Riverside Community Garden — Volunteer Handbook

Welcome

Thank you for joining the Riverside Community Garden. This handbook covers what you need for your first few weeks: when the garden is open, how plots and tools are shared, and who to ask when something is unclear. Keep it somewhere handy, or print it and pin it inside your shed door.

Opening hours

The garden is open from 7:00 to 20:00 between April and September, and from 8:00 to 17:00 for the rest of the year. The main gate code changes on the first Monday of every month and is posted on the noticeboard by the compost bays. Please lock the gate behind you, even in daylight, and never share the code outside the volunteer group.

Plots and shared beds

Each member household looks after one plot. Shared beds along the south fence grow herbs, soft fruit and flowers for everyone, and are tended on the rota below. If you will be away for more than two weeks, tell the plot coordinator so a neighbour can water for you. Plots left untended for six weeks in the growing season may be offered to the waiting list, but we always try to reach you first.

Tools and the shed

Hand tools, wheelbarrows and hoses live in the blue shed. Clean tools before returning them, hang them on their outlines, and report anything broken in the logbook on the shelf. Power tools may only be used after a short induction with a coordinator. Please do not take tools home; there are never enough on a busy Saturday.

Water

Use watering cans where you can, and the hoses only on the shared beds. Water early in the morning or in the evening, when less is lost to the sun. During a hosepipe ban the garden follows the same rules as every household in the borough, and the taps are switched to rainwater butts only.

Compost

Green waste goes in the open bays, starting with the left-hand bay. Do not add cooked food, meat, dairy, diseased plants or perennial weed roots. The compost team turns the bays on the last Sunday of every month and is always glad of an extra pair of hands and a spare fork.

Safety

Wear gloves when handling compost and manure, and wash your hands before eating. The first-aid kit hangs inside the shed door, next to the accident book. Children are welcome when supervised by an adult, but please keep them away from the pond edge and the bonfire area. In an emergency call the emergency services first, then a coordinator.

Weekly rota

Monday and Thursday: watering the shared beds. Wednesday: weeding the paths and edges. Saturday morning: work party, with tea and cake at eleven. Sunday: compost and general tidying. Sign up on the sheet in the shed, or ask a coordinator to add your name.

Events and open days

Twice a year the garden opens to the public: a seed swap in March and a harvest day in September. Volunteers run the plant stall, the tea tent and short tours of the beds. If you can help for an hour or two, put your name on the events list in the shed. Any money raised goes towards new tools, seeds and the water bill, and the accounts are shared at the members' meeting every autumn.

Wildlife

The pond, the log piles and the long grass by the hedge are left alone on purpose. They shelter frogs, hedgehogs, solitary bees and the birds that keep slugs and aphids down. Please do not use slug pellets or chemical sprays anywhere in the garden, and check the long grass for hedgehogs before you strim near the hedge.

Leaving the garden

If you decide to give up your plot, tell the plot coordinator at least a month ahead. Clear out personal items, return any borrowed tools and leave the plot weeded and tidy so the next household can start straight away. You are always welcome back as a rota volunteer.

Contacts

Plot coordinator: Priya, by the noticeboard on Saturdays. Tools and shed: Tom. Compost team: Alex and Morgan. For anything else, leave a note in the post box by the gate and someone will get back to you within a few days.