Thursday, January 20, 2011

Good Day....Not so good Day

Today started out very well. Since we have the materials list complete for the plots and other things we need for the garden, I decided to go out and see if I could find some bargains. I started out at The Big Orange, home improvement store. I really don't like this place and avoid going there if possible. However, it is close to home, so I started there. I found heavy piece of damaged plywood for 55 cents....great! It was the exact size I needed to build the second germinating table. I stopped at a couple of other stores, priced some materials and then decided to go to the plots.

We are expecting another snow storm tonight, so I thought I would take a couple of good pictures and haul away a little of the garbage over there. I took the pictures, picked up a few things and headed home. As soon as I got in the door, the lady from the community gardens called. It seems as though the county did not forward all of the paperwork to her for the gardens until today. I don't know if I mentioned in a previous post that the community gardens are under new management this year with a different department for the county. Guess what??? The plots that she assigned to us are spoken for by someone who has had them for years!! So, she gave me a list of seven other plots and I headed back over there.

I decided on plots 7 & 8. They measure 37' wide by 45' deep. There are some old overgrown raspberries in the back and no structure on them.


I called her when I got back home with our decision. She was going in to a meeting with the Director of Farmland Preservation and was going to discuss the issues with the gardens with him. Hopefully, these will be the plot that we get and the Community Gardens will be managed a bit better under this department.

So, I'm back to square one laying out the plot plan!!


17 comments:

  1. Sounds like you had the rug pulled out from under you! :-(
    Just hang in there and trust that something will materialize for you. In the meantime, my fingers and toes are all crossed.

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  2. Patricia, Thanks a bunch. I'm sure that we will get plots. I just want to make sure that these are going to be the ones we get. I will be talking to her in the morning.

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  3. Robin, it is going to work out beautifully. With your talent you can overlay the old plan, make a few adjustments and in no time you'll be on your way. ;)

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  4. Oh so sorry to hear that. But you know everything works out for a reason :0)

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  5. Oh no! Sorry to hear you got new plots! But score on the inexpensive plywood!!

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  6. If they ever decide which plots you are getting, you can rest assured they will be yours for years to come. Or until someone else takes over management of them, and messes the whole thing up again :-(

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  7. Maybe since those raspberries are old and the roots are established, you can clean them up and get a great harvest of raspberries from them. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise, although sometimes those are hard to see.

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  8. I am very sure that those plots will work great for you. But it is frustrating going back to step one. Hopefully this change will be for the better end result.

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  9. Oh, so sorry to hear that-it's gotta be frustrating. Hopefully it is SETTLED now and you can continue with your plans!

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  10. That must have come as a big disappointment but hopefully things will work out just fine in the end - our allotments are managed by the council who tend to try and forget they exist most of the time and then cause problems when they rememeber then again!

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  11. Thanks Everyone for all of your encouraging words...I really appreciate them!

    I think that the problem lies in the change of management. It seems like the rules of the gardens were not followed and enforced in the past. All of the plots that we originally requests had definitely not been gardened for at least a year. The rules are, if you don't actively use them, you are not able to get a plot for at least one year and you MUST pay your dues before the end of the year or your plot will be offered to someone on the waiting list.

    We are the first new gardeners on the list to be assigned plots. I just want to be assured that the plots we are assigned are really going to be ours. We have a lot of materials to find and purchase to get them set-up.....and it would really be a mess if we started working on them and someone showed up and thought that they were still theirs.

    I will keep you posted!

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  12. How frustrating! I hope this is all resolved for you soon so you can get back to the fun part...planning your garden.

    I am sure whichever plot you are assigned, you will make the most of it.

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  13. Hmmmmm, That's a bit of a disappointment for sure. Hopefully once the allotment you get is settled upon, it will be yours for years to come. We have community gardens here but not as large as yours. The community gardens are mostly churches that allow gardens on extra land. These are basically 4X8 beds and usually don't cost anything other than an agreement to give the extra produce to the food kitchens of the city. It's a pretty good deal.

    Have a great garden day.

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  14. Rachel, I'm sure it will get resolved soon. I am not working on any more layouts until I know for sure!

    David, We are planning to keep our plots for a long time...unless, we move to the country and have a bit of land.

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  15. I'm crossing my fingers that you get your plots!!

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  16. ugh, these things never seem to go off without a hitch! I hope everything gets resolved soon, I know you are anxious to get everything planned out. Nice find at the Big Orange, I feel the same way about the place but it's a necessary evil sometimes!

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  17. Oh, back to the drawing board! Well, look at the bright side. At least you still have a plot to plant. You could be plotless. That would really be bad.
    ~~Lori

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