The 62nd Street Garden is open to all.  We want our community garden to grow into a special kind of urban neighborhood that enriches the lives of many people.  Please help make friends and visitors feel welcome in our garden.

As a member, I agree to the following membership requirements:

  • Complete a plot registration form provided by the Garden Committee.

  • Pay plot fees ($50 for a full plot or $25 for a half plot) by March 1 to help cover garden expenses such as compost, tools, supplies, and services.

  • Make visual progress on my plot (in the form of weeding, tilling, planting, etc.) by May 15.

  • Contribute at least 4 hours or more of volunteer work at an organized workday to help maintain the common areas of the garden.

  • Maintain plot and bordering pathways and fences with care, including respecting plot boundaries, weeding and chipping pathway as needed.

  • Clean up my plot and prepare it for winter (including removing dead vegetation, taking down growing structures, mulching or planting a cover crop to protect the soil, etc.) by November 1.

I understand that my failure to honor this agreement may result in the loss of my plot and forfeiture of my plot fee.

In addition, I commit to the following Organic Garden practices:

  • Maintain healthy soil by practicing organic methods, e.g. using compost, reducing tillage, and mulching when possible.

  • Use only organic fertilizers and or insect/disease remedies. Do not use any type of herbicide. If you are not sure that your fertilizer is suitable, please ask a member of the Garden Committee, consult with a veteran gardener, a good book, or the Morton Arboretum or Chicago Botanic Garden websites.

  • Follow the Compost Guidelines.

  • Avoid planting genetically modified plants if known and as feasible.

  • Retrieve and take home diseased plants to dispose of in your own trash.

As a member of the 62nd Street Garden Community, I will also be a Good Neighbor:

  • Harvest only crops from my own plot.  Teach children to do the same.

  • Water plots by hand with watering cans.  (Designated people may be given special permission to use the hose to water communal areas.)

  • Conserve water by filling tubs as needed, turning off the hoses/hydrants when tubs are full, and mulching plots.  Notify the garden committee of water leaks at [email protected]

  • Control rapidly spreading plants such as mint, lemon balm, and cane fruits by planting them only in pots, placed in your plot, or in communal herb gardens.

  • Be considerate of neighboring gardeners, e.g. when planting tall or sprawling crops.  Avoid large structures and elaborate building projects in your plot.   If your structure (e.g., trellises, plant supports, cold frame) is more than two feet tall, please construct it running north/south in the middle of your plot so as not to shade your neighbor’s plot.

  • Participate in the Gleaning Program.  (An opt-out option will be available.)

  • Ask garden neighbors or garden committee for help with watering, weeding and harvesting when you are out of town, to maintain plot and avoid wasting produce.

  • Clean and return borrowed tools to the shed after each use and lock up wheelbarrows.

  • Be a responsible pet owner. Keep pets leashed and out of the garden plots. Remove all pet waste from the property.

  • Put extra, non-broken materials — baskets, tomato cages, wood stakes, bricks, etc — that you wish to share with other gardeners next to the sheds.