This morning we showed up to the garden to have our intern, Sean, give us news that he saw a few gentlemen walking away with handfuls of our garlic.They probably only took about five bulbs or so - pictured above is one of the broken stalks.
That was tough to hear first thing.
I did put up a sign last week on the community garden side of the lot that said "free community garden plots" with our contact information on it, so hopefully that didn't give the wrong message that the produce we are growing on the farm side of the garden is free for the taking. For now we've taken that sign down and will work on new signs that are very clear.
We don't want to put up a fence. My goal this weekend is to put some flower beds directly in front of these rows so that the produce is not visible and in reach directly from the sidewalk.
Yes, we do want to grow food for the neighborhood, but it's not fair for that food to be taken freely rather than have it be in exchange for some kind of effort, whether it is money, labor, or a simple thank you to a friend. After all, that food took a lot of effort to grow!
Happily, we turned around from the garlic and saw something great right behind us.
Looks like one of the kids wrote a little bit of graffiti on a street sign post. At least it was really sweet graffiti that helped put a smile back on our face.
4 comments:
We have a brand new Food Bank garden in our small urban setting in Central Louisiana. We have had to deal with some theft so far (But none concerning the produce- fortunately.) We haven't had our fence built yet- but when we do, we have decided to grow a few beds of easily picked veggies like cucumbers and tomatoes on the outside of the fence to satisfy hungry walkers by. After all- it is our goal to feed people! I also want to line the fences with some blackberries- that are also easily picked but a thorny reminder to stay out of the garden when the gate is closed!
the best fence would be a natural one that won't take away from the field of the garden. I would suggest a fence made up of yuka plants, they are thorny, bloom a lovely flower, an evergreen and if planted in a row it will provide protection! Put a rustic gate up at the end of the row of yuka plants and it will look fine! e-mail me @ rutledgeac@ao.com to let me know what you think or/and hit me up on facebook---Alvin Rutledge Sr.
@dirty beets - and the nice part about the fence is not having to deal with building a trellis for your cucumbers or tomatoes! I bet they will love growing up that sturdy wire :)
@Urban Gardener - I like the idea of evergreen plants in the border... we are going to do a bunch of blueberry bushes in one location to prevent the neighborhood kids from walking on the rows. Yuka does sound fun and they are nice and sculptural!
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