The Creation Process of a Worthington CG

Dear Community Gardeners,

After several discussions with Worthington Parks and Rec, here is an update on where we stand. Please come to tomorrow night's meeting at the Old Worthington Library if you can, or let the group know of your interest and willingness to get involved. I sent this to Celia Tincher, assistant to Linda Chambers (Mrs. Chambers is currently on vacation) and she supports my view of he project. I will bring copies of Ms.Tincher's overview (written as I was writing mine) to the meeting tomorrow.

The Worthington Parks and Rec Department has a nearby field that might make a good site for a community garden, and Linda Chambers, the director of Parks and Rec, is someone who has participated in community gardening herself, and believes it could be an excellent component of the Worthington P & R program. If the project near the Rec Center is successful, we might eventually be able to develop community gardens in neighborhood parks as well.
There are some hurdles to leap.

Site Related Concerns
First, P&R is in the process of investigating what chemicals have been put on the field in the past, to make sure the area can be used as a garden. Second, P&R has a plan to build a pavilion in the field, with a solar panel on the roof (this will help with energy costs at the rec dept.). They spoke with the representative of the company about the possibility of a garden there as well, and he did not think the two uses were incompatible. It would be a nice place for gardeners' harvest feasts, rest breaks, picnics, children's activities, garden-related demonstrations and classes and more! Third, the summer day camps use a part of the field for recreation, so the garden design would need to accommodate that.

Persuasion
Community gardening did not rank very high on the surveys the City asked citizens to fill out last summer. That doesn't rule us out, but it means we have to demonstrate broad interest and commitment to get approval from the Parks and Recreation Commission and City Council. Here are some things we will need:

Committed leadership who will meet with Linda Chambers and Celia Tincher and assume responsibility for the projectPower point presentation on the project to present to the P & R Commission and City Coincil (Fred Yaeger said he will advise and help with technical side, as he has done several of these)Some funds for the initial ground preparationDevelopment of a Community Garden club or group that will be ongoing, with officers and a treasury

Advantages of this Site
Most community gardens in our area are connected with Parks and Rec in some way. A good example is Grandview's Wallace Community Garden, which began as a WW II Victory Garden. It is across the road from their Park Dept., which allows staff to keep an eye on things, provided easy access to water, lets parks and rec manage tilling and end-of-season clean-up easily, and allows parks and rec to collect gardeners' fees and oversee the allotment of plots.
Proximity to the Rec dept means parents can garden while children take part in their activities, or combine their own activities with gardening (a swim after weeding, perhaps?).

Parks and rec can help us with site management, registration for plots, collection of fees.
We can develop garden-related programs with them for the benefit of our gardeners and the education and encouragement of new gardeners.

Parks and Rec told us when we were developing the pioneer garden that we could use the community bus for community garden tours, to develop ideas and gain advice for our project. Perhaps this could be done this summer.

Although we would not be able to garden there this spring and summer, we could plant a winter cover crop that would enrich the soil and could be tilled in for spring of 20i0.
Our Strengths

Enthusiasm -- over 60 people are in the SW community garden Google group, and are still asking about a garden site (4 inquiries in the last 2 days)Expertise -- we have a master gardener, JoAnne Dole, who is willing to advise us, and a botanist who works with Bill Dawson at the Franklin Park Conservatory, Kim Brown, and Marc Zody, a nearby resident with a strong interest in this garden,as well as many others with knowledge and skills we can draw on.

Starting a Garden from Scratch

I have created and posted like crazy to the Sycamore Hills Community Garden Blog. It is worth checking out.

I am trying to make the creating-a-garden-process as transparent as possible. It is sort of a living history of our garden, even before it has been coaxed out of the earth.

http://sycamorehillscommunitygarden.blogspot.com/

Garden Tour

In order to better plan the Sycamore Hills Community Garden, we went on a garden tour today to check out what has been done in other gardens. Here are some images:

Sycamore Hills Park (5540 Rockport Blvd): the most likely site for our community garden.

Weinland Park/Godman Guild (303 East Sixth Avenue, 43201): a community garden that incorporates art, signage, water collection, tool shed, different kinds of raised beds, compost piles, flowers and veggies, community and individual plots, and teens.

Next door Weinland Garden Club.

Krumm Park (854 Alton Avenue, 43219): a community garden in a city park.
Garden of Freedom and New Freedom (Mound and Carpenter, 43205) and Garden of Communion (Bryden and Ohio): three gardens are part of the Four Seasons City Farms project and have been active for a number of years; they provide interesting examples of structure, design, and layout.
Christ the King (2777 E. Livingston Ave, 43209-3039): beautiful church based community garden that supplies their food pantry. Beds are clearly defined and made of different materials, the fence and signage are nice, and flowers are incorporated into the border.

