P-Patch Community Gardens

Why not take an unused space in your neighborhood and use it to build community, provide recreation and celebrate natural cycles, increase public open space, reduce stress and crime, educate children, and grow carrots and beets and corn and tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, radishes, potatoes, zinnias, sunflowers, petunias and daisies, roses and pumpkins and zucchini like crazy?

Here are some steps to creating gardening space in your neighborhood:

Look for a garden site

Seek land that is vacant, or with run-down buildings or under-used parking lots. Sometimes institutions, such as churches or hospitals, have vacant property. Consider the following criteria:

Size - 2,000 square feet is the minimum size required to accommodate several gardeners and a common area with space for a tool shed and compost bins. High Density alternatives-in some neighborhoods around downtown Seattle, where open space availability is at a premium, we will work with your group to find alternative gardening opportunities. One example is to garden a smaller area 1000 square feet of alley space, communally and share the harvest or explore shade loving edibles in your community garden by coming together to create a permaculture (permanent agriculture) garden.

Terrain - The lot should be reasonably flat. If it slopes, the grade should not be so steep that level beds could not be created, for example by terracing. There should also be access for delivery of materials.

Sun - The site should get sun most of the day, and therefore should not have buildings or trees on the south, east or west. Adjacent property should not be zoned for high rise buildings. High density alternative-in some neighborhoods where open space availability is at a premium but interest in community gardening is high, we will work with groups to creatively find alternative gardening opportunities. An example would be a group exploring shade loving edibles and coming together to create a permaculture (permanent agriculture) community garden, maintaining it and sharing the harvest.

Location - The site should be on a relatively quiet street to guard against interference from traffic, crowds, or noise. If near a busy street, there should be ways of shielding or screening the site.

Neighbors - Ideally, the site should be observable by nearby residents. The scrutiny of neighbors adds to security. Invite the neighbors to get involved from the start so they feel invested in the garden.

Contact the P-Patch Program (206) 684-0264 or E-mail

P-Patch Program staff can help evaluate and secure access to your proposed site. If the land is publicly owned they will work with the relevant government agency. If privately owned, they will try to negotiate a lease of at least 5 years. If purchase is the only possibility, they will work with community groups to apply for sources of money, such as private foundations, or public money available for open space. Soil testing, especially for lead level, is a key step. P-Patch staff can help and also suggest means of rehabilitating contaminated soil.

Even if your desired property does not become a P-Patch, your group can still create its own community garden. There are many individually run gardens in Seattle and the staff of the P-Patch Program can give advice on creating your own. Next steps, organize, design and build your garden!

Gather together potential gardeners

While you're looking for land, organize a group of potential gardeners willing to help build your neighborhood P-Patch. Methods include:

• Word of mouth among those initially involved in finding prospective land. Calling people on waiting lists for existing P-Patches. The P-Patch Program will make those names and phone numbers available. Meet with groups already functioning in the neighborhood (community councils, neighborhood clubs, church groups, etc)
• Advertising in neighborhood newspapers, community council newsletters, bulletin boards, mailings, putting a sign on the lot telling people about the future garden, and flyer the neighborhood.
  

Build your P-Patch!

Most sites require major improvements to clear debris, improve the soil, install water and build fences, compost bins and tool sheds. Once the site has been secured, your group can apply to the Department of Neighborhoods for a Neighborhood Matching Grant to provide funds to match your own labor. The staff of the P-Patch Program can give advice, technical assistance and provide examples of successful applications from other gardens. They can lead your group through a garden design process. The P-Patch Trust can also help with volunteers experienced in building and maintaining gardens. There's also a Site Coordinators Committee to provide gardeners with a forum to seek assistance and share stories.

Enjoy the fruits of your labor

All gardens in Seattle's P-Patch Program are organic and gardeners must agree to refrain from use of chemicals.

Produce grown in a P-Patch cannot be sold commercially, though it may be given away to family, friends, strangers, or food banks.

Gardeners pay a small annual fee for the right to garden in a P-Patch plot. The fees cover cost of direct services: use of land, rototilling, water and organic fertilizer. Assistance is available to reduce or waive plot fees for low income gardeners. In addition, all gardeners are expected to do 8 hours of volunteer labor to support their site and/or the P-Patch Program.

Garden sites are managed and maintained by P-Patch users. Assistance to build site leadership and coordination is available.

Once a garden is built the P-Patch provides the following support

P-Patch Program primarily supplies ongoing property management and administrative support:

• Plot monitoring: staff visit each garden at least once a month to monitor plot usage, organic gardening and work with site coordinators on issues that arise.
• Application handling
• Plot assignment
• Maintaining a waitlist
• Gardener turnover – removal and replacement
• Emergencies
• Facilitate outreach
• Materials and Educational resources
• Dispute resolution
• Develop and maintain interagency and outside organizational liaison