Miriam's Patch-Match in Melksham. An example of how Garden-Sharing can work.

Gill and Ian have a large garden space in Melksham, Wiltshire. As they can no longer manage it alone, they’ve decided to share it with some lucky people who don’t have a garden of their own to grow in, plus some very happy bees and butterflies are benefitting from it too.

One of those very lucky people is Miriam, who previously had nowhere of her own to grow.

With no previous gardening experience, it’s been a year since Miriam first began garden-sharing and she’s now reaping the benefits of her first bumper crops…whilst also getting her young niece and nephew to not only eat vegetables, but getting them into gardening and harvesting their own vegetables too.

In the video, Gill, Ian and Miriam talk about how garden-sharing has worked for them and what the ups and downs have been.

One of the things the gardening dream team discussed was ‘Ground Rules’.

What garden owners Gill and Ian set out from the start, was that there are some very unassuming patches of plants that look like weeds, that are NOT to be disturbed. Why? Because Gill and Ian’s sole Ground Rule was that Miriam and the other gardeners that Tend to the plot must respect the patch of Pulmonaria; Lungwort, that is seemingly a weed, but is actually a pretty flowering plant that Bees thrive on in the Spring.

That’s because Ian and Gill have been trailblazing the National Blue Campaign in Melksham, which aims to inspire people to re-wild their gardens, with the use of no chemicals and leaving parts of a garden to go back to a natural state. Re-wilding, is leaving what most people would call ‘weeds’, to regrow and reclaim garden spaces so that plants like wild flowers can grow, encouraging pollinators and all sorts of insects that are helpful to our eco-systems and beneficial to our gardens.

Gill and Ian display a cornflower blue heart symbol in their garden to make a statement, to start a conversation and inspire others to talk about and join in with their re-wilding efforts. The campaign suggests that anyone can display a recycled, home made or hand drawn cornflower blue heart to symbolise that leaving the garden to be re-wilded is an intentional act. It signals that the eco-system is being sustainably respected.

Miriam, more than happy to abide by this rule began gardening, digging around established plants and just got stuck in -around the Pulmonaria.

For Ian and Gill, the only downside to garden-sharing was when one of their previous Tenders had to give up as they ended up getting an allotment (lucky them) and their commitments elsewhere meant they had to stop garden-sharing. Lucky for Miriam, though, as she snapped up the chance for somewhere to grow, make time for mindfulness and just have a place to sit in the rain and watch the garden grow around her.

Otherwise, this Patch-Match partnership seem to get on wonderfully in this mutually beneficial exchange of space, tools, food and friendship. Miriam has organic home grown vegetables and somewhere to spend some time outside. Gill and Ian have a well looked after vegetable garden and their no longer forlorn lawn, (which was once a tennis court) is now a wildflower meadow, whose inhabitants pollinate the produce in the vegetable garden.

A win win situation all around.

Whether you’re in Melksham, Maidstone or Merthyr, check out where you can share a garden nearby on lendandtend.com

I look forward to seeing more of you in your perfect Patch-Matches soon.