What we've learned in the last seven months...where to start? This is all common sense, but hopefully will save you a few hours brainstorming and a few abortive missions. This is our history in a nutshell.
Who: There are four of us who take joint responsibility for the project. There are a varying number of people who come along, there are generally around 12 of us at each session. This is about right for the area of land we've got. (If too many people turn up we have friends whose allotments need sorting out...)
Publicity: The best publicity is word of mouth. Most people will come because a friend has told them about it. Go to local meetings of groups such as organic groups, permaculture groups and other community projects. Network.... Make up flyers and leaflets. These can be for specific events or general information. Get into the habit of carrying a few around with you to hand out to anyone who expresses interest. Leave them around your local area. For instance: shop windows, drop-in centres (for carers, asylum seekers or whatever drop-ins are in your area) cultural and community centres, claimants unions, youth projects, squats, benefit nights, campaign offices, gardening / allotment group noticeboards etc. etc. If there are particular groups you want to target, bear this in mind when you are flyering.
Public meetings...We held a public meeting in November when the project was not yet underway, to gauge public interest. To be honest, I think formal meetings are a bit of a nightmare, after all, gardening is a practical activity. There is a small group of us who do all the paperwork and organisational stuff, everybody else just does practical stuff. Because of our funding, we are obliged to hold at least one public meeting a year. If this wasn't the case, we probably wouldn't bother.
What to do, ideas: Play games, get twatted, fires, feasts, etc. One idea we had, but we don't have the produce yet, is to have a big public meal with all the food we have grown. Get local sculptors to come and work, willow tunnel? Kids days,
Where: Ask your local allotment site, or maybe peoples gardens. Guerilla gardening, (good theory, not sure about the phrase) pick any piece of land and plant it. Strategic placement of garden, on land about to be redeveloped, next to tesco, on very central and public land. Make a statement about land use. Artists reclaiming land, biological cleansing programs, wheatfield.
Private / public property is yours for the planting! (after all, its your world too...)
When: We got together in November / December time. This gave us all winter to get funding and stuff. It is good to get yourself a bit of land by the beginning of spring to get planting underway.
Funding:You don't need that much money to start a community garden project. There are not many single items that cost a lot, unless you want stuff like polytunnels or petrol rotavators. We had our plot rotavated for us by the people who gave us the land, and we couldn't get funding for a polytunnel because the council considered them too prone to vandalism. You can tat most stuff, a lot of people have spare tools and seeds.
Recycle at every possible opportunity, this saves money and is ethically sounder.
If you live in a rural area, you may find there is less need for a community garden than in urban areas. Going into schools and gardening with the kids, or planting in old peoples homes is apparently well-recieved.
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