Nicole,

As a renter myself, I can't tell you how much I appreciate being able to have a garden. I live on the 3rd floor and we plant tomatoes in containers on our patio. We also participated in a community garden on site one year. Our community garden experience was not fruitful due to our neighbors lack of gardening knowledge but we would participate again if they continue to offer the amenity.

As landlords, I know there are things that we can do to make a tenant feel a little more at 'home'. That feeling of 'home' can lead to consistent renewals. These things such as container gardening, painting, other personalization of their space, etc should have rules and limits but I think they are invaluable.

Just my two cents. Have a great day!

Laura Myers
Property Manager

I have had this situation and one way of assisting residents that want some plants and an option I have worked with Lowes and Home Depot (and suppose a local garden center would also work) and had them come in to do seminars on "Plants for the Apartment Profile." They would come in and show how residents can use box and small planting units to create a nice mini-garden on their patio or deck. This program has been highly successful, and it builds relationships with the local business. They would bring plants and planters given away at the event for a drawing to attract people to attend, and they also in many cases were even willing to bring refreshments. They would demonstrate planting techniques, materials, watering concerns, etc. for apartment residents and do a workshop that turned into a community activity. One Lowes even volunteered to come back in three months to judge those that had established mini-gardens based on their recommended profiles and gave a way a $50 and $100 gift card to the winners. Make it something that improves the appearance, while also turning into a community activity and business builder. BTW, we also have received leases from it by the store employees after building the relationship. Good luck.

Nicole- community gardens are the way to go. If at all possible I suggest raised beds. My community had 114 "plots" when I first came here. Many residents did a wonderful job, but there were those who lost interest half way though the year. The following garden season I created a garden addendum that had to be signed in order to get a plot. This made all the difference in the world, as residents knew what was expected and they could lose the plot if rules weren't followed. It also helped the gardeners to self govern as everyone wants their gardens to look great and if someone was making the area look bad they would call them out on it. By the 3rd year gardens were a hot item. Residents would start in Dec. asking about plots, wanting more plots, etc. If someone moved who had a plot, my avid gardeners would race to the office to try and snag that extra space. That year the garden area was so beautiful that one of my residents held her wedding there.
I truly believe this is an up and coming amenity that is going to be extremely popular. As food and gas prices increase people are looking for ways to save money and eat healthy. Small plot gardens are the way to go. Mine are so popular that we added an additional 72 plots this year.
Lawrence mentioned having the gardens judged, we do that as well. We name a gardener of the year each season one for veggies and one for flowers. I have the local police dept come in and judge each year as part of our National Night Out celebration (we joke that the gardeners are so competitive I would rather have the guys with the badges and guns do the judging). I bough trowels from the local dollar store and had little placards engraved with the persons name and "gardener of the year 2011 veggies". They can then show off their awards to friends and family.
If you would like to share your email address I would be happy to send you some before and after photos and help you in any way possible.

I have a number of apartment communities that I work with and I am interested in starting a community garden program at a few of the properties. Does anyone have Rules and Regulations that you use for your community gardens that you would be willing to share?

Aprille Cole, Director of Leasing
[email protected]

(Editor Note: If anybody has this type of file, feel free to upload it to the file bank so everybody can see it!)

The community I work at allows people to plant there patio areas outside and in but there are rules. No vegetable plants, nothing with prickers or thorns and it must be kept up and in moderation (no jungles). The residents love it and it makes them feel as if they are "home"