'AITA for telling wealthy neighbors they can’t have a plot in the community garden?'

"AITA for turning part of our public park into a community garden just for low-income families and telling my wealthy neighbors they can’t have a plot?"

I’m 29F and live in a mid sized city where most of us in the older apartment buildings don’t have yards. There’s a little neighborhood park two blocks away that was basically just patchy grass and a couple benches forever. Last year I got obsessed with the idea of a vegetable garden after watching the kids from the low-income complex across the street play there every day with literally nothing to do.

I spent months dealing with the city, got official permission to use a sunny unused corner, and then basically lived there on weekends; hauling in soil, building raised beds, running a GoFundMe that raised like $800 from random neighbors on Facebook.

I put up flyers only in the apartment complex, the food pantry, and the library asking for low-income families who wanted to grow their own food and had no yard space. We capped it at 10 plots so it wouldn’t turn into chaos. Ended up with 9 families (most of them are single moms and a couple grandmas raising grandkids) and it’s been magic.

Kids are out there watering and picking cherry tomatoes, people are swapping recipes, one lady cried because she hadn’t tasted home grown okra since she moved here from Mississippi. Here’s where it blows up. my across the street neighbor let's call her “Jenifer” (50s, lives in the big new condos with the private rooftop terraces) saw it one day and decided she wanted a plot for fun.

She already has a huge backyard with a koi pond, but okay. I politely told her we’re prioritizing families who genuinely have no growing space and can’t afford fresh produce, and we actually have a waitlist of people who do need it.

She lost it. Said I was discriminating, that public park means public access, and if I didn’t give her and her friends plots she’d get the neighborhood association and the city to shut the whole thing down. Now half the condo people are chiming in on NextDoor calling it “exclusionary” and “classist.”

I’m gutted. I sank my own money and a million hours into this because I wanted to help people who are struggling, not start a war with people who already have everything. But now I’m second-guessing if I should have just made it totally open or if I’m actually the jerk for gatekeeping tomatoes. AITA?

Here's what people had to say to OP:

lighthouse_on_mars wrote:

Sorry, YTA. I actually use to work for Parks and Rec in my City and helped implement Community Gardens. It was a HUGE success. We did prioritize putting the first one in an area that was less 'wealthy'. That being said, as it's city property, it's open to ALL citizens.

What I would suggest is telling your neighbor that one one spot is available and she can fill out the paperwork to get the spot. But it would be nice if she would help set up another Community Garden if her and her friends truly want to get involved.

Also, another route you can go is to contact the City and ask if you can start a Food Pantry Garden. We put one in near the library. It is used to teach others to garden, (people can sign up for classes) and the fruit and vegetables were all donated to a local Food Pantry to feed those in need.

Edit: I would also like to let you know there are Government and Nonprofit Grants you can apply for to help you fun another Community Garden!

professor_peach wrote:

NTA but next time either say less. “Glad you are interested I will put your name on the waitlist!” Or tell them how they can make it happen.

“I’m so excited about all of the community support and the resources people are offering. I spoke to x department and did x, y and z to get this set up. I can’t wait until we have more community gardens in the area.“

They clearly don’t like being told they can’t have something and there is no need to get everyone riled up. Your garden is full so tell them how they can make another one. (Then let them do all the work).

OneCraftyBird wrote:

NTA. But you need a policy that is clear and explicit. We have a community garden in my town and the policy explicitly says that it is for people who do not have yards or rooftop access, and that to keep your plot you must put in a certain number of hours of work keeping it functional and not encroaching on neighboring plots.

audible_smiles wrote:

If you’re doing this on city property, through the city, you need an official policy on how to assign plots that you can point to in situations like this. It’s entirely possible that the parks department is totally fine with “doesn’t have their own yard” as the criteria for someone being allowed on the wait list, because it’s very sensible.

And if that policy was already written out and posted, then it wouldn’t be you who was the bad guy right now. Live and learn! It’s a cool project.

historical_drawer562 wrote:

NTA. I would have loved this as a poverty kid and would have worked right beside anyone that was going to do this. Wouldn't have asked for a plot either, just knowledge and connection. Jessica can spend her own money, time, energy, and effort for her own little corner for her and her condo friends. I'd recommend her using her own back yard if she's that hellbent on it.

You got the permission from the city and know the intricacies of that agreement. You did it to help underprivileged families obtain a basic necessity to life and probably saved some kids from having food insecurities as adults. Going to also mention a possible prevention of malnutrition as well.