Suzy, As I advocated a few weeks back on the listserv here- Press Releases! Put one together along with some fine pictures and blanket issue it to as many local papers as possible. Specific events like garden celebrations, classes, and/or announcements about what you're all about seem to have worked well for us. More specifics you can provide the better.
Be sure and collaborate with the editors/journalists as much as possible to ensure you know what issue they will be printed in and how you can develop an ongoing relationship - often papers will continue to print for you if you work on sending them info on an ongoing basis. Don't be shy about going out a few area codes away from the garden either, you never know what type of amazing responses you might get until you try! -- *Bernard J. Pino* *Executive Director* *Heartland Gardens, Inc.* 16836 McGregor Blvd. Suite 4 Fort Myers, FL 33908 Office 239.689.4249 www.heartlandgardens.org On Wed, Jan 5, 2011 at 1:00 PM, < community_garden-requ...@list.communitygarden.org> wrote: > Send Community_garden mailing list submissions to > community_garden@list.communitygarden.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > > http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org > > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > community_garden-requ...@list.communitygarden.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > community_garden-ow...@list.communitygarden.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Community_garden digest..." > > Today's Topics: > > 1. starting a community garden (Suzy Stelmaszek) > 2. Re: starting a community garden (Fred Conrad) > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: "Suzy Stelmaszek" <s...@tmarchitects.com> > To: <community_garden@list.communitygarden.org> > Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2011 10:58:07 -0500 > Subject: [Community_garden] starting a community garden > Hello, > > > > We started a community garden two years ago in Norfolk, VA. We received > a small grant and were able to develop about 30 family plots, which we > offer to interested families for "free", in exchange for working 2-3 > volunteer hours per week. However, we have not had much luck generating > interest in the community, and after two years only have six families! > We have knocked on doors, gone to local civic league meetings, written > articles in the local online paper, and put up flyers at the farmer's > market. My question is, what have you done to promote your community > garden? > > > > Thank you, > > > > Suzy Stelmaszek LEED AP > > TYMOFF+ MOSS ARCHITECTS > > 512 Botetourt Street > > Norfolk, VA 23510 > > 757.627.0013 x 16 > > 757.319.7105 mobile > > www.tmarchitects.com <http://www.tmarchitects.com> > > > > The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to > which it is addressed and may contain proprietary, business-confidential > and/or privileged material. If you are not the intended recipient of > this message you are hereby notified that any use, review, > retransmission, dissemination, distribution, reproduction or any action > taken in reliance upon this message is prohibited. If you received this > in error please contact the sender and delete the material from any > computer. Any views expressed in this message are those of the > individual sender and may not necessarily reflect the views of this > company. > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: < > http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20110105/89c54e12/attachment.html > > > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: "Fred Conrad" <fred.con...@acfb.org> > To: "Suzy Stelmaszek" <s...@tmarchitects.com>, < > community_garden@list.communitygarden.org> > Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2011 12:51:37 -0500 > Subject: Re: [Community_garden] starting a community garden > not that this is going to be any help to you, but it's raining outside > so I'm going with typing rather than mud-therapy. > > first off, let me say that, as far as I'm concerned, Norfolk has one the > greatest arboretum/botanical gardens anywhere. love the size of it, the > water features, the library upstairs in that roundish building. cypress > knees and cardinal flowers. it's fantastic. you could always tell when > you were nearing the rose garden because you could smell the sevin > before you could see the roses (there's a berm around it). I wish we > had an arboretum here (ours is a couple hours away in Athens). I wish > we had water like that, too. of course, being adjacent to the airport > is a little distracting. > > second, back in the old days of community gardening, the "if you build > it they will come" model rarely proved successful. but recently with > the local food movement even that approach has been working for a lot of > people. you don't mention proximity to senior centers or senior towers > or other natural constituents, so is it safe to assume that you may be > in a low-density area? your best shot at salvation may be one or two > really charismatic gardeners who attract a lot of their friends to the > garden. maybe you should check the local Slow Food chapter, they may > have a receptive community for you, might organize local workdays for > that matter that would introduce the garden to a lot of locavore-ish > type people. > > I'm just winging it. you might also approach other community gardens > about marketing your garden to their waiting lists. > > the worst case scenario would be that if a group of well meaning people > of one socio-economic strata built the garden in a neighborhood they > don't live in for the benefit of residents who may be experiencing a > different socio-economic life journey. that could potentially > discourage participation. if you don't fall into that category, you > will likely prevail and thrive. sooner or later. just hang in there. > > and hold on a few minutes, somebody with a more thought-through answer > will probably post in a few minutes, then you can delete me. > > -fgc > Atlanta, GA > > > -----Original Message----- > From: community_garden-boun...@list.communitygarden.org > [mailto:community_garden-boun...@list.communitygarden.org] On Behalf Of > Suzy Stelmaszek > Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2011 10:58 AM > To: community_garden@list.communitygarden.org > Subject: [Community_garden] starting a community garden > > Hello, > > > > We started a community garden two years ago in Norfolk, VA. We received > a small grant and were able to develop about 30 family plots, which we > offer to interested families for "free", in exchange for working 2-3 > volunteer hours per week. However, we have not had much luck generating > interest in the community, and after two years only have six families! > We have knocked on doors, gone to local civic league meetings, written > articles in the local online paper, and put up flyers at the farmer's > market. My question is, what have you done to promote your community > garden? > > > > Thank you, > > > > Suzy Stelmaszek LEED AP > > TYMOFF+ MOSS ARCHITECTS > > 512 Botetourt Street > > Norfolk, VA 23510 > > 757.627.0013 x 16 > > 757.319.7105 mobile > > www.tmarchitects.com <http://www.tmarchitects.com> > > > > The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to > which it is addressed and may contain proprietary, business-confidential > and/or privileged material. If you are not the intended recipient of > this message you are hereby notified that any use, review, > retransmission, dissemination, distribution, reproduction or any action > taken in reliance upon this message is prohibited. If you received this > in error please contact the sender and delete the material from any > computer. Any views expressed in this message are those of the > individual sender and may not necessarily reflect the views of this > company. > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communi > tygarden.org/attachments/20110105/89c54e12/attachment.html> > _______________________________________________ > The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of > ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and > to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org > > To post an e-mail to the list: > community_garden@list.communitygarden.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: > http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.c > ommunitygarden.org > Confidentiality Notice: The information contained in this e-mail message > is legally privileged and confidential > > information intended only for the use of the individual or entity to whom > it is addressed. If the reader of this > > message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any > use, dissemination, distribution or copy > > of this e-mail message and attachments is strictly prohibited. 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