Now This Is a Plan

Garden Parties

How about that for an invitation? Beautiful.

Here are 1, 2, 3 websites with good ideas for garden parties.
Here is another gardening blog with lighting ideas.

Sheds Are Cool

I have a weird thing for sheds and barns.

I love them.

They have it all-character, interest, intrigue, fine details, weathering, wear and tear. They convey a warmth and welcome.

These two sheds are great examples of how we could store our tools and equipment at the SHCG.

Signage

to the point!

wow!

Pretty, but how do they keep it safe through the weather? is it lacquered?

A twist!

Difficult to see, but this is a beautiful recycled & welded example.

Precious.

Official.

I hope someone in our community garden is an artist. This one raises the bar!

elegant.

professional

very nice, but is it noisy or difficult to maintain?

someone has a graphic designer in their community. Very nice.

I love this, but this would NOT fly in my neighborhood.

ooh! beautiful and packs a punch (what a name & they have a motto!)

This looks like my friend Stephanie wrote it. It is cute cute cute. The hours idea is interesting.

THIS IS BADDASS.

Signs say a lot about your garden, including: WELCOME!

When people know what the space is all about and how to be in the garden, I think they are more likely to step on in and engage in a positive way. I found all of these images on Flickr and I would like to use them when planning SHCG sign.

SHCG coordination with Dan

It is important to get in touch with Dan from the Columbus Foundation when you are looking for funding for your garden. Helpful facts he shared with me: the grants are typically due around October, gardens can be in any stage of development (as in already established all the way to just beginning), the more people you have involved the better, and they do not favor urban blighted areas over others.

I am attempting to upload a copy of LAST YEARS grant (so DO NOT use) via Google documents. This is an interesting technological jump for me. Feel free to use the grant to help you along on starting your own garden.

Dan said to check out the website as the date draws near for the actual grant application form.
http://www.columbusfoundation.org/

SHCG coordination with Bill

Penny,

I would really like to help with your project! I left you a VM and you could borrow the GtoG video anytime you like to present to your group if that helps.

I am also attaching a site visit request form if you want to get a date on the calendar for a visit.

Thank you,
Bill

Sycamore Hills Community Gardening First Response!

Good Morning, My name is Tomasina __ I live at _.

I would like to hear more about the community gardens. I am interested in the idea and just myself signed up for a CSA share of produce and fruit from a Marysville farmer, I realize thats not a community garden but it the next best thing.

One problem I have right now is TIME, i am over extended for now, but would be willing to help in worker bee fashion. I work FT and go to school in evenings. And my days are filled planning my daughters graduation party, etc etc.

But I am really interested in Community Gardening and would like to know more and would enjoy helping where I am able to .

I look forward to hearing from you!
Tomasina

Sycamore Hills Community Gardening Proposal

This is the first of the communications to my Neighborhood to start a community garden. It was in our May newsletter (I took out some of the personal info since this is the WWW!):

Community Gardens - Proposal

Greetings! My name is Amy _, and I have been a part of SH since I was a baby! Now that I am all grown up, I purchased _ from my mother because I wanted to make SH home for my family, as well. I feel that we have an incredible neighborhood and I would like to do my part to make it even more beautiful, as well to create the possibility for a more connected community.

After a year of working in community gardens all over the Columbus area, I would like to bring all that I have learned back to our community to start our own CG. There is a $4000 grant from Franklin Park Conservatory and Scott’s Growing to Green that we can apply for, and I am willing and able to coordinate this adventure.

At this moment, everything is just an idea, so now is the time to get involved if you have a vision for our CG. I would like for anyone and everyone who is interested in being a part of our CG to join in the planning process on whatever time commitment that works for you, from a quick one time email all the way to helping to write and implement the grant. It is up to you; it is your
community garden!

Feel free to send any ideas, concerns, offers of help, specific skills/tools you can contribute to our CG to _ and/or _, or call _.

Dream Garden

If I could design my dream garden,

where money and involvement were non-issues,

I would include these things:

an organized shed with solar panels and water collection

organized tools available for everyone to use, but kept secure so they won't be stolen

pergola (grapes?!)

art

well researched, planned, organized beds and growing structures

guardians/tour guides

food

flowers

irrigation

living fence (bamboo?)

parties

bocce

Sycamore Hills Community Gardening

Here is the beginning communications of the start of our CG in my neighborhood:

From: amy
Date: Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 9:32 AMSubject: Re: blogTo: bdawson@fpconservatory.org

Hi, Bill!

I would like to start a community garden in my neighborhood, and the residents association is totally behind me. YAY! Now that I have their approval and blessings, I am not sure where to begin! I was wondering what you suggest (as in preparing for the grant-it is still due in October right?, finding out what the community is interested in, getting people involved, etc). I am planning on having the garden up and running for next summer (if possible).

Thanks,
Amy