Grow More Vegetables With Yard Sharing

I'm all about encouraging anybody who wants to get their hands dirty to garden at home. If you've done everything you can possibly do in your own small space, you can always borrow some.

We've already talked about the fact that more and more cities offer  for their residents. But, there's also a relatively new, creative gardening strategy called "yard sharing."

Yard sharing is very similar to a community gardens but has different technical parameters. It's usually more intimate and easier to situate because you're working with a smaller garden space than with a traditional community gardens and there are fewer people involved.

If there isn't already a yard-sharing community in your town, it's an excellent growing alternative for both suburbanites and urbanites.

Generally speaking, most yard shares are about growing home vegetables and fruits for healthier eating and saving money. But as far as I'm concerned, yard sharing can just as easily be about chickens (eggs), flowers, and other plants, as well.

There's as many variations to yard sharing as there are gardeners. A yard-share project could be three neighbors maintaining a single garden at one person's home. This person may not have the time or the physical capabilities to garden alone, but has the land for such a project.

It might also be one family or a couple gardening in their next-door neighbor's backyard. In both of these cases, the exchange for use of the land would be a share of the garden bounty.

Another example is three neighborhood families, each with a garden at their home. Instead of all of the families planting the same vegetables, each garden is assigned specific fruits and vegetables.  One family may devote their entire garden to herbs, while another has tomatoes, green beans, and onions, and the last one may have squash, lettuce, and potatoes.

Part of yard sharing success is to combine garden effort with partners who have similar energy and goals. The idea is to have everyone sharing the garden maintenance equally and harvesting food that everyone will enjoy.