Heavily inaccurate expectations?

What happens when you sign up to garden-share and what you can expect

It's been a minute…the last time you may have read one of my blog posts, or perhaps when you saw me on the One Show last year, talking about Lend and Tend, I was heavily pregnant when I was lucky enough to be interviewed by Gardeners’ World presenter Arit Anderson, right before my baby arrived.

I worked right up to my due date, well right up to ‘go time’ really. I also thought, I’d be back to work sooner, too. However, in my last blog post I wrote and I quote: “My attention may be diverted over the next few months, I hope that you will stay with me on my garden-sharing mission to make sharing gardens a normal thing of the future.”

Well, and I don’t use this ironically, but LOL! Firstly I thought I’d be back to work about a month after giving birth. I also thought I’d be growing vegetables in my new shared garden, and I thought I’d be making strawberry jam, organic home-grown baby food by the time my baby was weaning, not to mention, I thought I’d have written a lot more blog posts.

I packed my laptop in my birthing centre bag, to do some last-minute admin of course. To curate a few more matches if I was bored. Bored…? Whilst in labour? I feel ridiculous even writing that. A bumpy nearly 60 hours later I ended up having a surgical birth at a different hospital and life has not stood still in the year since. I have not done any gardening except propagate a kale stem in a glass of water on my windowsill which sat there drying out and ended up being repeatedly rehydrated, until my other half took pity on it and planted it out. I have not eaten any home grown veg that I thought I’d have planted on maternity leave. I have eaten many ready meals, and so has my baby. It’s been difficult to admit, but I expected too much of myself.

Expectation vs. Reality

I often hear back from garden Tenders who have given garden-sharing a try and have been on the verge of giving up their gardening hobby, having had wildly different outcomes to their expectations. Some dig in with huge plans and ideas for creating replicas of the hanging gardens of Babylon and achieve them, but many only manage to grow a few punnets of strawberries in hanging baskets, if they’re lucky.

There is a lot that can go wrong with gardening, of course, but there’s also a lot of joy that can be found in ones gardening failures too, if you’re lucky there can also be a lot of strawberries. It can take years to fathom, but as Charles Dowding put it, in our interview “any out-put is success and gardening [failure] is an exercise in patience”.

I recently received a complaint about the Patch-Match process. On the subject of patience. One garden Lender recently wrote “I expected I’d hear something sooner” when sharing their disappointment on not being matched with a garden Tender yet.

Although, it truly is my wish and passion to Patch-Match everyone who wishes to garden share, but for some, depending where you are located, chances may be slim. There may be a match in minutes, days, weeks or even years. However, sadly it may also not happen at all. This is not to say it wont, but if you live in a rural/semi-rural area where there is a low number of flats or HMOs (House in Multiple Occupation*) and/or a high number of homes with gardens around, it may mean garden-sharing may be less-likely. However, in some cases, depending on availability, it can be quicker to find a Patch Match instead of waiting your turn on the allotment plot waiting list. In the early days of Lend and Tend, I was on an allotment waiting list with almost a decade+ wait for a plot in North London. I have been running Lend and Tend now for almost 8 years and I have garnered 1000s of interested parties potentially wanting to be Patch-Matched. Sadly, a large number are still unmatched. Here’s how you can help if you’ve been waiting longer than you’d like to: https://www.lendandtend.com/get-involved

That being said, Lend and Tend runs on a voluntary donation basis. There is NO CHARGE to register your interest in the garden sharing mission. The reason that Lend and Tend is a free resource, where donations are hugely appreciated but payment is not a necessity to get you Patch-Matched is, I’d hate for people to miss out on garden-sharing if they would otherwise not be able to afford to. The cost to garden share is simply that of your time or your space and your engagement. Democratising access to garden space, should also always be mutually beneficial for both Lender and Tender and costs of garden tools, plants etc, should be discussed between Lender and Tender, please check out the FAQs page for more information.

An unexpected surprise?

What I have said to folks in the past, is, it can’t hurt to register on the database and one day without expectation, you may be pleasantly surprised with an email from me to inform you of a match. However, if your garden needs are more pressing, it is advisable to get a professional involved. Again, please take a look at the FAQs page for more information.

Garden-Sharing a second time. When your garden Tender unexpectedly has to move on.

Unfortunately for one garden Lender, their garden Tender had to move on to pastures new. “You did match me with the most lovely man who has been growing flowers and vegetables in my garden. He even cuts back all the shrubs. I am very grateful. I am so sad that he is now moving from the area so if you have someone else who may be interested, that could work.” - Jen S.

So it’s back to the Patch-Matching drawing board to help Jen find a new Tender, however I thought I’d share some pictures she sent. Not only did her Tender make an amazing transformation, it means it’s pitch perfect ready for someone new to continue the good work.

A previously unused corner at the bottom of Jen’s garden.

The space cleared, weeded and ready for planting.

New seedlings planted and protected ready for spring.

Some other unexpected good news.

As they say not all Web Developers wear capes. I was recently contacted by an amazing voluntary organisation, Technology Volunteers who have offered to help with the site and hopefully can help things run a bit more smoothly. Watch this space.

I’ve really missed gardening, especially growing my own produce so you can imagine my delight to receive some shared crops from a neighbour. An unexpected joy to actually be the recipient of monster marrow/courgettes and an excess of plums, apples and tomatoes. Thank you, Pat! x

I also may have had a human baby, but in the words of Mariah Carey, (Lend and Tend) “will always be my baby”, so although I have my hands full. I don’t intend on stopping with the Patch Matching mission and I hope to get as many of you garden-sharing as possible.

Until next time, take care.

P.s I know a bit about garden bedding, but if anyone has any baby sleep tips, let me know.

*house in multiple occupation

A house in multiple occupation ( HMO ) is a property rented out by at least 3 people who are not from 1 'household' (for example a family) but share facilities like the bathroom and kitchen. It's sometimes called a 'house share'. (source House in multiple occupation licence - GOV.UK)