ONK Kicks off Community Garden Planning

September 17, 2009

Stephanie Welch (Director, Community Development and Planning Knox County Health Department or KCHC) led a meeting this past Wednesday night of several ONKers who are interested in starting a community garden. Ben Epperson of Beardsley Community Farm co-led the meeting. Here is the deal: Beardsley Community Farm, (Beardsley) KCHC, and the Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee (CAC) are partnering with the goal of setting up and managing 8-10 community gardens in Knoxville. The health department is interested from a standpoint of improving community health and the quality of life for Knoxvillians. Ben, who has been at Beardsley for two years as a gardening expert, is interested in expanding the knowledge on community gardening that he has gained from Beardsley’s experience for the past six years in providing gardening plots. And CAC is a public agency interested in improving living conditions for our community.

Ben said that by October, Beardsley will have hired an individual whose entire job will be to oversee the proposed community gardens, including providing general gardening information such sources for seeds, fertilizer, and equipment and recommendations for plants, schedules, and composting systems. He wants to have community gardens growing by next growing season in 2010!

In order for ONK to start a garden, we must first:

1. Find a suitable plot (city/county-owned would be best)
2. Find or develop a water source for the plot
3. Find interested people
4. Develop a communication system (e.g., Ning.com, Yahoogroups, plain email)

Next, we need to establish rules. These are important because Ben’s experience has shown that conflict has arisen over boundaries of individual plots, as well as scheduling for watering and weeding. Also, he finds that a waiting list may come about because of limited space and increased interest, so a mechanism must be established for allowing new people to cycle in as plots become available. He will email out example rules that other community gardens have used.

Ben emphasized that we need to start small, because if we make it too complicated in the beginning, there is a larger potential to “crash and burn.” He suggested to start out with around five plots, and for neighbors to share the plots.

Other suggestions he had:

• Build a fence to discourage things that Beardsley has experienced: vandalism, random pickers, and cars driving over the garden (!)
• Use rows for the plots rather than rectangular squares
• Make a good border around the garden itself to discourage encroachment of grass
• Develop a rain-catching system or see if KUB will donate water from a hydrant or other pipeline
• Develop a composting system for discarded plant material
• Have a final “cleaning” date for preparing the garden for winter
• Set a small fee for participation, and let the first people to pay be the ones that get a plot

ONK is in the process of identifying vacant lots in the hood with at least 6-8 hours per day sunlight and a water source. Meeting attendees mentioned that maybe we can begin with two plots – one on each side of Broadway – depending on interest. Another suggestion was that we could consider a combination of an orchard setting and perennial area, depending on the size and configuration of the donated land space.

This is an exciting opportunity to start a neighborhood community garden, and the city is providing the infrastructure for Beardsley Farm experts to avail their community gardening knowledge. Plus, under this program, we may be able to more easily access city-owned land and other donated services (such as water and mulch) to make the job easier. If you would like to make suggestions about possible places for a garden and/or take part in future meetings, please contact either Cynthia Runyon at cynthiasportraits@yahoo.com or Kristina McLean at kristinamclean@gmail.com. They are the ONK contacts. If you have questions about or recommendations for the city-wide effort, please contact Ben Epperson at Beardsleyfarm@gmail.com or 556-2299.