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What a community garden group writes down: water use, tool storage, path upkeep, untended plots, compost duty and how conflicts are settled.
A shared garden needs written rules about water use, tool storage, path upkeep and what happens to a plot that nobody tends. These four areas generate conflict when they are left to assumption, and a written rule is the reference point when two gardeners disagree.
Water use covers who waters when, how the water point is shared, and what happens in dry weeks. Tool storage covers where tools live, who is responsible for returning them, and what condition they are kept in. Path upkeep covers who clears and mends the paths between beds.
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Untended plots are the hardest rule to write. The group has to decide what 'nobody tends' means in practice — how long a plot can go without work before it is reassigned — and what happens to the produce and the soil when it is.
Compost duty sits alongside these: compost works best with a carbon-to-nitrogen ratio near 25-30:1, mixing green materials like kitchen scraps with brown materials like dry leaves, and that only happens if someone is responsible for turning the pile and adding browns when the greens pile up.
Conflicts are settled by the written rules first. When the rules do not cover a case, the group decides it together and amends the rules — so the next dispute has a reference point. The rules should be short enough to read at the gate and specific enough to act on.
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