Hello, Has anyone on the list put raised vegetable beds into parking spaces on the street? We have, on our narrow tree lined streets, a problem with traffic cutting through to avoid main artery traffic lights. After they cut through they roll through - the four way stops, that is. People will do anything to keep from being prevented from going from Point A to Point B for even 30 seconds.
Trucks, vans, school buses -- you name it. Snapple trucks, Naked Juice trucks -- all cutting through. The traffic department tells us t hat, although people think stop signs and speed bumps slow traffic, they are not very good solutions. (You already know the luck we are having with stop signs, and I have video of people slowing slightly just to get over a speed bump and then speeding up till the next). One way that cars are slowed is to make the streets that should be free of through traffic harder to speed on. They will place planted bumpouts at various points in the street to force traffic to wend its way around them. There are many interesting "parklet" ideas where parking spaces are converted into temporary or seasonal places to sit under an umbrella, have a coffee, or play checkers, but so far I have not found a tomato bed! I figure everybody loves to grow tomatoes, there is more sun on a north-south running street than in many back yards with mature trees, and it gets people back into their f ront yards and enjoying each other's company instead of retreating to the back yard to avoid the noise and being on public display to tons of traffic. Our city has agreed to the concept -- we still have to write a proposal and get the neighborhood association to sign off on it -- and we are brainstorming about the best designs. I am hoping that your experience with community gardens, raised beds, or gardening near congestion and traffic may help us come up with design considerations we have not thought of. The beds probably need to be 20" high or more, and surrounded by hardware cloth up maybe 6 feet so that animals cannot enter and passersby are not tempted to pick some food for dinner. It's a pretty low key neighborhood so I think we might be ok there. I think it would open like an armoire for watering, weeding, harvesting, and then be kept closed. The beds would probably be more like planters and if we could put some kind of auto watering reservoir in the bases, the weight of 8 lbs/gallon of water would help keep them from being moved or removed until intended. Of course we have to check dimensions with fire department and make sure emergency vehicles and trash collectors can get through. We like the raised bed corners from Gardeners' Supply, and they could be made even easier to use of the screw holes were drilled on the outside face of the brackets instead of inside. Inside, soil must be pushed away from the screws to remove them and the heads can corrode (use stainless teel!). If outside, at the end of the season the beds can be disassembled, stored in a compact way (maybe even in a resident's garage), and the soil can be donated to residents nearby who would like to improve their garden soil. Watering still has to be accomplished, so somebody has to have a long hose or a spigot near the street. What is great about it is that instead of the city figuring gardens are frivolous and cost extra money, we can convince the traffic department that gardens an be used to slow traffic and divert through traffic from residential streets. These beds are going to be pennies on the dollar compared to a permanently installed "chicane" that is landscaped and intrudes into the street to slow traffic. They can cost in our area $28,000. Now the same amount of money looks like a clever way to save money, not an onerous extra cost. The reality is that sometimes people in community gardens don't take good care of their beds, and we don't know how successful we will be at convincing people to take care of these. But it's better than 177 cars per hour through the nearest intersection! I invite you to share your experiences and any input on similar efforts, and I promise to share back whatever we do and learn, including the mistakes. Many thanks, Chris Reid Springdale Village Stamford, CT _______________________________________________ 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.communitygarden.org