Meanwhile, many people have gardens but don’t use them; due to lack of time, knowledge or because it has become too physically demanding.

This scheme aims to bring those would be gardeners and the gardening space together! Not only that but it ties in with the vision for Daventry United Reformed Church – reaching out to the community in practical ways and is in line with the CAP money management principles – cutting back and cutting out !

The scheme, which started in November 2010 is led by Gail Addison – Gail is a member of the Daventry United Reformed Church and helps out with CAP. Gail recently went on a CAP money management course and realised the potential for growing your own and how it would help her cut back on her weekly food bill and maybe eventuallycut out the need to buy fruit and vegetables all together !

Inspired, Gail read up on other garden share schemes across the country and then launched the scheme at the Church in November 2010. At the launch Gail asked for volunteers to take part in a year long pilot  - her aim being to encourage about 10 people to donate garden space and match them with 10 people wanting to grow their own. She anticipates that at first most of those donating the land will be people who attend the church but as word of mouth spreads this should include non-church goers as well, especially if they are would-be gardeners.

Those who donate their spare garden space do not charge those who garden it – however, sharing of crops is actively encouraged as an incentive to those thinking of donating.

From the evaluation of other schemes, it appears both the garden owners and the gardeners benefit and that this includes: companionship, reduced isolation,  a chance to be helpful and share knowledge, a useful and tidy garden space, learning new skills, cutting back and cutting out. 

Although other garden share schemes say they have encountered difficulties, they never appear to halt the project. A lot of the challenges seem to be around matching the expectations of the garden owners with the gardeners ; in relation to experience, location, access and  how much time the gardeners have available. To help reduce this occurring Gail is committed to working with each garden owner and gardener initially to agree a set of ground rules that both stick to in order to make sure that the match works in practice.

Just call Gail on 07789437714 for more information

Gail has asked for donations of garden equipment so that those who would like to garden but can’t afford to set themselves up are not excluded. In addition it could be possible for people who have extensive gardening knowledge to share it with others who have little or none!

Already one church member has donated a green house free of charge to anybody requiring one.