{"id":12195,"date":"2015-02-14T16:54:16","date_gmt":"2015-02-14T16:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/greensideup.ie\/?p=12195"},"modified":"2024-03-12T16:34:58","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T16:34:58","slug":"start-up-essentials-for-community-gardens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/start-up-essentials-for-community-gardens\/","title":{"rendered":"Start Up Essentials for Community Gardens"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Autumn<\/p>\n

I’ve written several articles about community gardens<\/a>\u00a0– the benefits and how to’s –\u00a0but once you have your plot of land and an interested bunch of people who want to grow food, it’s important<\/del>\u00a0vital, to provide some basic equipment for the gardeners and tutors to use. Without a few tools the group will struggle and far from the success you envisaged at the beginning of the project, you could find it falters and folds.<\/p>\n

Willing or Not So Willing Volunteers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

If the initial core group are willing volunteers, you may get away with asking them to bring their own equipment until funds have developed. However, if you’re a well-meaning organisation who are trying to encourage low-income families to start growing their own in community gardens, even if your ethos is one of upcycling and recycling, you’ll need to provide some basic kit. Your potential gardeners might not have the equipment or the funds to buy the tools, seeds or gloves that will start them on the road to growing more of their own food and without it, will soon lose interest.<\/p>\n

The Community Garden Twitter & Facebook pages<\/a>\u00a0recently received the following query which prompted me to write this post, sharing some of\u00a0my experiences from projects I’ve worked with.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Start<\/p>\n

Do I Need To Harvest Water or Have An Electricity Supply?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Start

Soaker Hose Irrigation in a Polytunnel<\/p><\/div>\n

I’d be interested in reading your experiences in the comments below, but my own are that groups can manage without electricity but gardening can be difficult, though not impossible, without water on tap. None of the gardens I’ve worked with have had a power supply in the garden itself, though some have run extension leads from buildings nearby for\u00a0power tools. Although a heated propagator bench is a very useful addition to any polytunnel, I’m not aware of a garden having one where the group only meets once a week.<\/p>\n

Water harvesting can vary but community gardens are a good place to demonstrate how it can be done. It makes sense to save water. It’s a free resource with no chemicals added and although it might seem like we have a lot of rain in Ireland, we can experience some long dry spells. If you don’t have a mains water supply on site, harvested water might be your only source of water.<\/p>\n

Some gardens have standard rain barrels attached to roof guttering, some have old builders tanks rigged up to catch rainwater with a funnel, some sink their own wells. In the Greenside Up garden we attached a couple of leaky hoses to a builders tank connected to our roof guttering. This has worked really well for us and I would definitely recommend trying to install something similar in a community garden environment if you can. You can read more about our system here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So you have water and possibly electricity, what else do you need in a community garden?<\/p>\n

Toilet Facilities & Shelter<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before we move on to the must haves and optional extras, it’s a good idea to think about toilet facilities. They might not be\u00a0a necessity but will be needed by someone at some point! If there’s no toilet block on site, consider installing a composting toilet<\/a>,\u00a0hiring a portaloo, or have a chat with the closest pub or business and ask if they mind gardeners using their facilities.<\/p>\n

If you don’t have a polytunnel or shed, a pop-up gazebo would be a useful addition to the kit list. I’ve been in several gardens where a downpour of cold rain in February has sent everyone running to their cars. By the time they’ve started their engines and gone home, the sun was out and the rain stopped.<\/p>\n

Must Have’s<\/h3>\n

Note: Quantities will differ depending upon the size of garden or group expected.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n