Festival Beach Community Garden
Rules for Maintenance
- Gardeners are responsible for keeping their plots actively worked and free of invasive weeds.
If you can’t care for your plot, please notify the Steering Council by emailing orientation@festivalbeachgarden.org - Gardeners are responsible for keeping the pathways around their garden maintained. You
can use mulch that we usually have available, or you can mow. - Gardeners must keep the pathways clear for easy, safe walking and maneuvering of
wheelbarrows. Do not leave plant materials, rocks, or tools in the pathways. Place garden
hoses coiled and to the side of the pathways. - Gardeners are responsible for maintaining the community areas of the garden. These areas
include: native plant beds, community herb bed, orchard, grapes, blackberries, tool shed,
community gathering spaces, entrance area, wildlife habitat area, and compost area. Others
may be created as the garden develops. - All maintenance requirements apply for gardeners who travel for an extended period of time
yet want to keep their plot when they return. If you must leave your plot for an extended
period of time, you are required to find an interim gardener for your plot, who will be subject
to all the rules of the community garden including Community Work Hours requirement.
The interim gardener must register as a gardener, provide contact information, and attend an
orientation with the orientation team. If it is not possible to find an interim gardener, the plot
must be left weed free and a cover crop planted. You will be subject to monthly Work Hours
fees unless someone provides the Work Hours requirement on your behalf during the period
of absence.
Enforcement of Maintenance Rules
- A gardener who cannot maintain his or her plot(s) for a temporary period but wishes to return
to gardening within the following season must cover the plot(s) in a cover crop to ensure that
weeds are controlled. - Site Managers and members of the Orientation Team will function as Plot Maintenance
Monitors, and will contact any gardener whose plot shows the following conditions:
-
- Overgrown with weeds
- Overgrown with Bermuda grass
- Not being actively gardened
3. The gardener will then have two (2) weeks to correct the violation. It is the gardener’s responsibility to make arrangements with a Plot Maintenance Monitor if the gardener will not be able to clean up the violation by the two-week deadline.
4. If sufficient improvement has not occurred by the end of the two-week compliance period. A
plot forfeiture letter will be sent to the gardener, and a copy will be sent to the Treasurer. If
the gardener wishes to continue gardening, he/she must give notice of this intention, in
writing, to both the Treasurer (festivalbeachtreasurer@gmail.com)and the Work Hours Monitor (workhours@festivalbeachgarden.org)within one (1) week of receiving the forfeiture letter. If no written
intention is received and the violation is not cleared up at the end of the two-week period, the
gardener’s plot will be forfeited, and no money will be refunded. If written intention is
received that the gardener wants to continue to garden, but the condition continues to occur
within a six-month garden season, forfeiture of the plot is automatic and no deposits will be
refunded.
Community Work Requirements
- Each gardener is required to contribute at least two (2) hours of work each month to Festival
Beach Community Garden. These required labor hours are a way for all gardeners to participate
in the up-keep and smooth operation of the community garden. Gardeners can choose to pay $20
per month in lieu of the work hours. Everyone has the opportunity to work the required time by
participating in community workdays. - Community Workdays take place every month on the 2nd Saturday
The main focus of the Community Workday is to maintain the common areas of the garden
(areas that are shared by everyone). - If a gardener does not attend the Community Workday, he or she is required to fulfill the 2-hour
requirement sometime before the end of the month. The Work Day Leader will leave a list of
tasks left unfinished from the Workday in the Work Hours Notebook, which can be found in the
tool shed. The gardener is required to use that notebook to document community tasks he or she
does during the month. Gardeners who do not work their required Work Hours will be
charged $20.00 for each month in which they fail to meet the work requirements. The Work Hours Monitor will send payment notices at the end of the month. - Gardeners who do not work their required Work Hours will be charged $20 for each month in which they fail to meet the work requirements. Gardeners agree either to work the required hours each month, or, without having to be asked, to pay the required fee within 30 days. Work fees are paid through this link: https://austinparks.org/support-festival-beach-community-garden/. A gardener who fails to contribute the required work hours for six or more months during the year will have their plot to be subject to forefeiture unless they request and receive a waiver from the Steering Counsil based on extenuating circumstances.
Garedn Security
- [As of Jan. 2024 Language is being reviewed by the Steering Council]
FESTIVAL BEACH COMMUNITY GARDEN 