Magna sows seeds for sharing

10/16/2009

Garden sharing continues to grow in West Dorset... And helping to plant the seeds of this new phenomenon is Magna Housing Association.

The organisation is supporting a new scheme in Dorchester and has donated £1,000 towards getting the project up and running.

Garden sharing was made popular by TV chef, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, during his River Cottage Garden series on Channel 4.

It involves people with gardens who cannot tender them, sharing with those who don’t have access to a plot of land themselves.

This way, gardens are maintained, green-fingered residents get a secure plot to work on and council allotment waiting lists are reduced.

Magna has donated £1,000 to get the Dorchester project up and running and it will be promoting it to all its tenants, in and around the county town.

Magna Housing Association director, David Aldwinckle , said: “Lots of people in Dorchester and the surrounding villages have gardens that are underused, or that go unmanaged due to a lack of time, interest, or mobility.

“At the same time there are loads of local people living in flats, town houses and smaller houses who have no access to a garden, and who would love the chance to grow their own food, herbs and flowers.

“At Magna, we are delighted to be supporting this fantastic scheme. It a great way of bringing people together and ensuring gardens that, for a variety of reasons, have been unkept, are restored to their former glory.”

Garden Share is being run by Transition Town Dorchester and is based on hugely successful schemes in places such as Totnes, Bath, Cambridge and Exeter.

Linda Screen from Transition Town Dorchester, explained: “Garden Share simply links owners who have an unused corner of their garden with local, committed gardeners who want a plot of ground to treat kindly as if it were their own garden.

“We are so pleased that Magna  has offered to support this scheme. Its donation will go a long way  and it means we can help promote the scheme, provide gardeners with advice and insurance and help more people with untamed gardens to get some help.”

For more information contact Linda Screen on 07967-366990 or by e-mail gardenshare@transitiontowndorchester.org

Alternatively you can visit: www.transitiontowndorchester.org