Weird gardening question - thoughts on "giving" my BY over for a shared garden

M

mariadnoca

Moderator
Ok I've had vague thoughts about using my backyard as a community garden. As in if someone wants to plant/deal with it I'm happy to let someone use what was the whole lawn area to give over to a garden. My thought was I don't want to deal with maintaining the backyard and it would make a nice garden patch if someone wanted to tend it.

I've also had thoughts of taking out the area of lawn in front near the curb (just lost the tree that was there since I was 3 - sob) and plant some type of garden that could be shared with passers by. Now that it's just me a garden would yeild far too much for me.

Am I insane? (pretty sure I am but thot to share some of the weird stuff that floats around in my head with you)

 
Hi Maria, this is not unheard of. Gardeners often "share crop," using someone's property in exchange

for some of the produce. I don't know how dense an area you live in, but if it's urban, you'll have takers.

I suggest you contact local garden clubs or community gardens for advice, and if that leads you to someone you think is compatible, draw up a written agreement, nothing complicated, and limit the time to one season for starters.

Taking out a lawn is a lot of work, and you'll need to determine whose job that would be. Maybe, if you can afford it, you can hire someone to cut out the sod and till the soil, making it user-ready right away. It might be worth it to see crops growing this season.

Sorry about the tree!

 
Better check with your city council/zoning rules. Dallas is going out of its way

to make it HARD for people to do community gardens. (Sad, huh?) They don't want them competing with all the money they have spent on the big downtown farmer's market.

 
Sad. One does not conflict with the other. In fact, I think growing you own makes you picky..

and the only way to find that quality when it's not in your own garden is a Farmers' Market.

Also, I think in Maria's case, since it's her private property, the rules might be different. This may be the equivalent of hiring a gardener.

 
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