Here’s a website my friend told me about over the holidays - “Sharing Backyards”
Basically, the idea is to connect people who would like to grow vegetables, but don’t have any space to do so (college kids, people in condos, apartments, etc.) with those who have the space to do so (people who own some vacant, arable land.)
The trade-off to the land owner would be a percentage of the yield worked out between the grower and the land-owner.
This is quite relevant for the times, seeing as how people will undoubtedly be more inclined to grow their own produce in order to save money during the economic downturn. By the way, it’s a free resource, too.
I really think this is the future; people banding together to help each other.
A little old lady I know has been doing this for years. A neighbor makes a decent sized garden in her backyard, and keeps her grass cut. She gets some of the veggies. Tomatoes, peas, okra, squash, lettuce, watermelon…and prolly other stuff I’ve forgotten. Good deal all around.
I don’t think this is quite the same. From Wikipedia:
“The individual gardeners are organised in an allotment association which leases the land from the owner…”
There is no money exchanged for this; it’s completely free. The website is apparently a not-for-profit group that is linking property owners with people who want to grow veggies. It’s a novel idea!!
I’m going to grow my own vegetables on my lot this year, but for those of you who own land, and are not growing, it might be worthwhile to see what they’re doing. For nothing more than offering your property as arable land, you could enjoy the fruits (or veggies) of other people’s labours!
Victory gardens fell out of favor after WWII ended because there wasn’t much need, at least not in the United States. Produce that had been going to feed soldiers was now available to consumers, so it was no longer necessary for them to grow their own food. I’m sure some people kept their gardens, and there is at least one remnant of the old victory garden in Boston.
My grandmother and I were talking about old family stories not long ago. It seems that my great-grandmother, who lived in Ft. Worth, and some other Jewish families, got rather creative about creating their own food sources. In addition to their victory gardens, my great-grandmother kept a few chickens for eggs, and later, meat. They also bought shares in a cow; when the cow was butchered, they split the meat. They also pooled their food; my great-grandmother was widowed, but she shared with the others, and they shared with her. None of them felt the full effects on rationing since they made their own food supply. Of course, when the war ended, they stopped doing it on that scale.
Unless the property is in a non public accessible area, I wouldn’t do this. Anything you produce will have a tendency to disappear before you harvest it.
It’s pretty much the same as having your own garden in your backyard, isn’t it? Since, by definition, it’s a “back yard”, and therefore not accessible to the (law-abiding) public, I’d say that it’s probably as safe as growing your own vegetables.
Of course, if you’re talking about “garden raids” by theives, then I suppose everyone’s at risk! I hope it never comes to that… but I tend to think that thieves would prefer to eye up your cow, or your dog! :eek:
Law abiding people are not the problem, and it only takes one thief to steal your food, which I have found they will do.
My point is don’t do it with multiple families working the same yard, and don’t use somebody’s yard where people have no barrier to taking the food. You won’t to enjoy your melons, pumpkins or easy to snatch food items. Using a back yard that has a privacy fence around it would be good. When you go to the effort to grow food because you need it, you need to consider it’s safety from predators including humans.
I would like to see residential layouts done in a way where the homes are arranged around a green space rather than a street. There is no sense in every home maintaining a .1 acre decorative grass strip that serves no purpose except to offset the ugliness of asphalt and serve as a receptacle for dog poop and expensive lawn treatments.
In my ideal neighborhood, the front yards would be the large grassy portion, all the front yards would be oriented together in the area of a small football field, and the back of the house would be a storage area adjoining small path for bicycles and lightweight electric trams. Cars would be parked in a hi-rise community parking deck concealed by trees and a grass roof. The deck could be accessed by a short tram ride, bicycle ride, or walk.
Imagine how much more home and garden you could have if you didn’t need a garage. The aerial view of our communities would no longer look as if we’re completely centered on cars; instead they would appear to be centered around greenspace.
My uncle is an avid gardener but has a postage-stamp-sized yard. He grows a lot of exotic plants there - including a bamboo forest (his neighbors hate him) but has never had room for an honest-to-god produce garden.
When I was in the process of buying my house, he came to look at the 1/2 acre yard and was instantly excited at the prospect of putting in a garden. I said “sure, why not?”
He’s got a little 10’x15’ plot in the back, which happens to butt up to my neighbor’s garden. He likes to come out and work on the garden when he has spare time. I get all the tomatoes I can eat and some nice fresh cut flowers. I put up the fencing and he takes care of all the rest.
Great concept, but here in Las Vegas you would be lucky to get a tumbleweed to grow.
Other than a few pretty weeds that look like trees and plants if you squint hard enough, there ain’t gonna be a lot of foodstuff growing in any backyards here. We tried growing a tomato plant once…that was an adventure. Took about 60 gallons of water to keep it from drying out to death in the summer heat and our bounty was one single tomato the size of a large acorn. Smallest BLT you ever saw in your life.
I’m really sorry to hear this! I always thought that thieves would typically stay away from gardens. I’ve heard of “freezer raids”, though, where people take frozen goods from an unlocked freezer outside.
In any event, I’m sure this would be the exception, rather than the rule. Offering your lawnspace in exchange for fresh veggies is a great idea. Even chickens might work in a more rural setting!
There is nothing that can compare to the taste of homegrown tomatoes. Except maybe some really FRESH sweet corn. Sounds like you and your uncle are both happy with your arrangement. Heck, I’d be delighted to have someone grow some great veggies in our yard! My husband and I both have black thumbs.
I’ve checked out the site and it looks great! pretty basic, but really, that matches the concept. Sharing is something our society as a whole could use ongoing lessons in.
I dig (pardon the pun) that you can type in any city in the world and there’s the potential for the mapping tool to be used for free.
From looking at the difference between cities that have active programs going and cities where there is little or no activity, one could suppose it is important to have a local non profit group to take charge of the program. I might look into this for my city after reading through the site a bit more.
