Hello Jefferson and Walker Park Community Gardeners,Thank you all for your continued interest in participating in a City of Fayetteville Community Garden.The City of Fayetteville Parks and Recreation Department is making positive and beneficial changes to the Community Garden In The Parks Program. These changes are in response to user needs and are meant to provide ready-to-garden areas and to maximize citizen participation; leading to increased community building opportunities among citizens. The changes address how CGs will be built and organized.Over the past year, it has become clear that the original model, a pilot project, was limiting to building sustainable community participation. This original model provided land and access to water. Garden Groups would be responsible for funding and constructing plots and fences. The Group would also be required to establish a method to collect plot fees from individual gardeners, pay for water consumption and submit a reasonable annual land-use fee to the City. This annual fee was waived for the Walker Park CG in 2011. By contrast, Jefferson CG's paid a seasonal plot fee, which would cover the costs of water provided by Fayetteville School District. The City of Fayetteville currently has a 5 year lease agreement with the Fayetteville School District which allows citizens to utilize the Jefferson garden space as a community garden. Jefferson CG is a good example of a ready-to-use community garden.Jefferson CG provides a good CG model to increase community participation by providing plots to gardeners on an annual basis. We are requesting that Jefferson CG be fully utilized first, then registration for plots in Walker Park CG will be open. Registration will help us gauge how many participants are committed to gardening and will be mandatory to secure a garden plot in one of the South Fayetteville community gardens. , Registration will be open first to those who gardened at Jefferson and Walker in 2011.Steps to Register:Where: Registration forms and plot sign up will be available at the Parks and Recreation office at 1455 Happy Hollow Rd.When: Registration will open to the current gardeners from February 13 - February 27, 2012After February 27 registration will be opened to the entire communityWhat: Fees will be collected when your registration form is submitted and will cover water use and secure a plot for the gardening year.Registration will be for one year: March 1, 2012 to March 1, 2013Jefferson plot fee: Small bed (approximately 30 square feet) $20/year. Large bed (approximately 70 square feet) $30/yearWalker plot fee: Small bed (approximately 25 square feet) $20/year. Medium bed (approximately 50 square feet $30/year. Large bed (approximately 100 square feet) $40/year.When Jefferson plots are full, registration will be open for Walker. When we see sufficient interest in gardening at Walker we will proceed with building garden plots, fence construction and connecting a water supply. Please understand that gardening at Walker Park is not an option until that time.Jefferson will be ready to garden on March 1, 2012. Parks and Recreation maintenance staff will be adding a mix of topsoil, course sand and compost to each bed on Tuesday, February 14. If you are currently gardening at Jefferson and have plants that need to be protected, please contact me at your soonest convenience.As the City's Community Garden Coordinator and committee member of Fayetteville Community Garden Coalition, I look forward to meeting each of you and working together with partners to assist with community building activities centered around your community garden.
I hope this information proves helpful for those who are looking to garden this spring. Thanks! Sommer
