If you are thinking about allowing someone who will grow vegetables in your garden, here are ten top tips to ensure a successful sharing arrangement.
- Make sure there is a water source, if there isn’t one, you will need to provide one.
- Work out where the composter will be located and what is to be done with non-compostable rubbish.
- Ensure there is reasonable access to the vegetable plot. Can a car be parked nearby? If there is more than one access route, can they all be used?
- Decide the times of the day and days of the week when the gardener can have access
- Agree exactly who other than the gardener is allowed on the vegetable plot.
- Establish how long the arrangement lasts. Don’t go over a year, but the gardener will need the whole season. 364 days may be the answer.
- Agree the rent or amount of fruit and vegetables in kind.
- Determine any favourite fruit and vegetable that must be grown.
- Can the gardener have a bonfire? Or hold a BBQ and invite some friends around?
- Finally, and most importantly of all, write down whatever you both agree and both sign it.
These points, and a few more, are covered in more detail in the landshare guidance. For me point 8 is particularly pertinent and easily forgotten. If I was a landowner, I’d want to make sure I was going to get rhubarb, raspberries and sweet peas at some point in the year!
Here is the current listing of people who want to landshare.