buttercup, Uchiki Kuri, and Gold Nugget ... and a small patch of Quinoa All of that in a 20' x 20' plot!!! Have a feeling it might be a jungle in a few more weeks! Anyway, here are some pictures taken today: Beans Cauliflower - you can still see some of the leaves are shredded from the hail a couple of weeks ago. Lettuces Melons Squash Tomatillo Pepper - you can see the newer leaves are a brighter green, and the older ones are brown on the edges A sad looking Earl's Faux (the leaves at the bottom weren't eaten by something, I pinched them off because they were dead) A much healthier looking Gold Medal An extremely pitiful looking ground cherry plant, and the others look even worse than this one! They were beautiful when planted a week ago ... So you can see that some things are coming along nicely, and a few are just barely hanging in there. I ordered an early birthday gift for myself, a stirrup (scuffle) hoe, which should be a big help getting those weeds under control at the community garden. Jennifer, I just realized that I forgot to plant any marigolds there. Do you think its too late? Bonnie