Should people give their allotments up when faced with a consuming life event, like when elder care becomes a priority or when welcoming a new baby into the family? In a Facebook post, the mass consensus is: ‘Don’t give up your allotment!’ So how does the alternative of garden-sharing weigh up for those on the waiting lists?

How does garden-sharing work? Garden owners Gill and Ian talk about growing food, their ‘Ground Rules’ and garden Tender Miriam talks about how gardening and growing her own food taught her patience and kept her optimistic in 2020; thinking about the brighter happy days to come.

You may have caught Poppy Okotcha on Gardener’s World sharing how she gardened on her narrow boat, but she’s now escaped the city’s waterways for a place in the country with a garden. Read Poppy’s in-depth article on how you too, can appreciate the teaching opportunities that gardening gives us; learn how to be mindful all whilst practising regenerative gardening techniques.

Put your best front forward! Let’s get those front yards and driveways thriving. Most of Britain’s back gardens are concealed from passers-by, be it a garden of a terraced home or maisonette; leaving the front yard (a place to put the bins) a second thought, when it’s the thing that people see first. Why should back gardens get all the attention? If you’re unable to garden-share if you’re shielding or your back garden is inaccessible, front gardens are spaces that can be shared and gardened too! We’re teaming up with National Park City to give front gardens some love.

Greening driveways, pathways into a gardening career and how gardening helped when she was Postpartum. In our post-lockdown chat, Rajul also shared what made her own childhood garden so special and how you can help your children enjoy the garden so they too, grow up to be nature lovers.

notahorticulturist.com is science and gardening educator, Mama and singer Jessi Wong, based in South London. Jessi talks about feeding her family, how gardening boosts our mindfulness and how growing food and foraging got her through lockdown. As well as talking about food, we talked about fertilisers and how we might get more schools into gardening.

We’re still going to be able to mutually benefit from the joys that garden-sharing can bring. However, we must all take extra precautions at the moment as the current uncertain situation unfolds.

Looking at how people garden share across the globe, the answer to a lack of garden space could be under our nose!

Helen Taylor from The South West Londoner talks to Lend and Tend founder, Joyce Veheary about how you can join the ‘Tinder’ of gardening or face long allotment waiting lists.

If you’re with me on the garden sharing mission, I’m going to need a little help from you, my friends and neighbours; so that you can get to know yours.