ITHACA COMMUNITY GARDENS RULES AND POLICIES

As an entirely volunteer-run organization, our well-being depends on our ability to maintain a welcoming and supportive atmosphere in the Gardens. We are located on public lands and are charged with operating the Gardens as a public resource for the community. As such, our membership reflects the full diversity of Ithaca’s population. We ask that members treat each other well, avoid potentially divisive topics, and leave their differences outside our gates.

Annual Membership & Plot Use Period
Annual membership and plot use period begins with registration each year and ends, if not renewed, on March 1. Plots are usually 16.5’ by 17’ and average about 280 sq. ft., with half-plots also available.

Plot Renewals
We send membership renewal instructions every February, with a deadline in early March. If you want to keep your plot next year, it’s your responsibility to get the form and payment back to us on time.

Fees & Second Plot Policy
The yearly membership fee is $20 and a plot use fee is charged for each plot worked by the same person or household: full plot fee of $50, half plot fee of $25. If there are vacant plots after May 31st, it may be possible to obtain use of a 2nd plot or half plot on a seasonal basis (non-renewable), depending on the demand for first plots by new gardeners. To be eligible, a gardener must be current on their service hours contribution and their first plot must be fully planted and well managed. Persons on the New Gardener Wait List are given priority access to available plots so that the Gardens remain accessible to as many households in the Ithaca community as possible.

Service Contribution
Members contribute at least 8 service hours per season per assigned plot for the upkeep of the Ithaca Community Gardens or pay $10 per hour not worked, and attend at least one member meeting, board meeting, social gathering or educational event per season. The Gardens only exist because we all work together to make them what they are! Click here for more details. Members are encouraged to attend:

• The annual meeting/election in the fall (date and time to be announced)
• Board meetings to present concerns, project proposals, or learn more about the Gardens
• Special gardens events or workshops of interest

Plantings
Plots may be used for ordinary vegetable and flower gardening. Perennial crops such as asparagus, raspberries, and strawberries are permitted, but no trees or tall shrubs may be planted.

Plot Maintenance
Keep it clean and green! You are expected to keep your plot neat and free of weeds and debris. The Gardens provides some composted manure mix and wood-bark mulch each year; you can bring more mulch material on your own. Arrange for a friend to care for your plot if you go on vacation. 

• You must begin working your plot by May 1, starting with a 6-inch border on all four sides of your plot that is free of weeds, rocks, fencing, and plants. Be sure to dig the weeds out by the roots. Then we recommend putting down a layer of cardboard with mulch on top: straw, wood chips, or grass clippings. This will result in a 12-inch shared walkable pathway between your plot and any adjacent plots, and will help keep your plants from growing into the pathways or neighboring plots, which is important! Plants that tend to sprawl, such as squash family, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, sunflowers, etc., are best planted toward the center of the plot; if they are close to the plot border they will grow into other plots and/or the pathways.
• WEEDS: To avoid persistent weed problems in your plot, first ensure that the plot is weed-free by digging it thoroughly at the beginning of the season, before planting. Then regularly weed your plot, at least once a week! Dry the weeds in your plot and then put them into the compost piles, except for the bad ones such as celandine, nutsedge, bindweed roots, and flowering weeds (which ideally will be removed before they flower!). Details & pictures of these invasive weeds are found here. You can either take these weeds home to throw in your trash, or put them into the “weed-seed” compost pile by the storage area on the railroad side.
• Plots that haven’t been worked by the first week of June, or are overgrown with weeds later in the season, may be mowed or taken back by the Gardens. If you want to keep the plot but need an extension, be sure to notify plotmonitor@ithacacommunitygardens.org.
• If you are contacted by the plot monitoring team or the board regarding the condition of your plot, please respond promptly with your circumstances & intentions, so that the issue can be resolved. We are happy to share techniques to solve any problems, and meet with you at the Gardens if that will be helpful. We will clarify what needs to be done, and allow time to accomplish it. Work teams may be able to help.

Plant Debris, Garden-Generated Compost, and Manure-Compost Mix
Place all excess plant materials in the compost piles, after chopping into 8″ pieces. Shake dirt off plant roots — it’s a good practice to dry out weeds for a few days and then you can knock more of the dirt off into your plot. Only material generated at the Gardens may go into the compost. You can join Cooperative Extension’s Compost Learning Collaborative for a place to take your kitchen scraps; they have a site right at the Gardens! Set large woody materials to the side (see separate stalk bin on HW side), and rocks go into designated rock piles. The abundant supply of garden-generated mature compost is for use by all gardeners. Please take as much as you want for use in your plot: use a straight-edge shovel and shovel from the edge of the pile. The supply of manure-compost mix from Cornell is limited, however; please don’t take more than your share (3 wheelbarrow loads per plot).

