Showerthought: I just learned that over 50% of community garden plots get abandoned by mid-summer

I was reading a report from the local parks department here in Austin and found out that more than half of the plots in our city's community gardens are left unused by August. People sign up in spring, plant a few things, then stop showing up when it gets hot or the weeds get bad. I was honestly shocked because I always thought those waitlists meant everyone was super dedicated. Has anyone else seen this happen in their town's gardens?

2 comments

2 Comments

leo5671d ago

Those waitlists are a joke in a lot of cities. They're mostly people who think they want to garden but have zero clue what it actually takes. The real question is whether these programs are just checking a box on a city planner's list or if they actually provide any real support after the initial signup. What did the report say about the condition of the plots that were abandoned, were they just overgrown with weeds or had the soil gone totally bad from neglect?

christopher59416h ago

The South Austin garden off Menchaca had a 60% dropout rate by July last year. I used to buy into the idea that waitlists proved how committed people were. But then I walked through that place in August. Half the plots were just dirt with dead tomato skeletons and knee-high bermuda grass. The ones that got watered still looked okay, but the dry ones were basically unusable by fall. Changed my whole view on what those programs actually need.