GardenLend – rescuing neglected gardens

“The government is consulting on how it can ensure that the UK’s food supply remains secure in the future.

While the current situation in the UK is good, ministers warn that factors such as climate change and population growth could have an adverse effect.

Producers, supermarkets and consumers are being encouraged to submit their ideas on how a secure food system in the UK should look in 2030.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8189549.stm

Surely, growing your own in your own space is probably the ideal?  If you don’t have a garden or easy access to years’ long waiting lists for allotments, why not join together with your neighbours and work together on a shared garden or even some unused piece of land – with the owner’s permission, of course.  That way, you can grow what you like within seasonal and climatic constraints and join a common goal (planetary survival) as well as getting some exercise and great healthy food into the bargain.

Please join us at http://find.gardenlend.co.uk or why not just ask your neighbour, friend, relative, local landowner if they would like some help with a plot that could be better put over to growing fruit and veg.  Left to any government to organise, we will all surely starve.

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The announcement of the four areas to be the nascent Eco-Towns is, for may people, too little, too late and in the wrong place.  The upheaval, maladministration and bureaucracy involved makes the whole prospect quite unlikely to reap benefits for an appreciable period.  Then the results will be analysed, mulled over, reported upon, have money wasted in stated the bleeding obvious about, then reappraised with some potential further action along simlar lines, perhaps, maybe, sometime later.

These eco-towns are, for the most part, away from major centres of population and industry.  On most levels, it would never be noticeable if they were a success as they are effectively being measured in a void.  Unless fully sustainable, the additional impact of transport and provision of services, utilities and goods may well wipe out any benefits accrued.

Why not start nearer to home, if not at home itself?  Most people live in cities; the most populous in the UK being London; the same will apply to all conurbations.  Why not change food miles to food feet by growing your own food.  Your garden would be a starting point; failing that, an allotment.  With the scarcity of municipal land available, why not volunteer to use some council, church or state-owned space that has gone to wrack and ruin?  The LandShare scheme started after GardenLend approached Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall to help promote our garden-sharing and home-grown food and flowers message.  The best systems seem to be ones organised on a face-to-face basis, on a local level – how local do you want?  Miles from anywhere?

Have a scout along the road where you live – has someone got a garden that really could do with a make-over?  Offer to help out; it will brighten up the area and help someone else, as well as providing a healthy outlet for pent-up energy – much more fruitful and cheaper than a session at the Gym.  The owner could guide you as to what their dream garden might be, or perhaps you could volunteer a few ideas of your own.  The social benefits, along with the more obvious health and environmental ones, are potentially enormous.  Why not help your neighbour? Just be prepared to lend a hand.

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The Wandle Residents Conference 09 (FUN – Friendly, Understanding, Neighbour) was held on 25th April 2009 at the Croydon Park Hotel, Croydon. The introductions went off well enough, followed by the guest speaker, Maria Arpa from Wandsworth Mediation Service and Centre for Peaceful Solutions, giving an affirming speech on “Building Communities – it starts with ME.”  This was followed by morning workshops on:

• Understanding conflict and changing behaviour
• Interactive voting
• Practical DIY
• Leaseholders

Lunch followed, along with a chance to mingle and explore other activities on offer, which included:

• Healthy living and money-saving tips
• Head and neck massage sessions
• Face-painting and balloon modelling (for children released from the creche)
• Meeting and informal chats with Wandle’s directors
• Meeting resident candidates for the Board *

Afternoon workshops covered:

• Why do people fight?
• What are your housing options?
• Gardening workshop
• Saving energy, money and the planet

This last workshop on sustainable homes, headed by Waheed Chaker, was of greatest interest.  Along with tips for saving money, reducing energy usage and the environmental impact of one’s daily actions, we brought up the topic of GardenLend and the potential for matching up frustrated gardeners having no green space with those who are not able to get the most from their gardens.  To this end, as it says on the lid, a forum (well, two actually) was born for Wandle residents and Leaseholders in search of gardens and gardeners:

Gardens Wanted ‹ Greater London ‹ Wandle and

Gardeners Wanted ‹ Greater London ‹ Wandle

What could be easier?

We hope to be included in a forthcoming Wandle newsletter – watch this space … !

Should you want to get your Housing Association or Landlord involved in such a simple – yet effective – scheme to bring communities together, grow fruit, vegetables and flowers whilst helping save the planet, please get in touch with them and with us and we will do our best to facilitate your needs.  Just email ian@gardenlend.co.uk

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* Of the candidates, Abdul Basit (South West Area) was most impressive, with a background in public service, mediation, arbitration, and voluntary work with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association.  His traditional values and desire to help bring communities together is both obvious and tireless and he will be – in our opinion – an asset to the Board.

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