Garden Rules... Must be followed... OR ELSE!!

Being a member of a Community Garden is definitely a commitment... There are some important Garden Rules that must be followed in order to continue your membership! Each Community Garden has their own set of Rules that must be adhered to, in addition to the Oahu Community Garden Rules & Regulations, which can be found here: http://www1.honolulu.gov/parks/rules/garden.pdf

If these R&R's are not followed, you can be subject to citations and possible revocation of your membership & plot!

Some Garden Rule Highlights:
1) Monthly Garden Meetings must be attended, a minimum of once per Quarter
*In these meetings, we address concerns of other members & vote on changes to our Garden Rules.
*The meetings can get very heated at times, because of different issues that are brought up & the eccentric personalities of the members
2) Participate in at least once in a Community Garden Clean-Up per Quarter
*Involves cleaning up common areas of the garden & specific planned projects
3) A Mailbox with your plot number clearly shown must be somewhere visible in your space
*Although these days we have e-mail to communicate, we also receive notices in our boxes advising us of updates in the Garden
4) No planting of fruit trees or plants that grow more than 5 feet!

Here is a map of the 10 Community Garden Plots around the island.... It shows the amount of Plots at each Garden, along with the location in which they can be found!

Creating Tiers & Turning Soil Before Planting!

Plot #19 is at the very top of the Garden, on somewhat of a slope & also in a shady spot... So I thought it would be a good idea to construct a few tiers to allow for the placement of plants that needed more or less sun! I noticed that a lot of other gardeners had sectioned off their plots & it seemed to make it easier to get around the plants & for watering purposes...

Here's a picture of my boyfriend Nate & I, after a few hours of shoveling dirt and constructing the tiers with scrap pieces of wood we found around the garden... We also turned the soil with some horse manure we got from a friend in Waimanalo. We decided to do this before putting any of our plants in the ground, to ensure it had enough nutrients in the soil!




Here is a link to find out more info about obtaining your own Community Garden Plot:

http://www1.honolulu.gov/parks/hbg/crgp.htm

There are 10 Community Garden's across the island of Oahu!

Once the hard work was done... the plot was cleared!

Day 4 Progress...

3 Types of Tomatoes, Green Onion, Jalapenos, Habaneros, Thai Chili and Manoa lettuce to start the yummy growing goodness!

Garden Adventure begins May 2011...

Early one Saturday morning, I showed up at a community garden meeting to sign up for my very own 10x10 garden plot :) It was suggested to me by a few friends who already had their own plot. Getting to the meeting early paid off, because there is usually a wait list for plots to be distributed at community gardens around the island. Thankfully I was the first one there to sign an application & get my spot on the wait list.  Luckily for me, there were a few plots given out that day... but the best part was that I got the exact plot I had eyed up before the meeting! Plot #19 was now mines, sitting in a shady spot under a banyan tree, it was perfect! For a measly $20 membership fee per year, which included water, what a deal!  Now I had the opportunity to grow my own flowers, produce, almost anything I wanted.  After spending money on simple items such as green onions and cilantro at the farmer's market the last few years, I finally decided to give my own gardening skills a try!

And so the clean up commenced, before the gardening could start!  Some fun, fun, fun in the sun is to come....