Rules & bylaws
The garden is governed by two City of Tampa documents. Read them before applying — you sign the bylaws as part of your application.
PCG Information Packet (2025–2026)
How the garden is run, application & selection process, plot types, and the Central Florida planting guide.
View on tampa.gov →PCG Bylaws and Site Rules
Rules, regulations, management, and participant expectations. You sign these to join.
View on tampa.gov →Participation Waiver (guests)
Required for any Secondary Gardener (guest) a Primary Gardener brings into the garden.
View on tampa.gov →The rules most worth knowing
| Hours | Open 7 days per week, dawn to dusk. |
|---|---|
| Gate | The garden gate is secured with a combination lock — awarded participants receive the code. Keep it locked whenever the garden is empty. |
| Weekly tending | Tend your plot at least once per week to keep it. At season's end: retain, re-enter the lottery, or vacate. |
| Chemical-free | To keep runoff out of Tampa Bay: NO herbicides, NO pesticides or insecticides, and no commercial/inorganic fertilizers. Compost (provided in-garden), fish emulsion, kelp meal, greensand, granite dust, and ground limestone are the approved soil treatments. |
| Waste | Everything you generate — green or not — leaves with you; nothing is left on site. Repeated failure to clean up after yourself can terminate membership. |
| Guests | Friends and family may visit with a signed participation waiver (pick up / submit at the Parking Office, 3rd floor of Ft. Brooke Garage). Guests are solely the Primary Gardener's responsibility and must not touch other plots. |
| One application per person | Multiple applications = all of them denied. |
| Plot assignment | Random lottery from the applicant pool; specific plots cannot be requested or reserved. Plots 1–9 ADA-accessible · 10–41 residents · 42–49 City employees · 50–51 pollinator plots. |
Summaries here are convenience only — the City's PDFs above are authoritative. Spotted a mismatch with the official page? Tell us and we'll fix it fast.