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Been waiting years on allotment waiting lists? Ever seen an unused garden or plot of land and wished you could grow your own food there? Or do you have a garden or area of land on which you'd love to see food grown? If you live in Brighton & Hove, Grow Your Neighbour's Own wants to help remedy the situation...
There are many residents of Brighton & Hove who don't have gardens but would like to grow their own food – there are around 1200 people on allotment waiting lists and the lists have recently reopened but still mean a long wait. Many other residents have gardens but aren't able to grow food, whether for time, knowledge or mobility reasons, and there are also areas of land around blocks of flats, community buildings, and many other places that could be used for growing food. Grow Your Neighbour's Own is about pairing up gardeners with garden owners and landowners. We want to help form lasting (gardening) relationships between people, preferably people who live near each other – the garden/land owner and gardener arrange between them what they will grow and how often the gardening will take place, and share the produce as it is harvested!
The scheme is for anyone who lives in the city: owners with gardens/land of any size, and gardeners of all levels of experience – we will try to pair people who have similar expectations from the scheme. It is also for people who currently have an allotment but are finding it hard to keep up, and would like to find a co-worker to team up with – if this is the case please register as a garden owner. (If you are not in Brighton & Hove but are in Peacehaven or East Saltdean there is a new scheme starting up there – see here for more details.)
Grow Your Neighbour's Own is also fortunate to have Tanya, our resident veg doctor, who can answer your growing questions for those gardeners who are just starting out (see the ad on the right). Tanya has also written a guide for beginners on how to get started with growing, which you can find here. Also Hedvig from Get Growing, an organisastion that teaches people how to grow food when you don't have a garden, has written us a guide to growing food in small spaces.
How to get involved:
Find a nearby garden owner yourself
You don't need Grow Your Neighbour's Own to start growing food at all. Know an neighbour who has a garden or plot of land but who can't grow food for whatever reason? Go introduce yourself and suggest the idea! You can have a look at our guidelines for growing in someone else's garden if you need to, and our growing links for how to go about it.
or: Register your details with Grow Your Neighbour's Own
Once you have registered there won't necessarily be a match for you straight away – we want to make good matches by location and expectations from the scheme, so there may not be someone who immediately fits the bill. But while we try to find someone for you, you can always help make a match more likely by publicising the scheme around where you live – put up a poster or hand out flyers (or if you can't print these, email us and we'll send some to you). And if we don't find you a match straight away we will keep you updated from time to time to let you know we haven't forgotten about you!
Click here to register yourself as a garden owner. Or here to register your interest as a gardener.
Or you can phone our office at the Brighton & Hove Food Partnership on 01273 431700 to register your details and tell you more about the scheme.
Sign up for our mailing list
If you don't want to register for the scheme but would like to be on our mailing list in order to get occasional newsletters about the scheme, please subscribe to the list here (you'll receive a confirmation email, if you don't please check your spam mail). If you register for the scheme either as a gardener or owner you will be automatically put on the mailing list, unless you opt out).
Grow Your Neighbour's Own is part of Harvest Brighton & Hove, a citywide project encouraging the growing, eating and enjoyment of local food. From window boxes to community allotments, there are opportunities for everyone to join in. Harvest has brought together lots of different organisations interested in food who will help you learn to grow your own, make use of surplus produce and eat more tasty local food. To find out more or sign-up to the mailing list, go to www.harvest-bh.org.uk.
Harvest are now running a series of subsidised one-day courses: including planning a plot and what to grow, plus many other aspects of growing veg. See here for a list and more information.
