I’m a committed advocate of encouraging people to garden anywhere and everywhere. Lack of soil or space hasn’t stopped me from growing vegetables and herbs for my family, and it shouldn’t hinder you either. There is, of course, a lot going for the joy and masochistic satisfaction of double digging and actually working the land – and you can’t do that with a container garden.

Grow Your Neighbours Own

Grow Your Neighbour’s Own is a pairing scheme set up by Chris Callard, Julie Green and Karen Gardham, three passionate and committed individuals from diverse backgrounds who were concerned about Peak Oil and food miles and wanted to do something concrete in the community. Registration is simple and free – you specify whether you are a gardener looking for a garden, or a garden owner looking for a gardener, where you live, what your skill levels are and GYNO does the rest.

They interview, vet and scrutinise every individual and garden space, make matches and regularly monitor progress to ensure that everyone is happy. So far, they have 14 matches in the Brighton and Hove area and are currently looking for more gardens to distribute amongst the larger group of keen gardeners.

“We have very productive spaces,” says Julie. “one of which really has turned into a community garden and they have a landscape gardener on site which is of course helpful.” “They've done amazingly. Another couple of women who have started from scratch with not much previous knowledge made amazing friends of each other and also produced lots of fresh veg.”

“This garden owner also has children who are starting to learn about where their food comes from which is a vital part of educating our package obsessed society.” “We have placed a woman with an allotment holder who was about to have her allotment taken from her for not keeping on top of it and they have both given us fantastic feedback about how the project has changed their lives!”

Getting Involved

I heard about GYNO casually through joining the Transition Town forum – initially I went there for information to supplement my pots of carrots and basil on the balcony, having no experience whatsoever in growing my own food. About a month after applying, I met Julie, who led me to the Green Centre, which lead to Dave, and the rest is history.

Julie initially volunteered at the Whitehawk Community Food Project and at Stamner. She sees a great future for GYNO. “The more areas we can see being used for food growing, the better. It takes a lot of space to feed even one person alone, so everyone should be doing their bit of growing and then we would all benefit from lowering our impact on the environment and eating real food instead of fake and synthetic food.”

“Really it’s about people eating locally grown, organic produce so that we stop relying on damaging chemicals to get our food both through pesticides that are sprayed onto our food and then ingested as well the energy burnt producing and delivering our food to us plus the energy wasted through supermarkets holding the food.”

“We are hoping to hold a harvest picnic of some sort sometime in September where people can meet each other and perhaps bring a dish they have grown. We will see how this goes and maybe do a seed swap early next year.”

Despite widespread publicity and positive feedback from the participants, GYNO remains in need of gardens for the database. Concerns over security may be holding some people back from applying, but Julie is keen to reassure potential volunteers.

Safety First

“They can request that a gardener is CRB checked and we interview all gardeners and take up references. They do also meet the people first and are not committed to anything should they feel uneasy at any point.”

In eight short months, with no previous knowledge or experience of growing anything, I’ve grown my own vegetables and herbs, become involved in a community food and teaching project and am now studying horticulture at City College. GYNO really does have the power to change lives, and for the better - and all it takes is a bit of your time and enthusiasm.

Sign up for GYNO here: Grow Your Neighbours Own
Information on Horticulture courses at City College: Horticulture

All images courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.net