Planning and starting your community garden by Russ Grayson + Fiona Campbell

< making a start < challenges < bottom-up approach < let's start planning
< where will we garden? < designing the garden < let's start building
< the management phase < gardening cooking and eating
< your community garden project < useful skills for community garden organisers
< member agreement < full document for printing

THE MANAGEMENT PHASE

With your garden designed, constructed and planted out, your project now moves into a maintenance phase in which gardening, rather than construction, is the main activity. There will still be garden beds to build for people who join the garden, of course, compost to make and plants to propagate.

With the entire garden area under cultivation, planting, harvesting, seed saving and maintainence are the major activities at Glovers Community Garden, Sydney.

Draw up management plan

With the garden established, it is time to develop a modest management plan.

The management plan need not be a formal, detailed document. It’s purpose should be to remind you of ongoing tasks. Keep it simple and brief.

The management plan identifies all those ongoing tasks and how they will be accomplished, such as:

• organisational meetings to plan your activities
• weed control
• compost making and turning
• tool and equipment maintenance
• risk management
• social activities
• inducting new members to the garden
• liaising with landholders
• starting plants from seeds in your nursery.

Figure out a general schedule for these activities and plot this on a one-year timeline. Then decide how and by whom the tasks will be tackled.

< top

PAGE UPDATED... Tuesday, 15 January 2002