Waitlist and plot availability:  As individual plots become available, the Executive Committee will move through the waitlist in the following order for right of refusal: 

1) Communal members who have gardened with us for a full season

2) People who have been on the waitlist for a full season or more, in the order of joining the waitlist

3) After the first two groups, communal members who have gardened less than a full season join the regular waitlist in order of joining.

Service Hours:  All members who have not “opted out” by paying a higher fee to cover garden maintenance are required to contribute 1.5 hours of maintenance in common areas per month. These hours can be completed by participating in group work days, doing general garden maintenance, making repairs, volunteering at events and other special projects approved by the Executive Committee.  Please remember to report hours to the membership chair for record.

Communal Beds and Food Forest: The design and planting of these areas is managed by Subcommittees*.  Judicious Harvest** from all communal beds is allowed by anyone actively participating in maintenance of communal beds and the food forest (planting, watering, weeding and feeding).  Please communicate with the plot subcommittee before making changes that might disrupt the work of others, including planting new crops and removing plants.  Remember that plants in the communal beds and the food forest are to be shared collectively among members of the garden.  You are planting for the community, not for yourself. Do not plan to harvest all of what you sow. A personal plot is the place for things over which you feel ownership. The only exception to judicious harvest is Trial Plantings*** and large items that are not easily shared.  Large items will be shared on a Communal Harvest**** day.

*Subcommittees:  A group of individuals that collaborates on the design, planning, and planting of communal beds.  Participating in subcommittees is optional for individual memberships and mandatory for communal memberships.  There is no limit to the number of subcommittees one can be involved with, but please only commit to what you can handle and inform other participants if you must step away.

** Judicious Harvest: Judicious: Having, showing, or done with good judgment or sense.  Leave enough for others to harvest, “never take the last one.”  Remember, all communal members and individual plot members who participate in at least one subcommittee have the right to harvest judiciously from all communal beds and the food forest.  You are not just sharing with your subcommittee, you are planting for the garden community.

*** Trial Plantings:  Experimental plantings will be marked with a flag or sign “do not harvest.”  These plants are being tested for their success in our climate. In order to properly gauge their success, they need to be examined throughout growth without interference.  Please leave them alone unless specifically instructed otherwise.  If they yield a successful harvest, it will be shared communally.  If you would like to trial a plant in a communal bed, please communicate with the Executive Committee first.

**** Communal Harvest: Large items grown in communal beds or the food forest that are not easily divided will be shared by “splitting” or consuming as a group in the garden.  These items include, but are not limited to: winter squash, pumpkin, calabaza, pineapples, melon, ripe bananas, and papayas.  Communal harvest will typically occur on s Saturday morning or on a work day.

A note on papayas and bananas: These fruits can be harvested and enjoyed when immature/green and fully ripe.  Since the majority of gardeners prefer them when ripe, please do not over harvest immature fruit.