Path Maintenance
Do not pile rocks, weeds or other debris in the paths, or raise or lower the soil level right next to the path. Keep it clear so the mowers can do their job! Also be sure that your gardening activities are not shrinking the paths adjacent to your plot—they must be wide enough for the mower to pass by. And do not toss things over the fence, we mow and maintain those areas carefully to keep woodchucks away.

Water
Please use water wisely as it is one of our biggest expenses and rates increase each year. Report (or fix) leakages right away: notify water@ithacacommunitygardens.org, and call Peter Fry at 607-229-0332. Watering cans are provided for hand-watering. Save your own containers to bring water in early spring and late fall, when the City water is turned off. To conserve water:

• add organic matter to the soil to increase water holding capacity
• mulch well with leaves, woodchips, straw, etc.
• water the roots rather than the top of the plants
• water in the evening or morning to reduce evaporation
• check the weather report before watering – don’t water if rain is predicted.

Stakes, Trellises, Raised Beds
Interior plot trellises are allowed, but they must not shade neighbor’s plantings or block access to the paths or main fence around the gardens. Keep trellises at least 1 foot inside plot. Please keep your stakes at least 6″ inside plot. Do not remove any of the corner boundary stakes, and please notify the Registration Team at icg.reg.asst@gmail.com if any of the boundary stakes are missing. Installation of raised beds is allowed, as long as they are at least 6″ inside the plot, and as long as they are not built with treated lumber. If leaving the Gardens, please remove trellises, tomato cages, your stakes, and other foreign materials. Plot perimeter fences are not allowed.

Tools/Wheelbarrows
Tools belonging to the Gardens are marked “Community Gardens” or “ICG.” Never remove them from the garden site—they are all we have! Clean and replace tools and wheelbarrows back into the sheds. Lock the shed before you go. Don’t assume other gardeners are using the tool shed—just check that the shed door is locked right before leaving.

USE TOOLS CORRECTLY to reduce wear and damage. Digging in rocky or heavy clay soil is easier on both the tool and the user when the soil is moist. The correct tool for removing rocks is a pick-axe for smaller rocks, or a pry bar for larger rocks. Some common tool mistakes:

• Don’t pry rocks out with a garden fork — this bends the tines or breaks the handle.
• Don’t chip away at rocky soil or pry out larger rocks with a round point shovel — this wears out or bends the point and can break the handle.
• Don’t hook out roots or rocks with the end of a garden rake — this bends tines and breaks the connection to the handle.
  

Visitors 
Friends & family members are welcome to the garden site; please monitor your children’s behavior and whereabouts at all times. Please keep dogs from disturbing other people or their plots, with a leash if necessary, and please dispose of dog waste off the gardens property (see trash note next).

Trash 
Please take out any trash you generate at the garden. We have no trash service on-site. The trash cans in the sheds are for abandoned trash. Once filled any gardener can dispose of the trash at home for service credit.

Plastic and Mulch
The Gardens provides wood chip mulch. You can provide your own mulch as well, such as straw, leaves (not black walnut), grass clippings. You may use floating row covers and landscape fabric if you remove it at the end of the growing season. Black plastic sheeting mulch is not allowed in your plot, as it adds plastic fragments to the soil. Temporary short-term use of tarps is allowed.

Fertilizer and Pesticides
The Gardens are organic, so do not use “chemical” fertilizers, sewage sludge or non-organic pesticides. If in doubt, ask if you can use a particular item on your plot.

Email, Email List (Riseup.net), Mailings and Bulletin Boards
Keep informed about garden news and events: read messages on our email list, mailings and the bulletin board on each tool shed. Watch them for garden news and important dates. All new gardeners with email addresses are automatically signed up to the email list. Feel free to post appropriate gardening announcements. Paper mailings are expensive and kept to a minimum! Members who want lots of Gardens interaction can join the ICG WhatsApp group.

Liability
Please report any potentially dangerous conditions to one of the Gardens leaders. You agree to not hold the Gardens or the City of Ithaca liable for injuries to you or your guests while on Community Gardens property.

Other Plots
Please be considerate of your gardening neighbors. Do not take plants or produce from their plots, and don’t allow your weeds or plants to invade their space.

Illegal Activities
Do not engage in illegal activities while on Community Gardens property. Failure to comply with this and other Gardens policies may result in the loss of your plot.