Make a difference in your community through co-gardening

By Helen Racanelli
Jan 12, 2010

So many tomatoes, so little time. It was a surplus of hourglass-shaped San Marzano tomatoes growing in my backyard, more than my family could eat but less than would merit an all-day canning session, that convinced me to share my garden next growing season.

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I got the idea from the community board at my local library. There was a flyer posted by The Stop Community Food Centre, a Toronto-based non-profit organization dedicated to increasing access to healthy food for everyone, but particularly those in need.

The flyer promoted a garden-sharing program, called Yes In My Backyard, or YIMBY. The premise: The Stop matches a gardenless-but-keen-to-grow member of the community to a garden owner, they share the harvest and donate any surplus to The Stop. How much or little the garden owner wants to actively garden is up to him or her.

This setup suits me. Though I love to carefully select organic seeds and seedlings from Urban Harvest and the amazing Fiesta Farms nursery each spring, now that I have a small child I have less time to weed and water and to do other tasks that a bountiful vegetable garden endlessly requires. Why not share the duties?

I filled out a questionnaire, and The Stop matched me to a delightful art school student who's itching to start gardening. It's too soon to tell if we'll hit it off garden-wise, but I'm pleased to mentor a beginner gardener and to share homegrown produce with the needy.

How to share your garden
If garden sharing sounds like something you would like to do, here's how to get started and some pointers to keep in mind. Sharing surplus produce with your community isn't a requisite, but it's very much in keeping with the unspoken code of generosity that most backyard vegetable gardeners adhere to. Plus, it just feels good when hard-won peas, tomatoes and peppers go to a good home before they go bad.

• Check Backyardgardens.com to see if there is an existing backyard garden program in your area. Halifax, Toronto, Vancouver, Thunder Bay, Nanaimo and Kingston are just a few of the Canadian communities that have established programs.
• Spread the word. Let neighbours, friends and family know that you're looking for a co-gardener. They might know someone who's interested, sparing you the legwork of finding and screening a complete stranger.
• Post an ad on free online listing sites like Craigslist or Kijiji. The library, your local grocer, food co-op or community centre and Starbucks are also places that often have dedicated posting boards for community listings. Of course, you'll want to exercise sound judgment and common sense if you go any of these routes—you are allowing a stranger into your backyard, after all. It's worth meeting up at a coffee shop beforehand, or at least ensuring that someone else is home with you when they visit. Likewise, don't be surprised if they show up with a friend. My student co-gardener came for an initial visit with a chum in tow-a smart safety move.

Now that you've found your co-gardener, you'll need to split the gardening duties and costs. As part of the YIMBY program, a program director at The Stop had sent me an extensive list of considerations as a garden owner. Here are some to remember:

Put it on paper
Draw up an agreement on paper. This step isn't as exciting as getting your hands dirty, but it's really an excellent tool to keep track of everyone's intentions. Tensions can arise in every relationship; a written co-gardening agreement may help keep them to a minimum.

Garden access
How and when will your co-gardener access your backyard? Make it clear as to when your yard is off-limits and how your co-gardener can access the space. Be fair: Don't insist on being at home when you have a co-gardener over if you work late or are at the cottage nearly every weekend.

Whom can the co-gardener invite to help, if anyone? It's your home, so it's OK to say no to extra guests. What about pets—yours and theirs? Be sure to exchange phone numbers in addition to email addresses, for emergency purposes.

The garden
What will you grow? As the garden owner, you know best how much light your garden gets and which plants do well. Your co-gardener will likely have a veggie wishlist, too.

How will you split the duties? Who is responsible for what? Watering, weeding and cleaning up after the harvest are just a few of the duties a vegetable garden requires after the seeds are planted.

Sharing with each other and the community
So the zucchini are taking over the garden and the tomato plants are nearly toppling over with their heavy fruit. Who gets what? Perhaps you'll go for a fifty-fifty split with any surplus going to charity (or forty-forty, with twenty per cent going to charity), depending on how the costs and duties were shared. Although it's best to decide beforehand, you may need to alter your expectations according to what really transpired during the growing season. Perhaps your co-gardener was a star, working tirelessly while you took a last-minute extended summer vacation. In that case maybe he should take home more than you had originally agreed upon. Or maybe your co-gardener started strong but didn't help with the watering and weeding like she had agreed to. Come up with a sharing solution that feels fair.

Will you share with charity?
If yes, be sure it's a program that accepts fresh produce. Who will bring the vegetables to the charity or community outreach program as they become ready? It may require multiple trips as vegetables ripen at different times.

Last of all, enjoy! Co-gardening is meant to be a rewarding experience. It can match up non-gardening homeowners with avid green thumbs, beginners with intermediate gardeners, or just about any combo of garden owner and garden coveter. You might not want to repeat a co-gardening experience in subsequent years, but you'll never know unless you try.

Source: Canadian Gardening