How to Deter Theft in Community Garden
terryincs
13 years ago
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strngelitlgrrl
13 years agoterryincs
13 years agoRelated Discussions
What do you like best & least about Community Gardening?
Comments (16)I have had my 'allotment' for 10 years now. It is 5mins away from my house on foot. There is a water tap at the end of my 15 x 75 foot plot. The allotments are under the jurisdiction of the City Council Parks Department. They provides leaves in the Autumn from the city's open spaces which are dumped in huge bins for us to help ourselves. There is rubbish collection for non-organic refuse and weeds (for those who don't compost). The City Council does not interfere at all unless there is a complaint, which is seldom. Their approach is very hands-off but they respond quickly if you need them. The allotment holders have an association which is voluntary and each site (there are several in this small town) has a site representative who you can contact if you want to. Most people just get on with gardening and do not poke their noses into other people's plots. We are not allowed to put up permanent buildings on my particular plot because it is in an area of great architectural importance, but most sites allow a small shed. Nor are we allowed to keep animals. I keep my tools in a locked chest after a theft some years ago. This was the only time I ever suffered any theft and I have never had any vandalism. (Fingers crossed). I love everything about allotmenting, especially that it is away from my home, so when I am there I am my own person. It is my own thing, not a family thing. I have no dislikes, except people who use weedkillers and pesticides and don't compost. Also I would like bigger plot. I am on the waiting list, so even that might be solved eventually....See MoreThinking of Joining a Community Garden
Comments (1)1) it depends. My CG is at the Ames/TrueTemper QH and there is quite a few weeds. I have to go 3 times a week to keep the bind weed in check. I need to figure out how to keep my 84 year old Father from roto-tilling the heck out of it every spring, chopping all the bindweed roots into 6 billion new plants! 2)Ours is not locked, but the plant is open 24/7 and the parking lot and garden is under video surveillance. I'm sure there is a bit of snitching that goes on, I'd be lying if I said I never snuck a strawberry or two, but nobody has ever been cleaned out,that I'm aware of....See MoreSuggestions for preventing theft in community gardens?
Comments (6)If the government won't provide a fence, then the gardeners must have permision to start putting up their own. After all, one large fence around the outside of a whole garden will NOT PROTECT your individual plot. Believe it or not, many community gardeners feal that if you haven't picked your flowers/fruit/vegetables *yet*, then you must not want or *need* them. You will find that theft originates both inside & outside the community garden plots. It's a slippery slope that many community garders descend. They start to feal that if you are not picking your stuff, then they are helping to avoid *waste* by picking it for you! It's especially easy to justify when it comes to food crops. It's also a problem with items that get harvested late in the fall like pumpkins & gourds. These are items that have ready cash value & are easy to spot in a mostly dead garden. You really nead to both fence them in & hide them with garden debris to avoid theft. We've found that a five foot tall, wire fence with a locked gate is a good deterent. Obviosly, if people wanted to start using bolt, or wire cutters they could easily cut through the fences, but they haven't so far. I think people need a psychological detterent to keep them from getting greedy! Other ideas would be to adress waste at a meeting in the spring. Some gardens have rules that fruit & vegetables must be picked, or you must give the garden management permision to pick for you & donate to charities. Also, you might want to have some standards for fencing. I am in a community garden that is about 35 years old ... you wouldn't believe what some people call a fence. I must admit that I still haven't replaced some of the old fencing that I inherited, but I am working on it. Some of the "fences" are made of indoor quality particle boards & various other scraps of plastic & rotting wood & lethal looking bits of wire. Also, unless you rule it out, people can start putting up stockage type picket fences that will totally shade out their neighbors. Best to have a rule that fences should consist of a single layer of wire fencing material & wooden or metal support posts. (Also, be sure to specify no presure treated wood, as it's not aproved for food gardens.) I am also giving you a link to this Community Gardening organization ... they have other suggestions for reducing theft. Scroll down the page of the link that I am giving you. Look for the list titled : Troubleshooting. They have more ideas there. Here is a link that might be useful: American Community Gardens Association: TROUBLESHOOTING...See MoreHow to prevent theft in the community garden?
Comments (6)It hard to believe that a varmit would be so selective. Your really not going to be able to stop them with a sign. I would suggest though a basket with a sign from time to time with extra veggies in it along with a sign saying something like these are for you as we know you must be hungry and if you need more please help us it take a lot of work and time to grow this food. I can't think of why any one would do such a thing if they really didn't need it. You would see more damage and squashed produce if it was just kids being bad. I hope this helps with what could be two problems....See MoreUser
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