Photo Copyright: UK Evening Standard Online

Fearnley-Whittingstall is at it again, this time attempting to make garden landshares hip! It is always heartening to see a celebrity investing some of their fame and fortune in a cause to try to make a positive impact, but hardly ever is it for a cause as un-sexy as ‘shared gardens.’ Is Fearnley-Whittingstall ‘ahead of his time’ with this one?

According to his landshare coordinating website (http://www.landshare.net/), demand on all sides is surging. “With allotment waiting lists massively over-subscribed and people right across the country keener than ever to grow their own fruit and veg, the aim for Landshare is to become a UK wide initiative to make British land more productive and fresh local produce more accessible to all,” writes Fearnley-Whittingstall.

BUT, the Landshare Project is not just for land owners and land seekers. In a spin on ‘liberal guilt’ Fearnley-Whittingstall allows individuals (majestically called “Land-spotters”) to report on underused, or misused, land located in others backyards. Will you allow your neighbor to turn you in before you donate your land?

In November 2008, even a member of the Scottish Green Party called on the Scottish Parliament to support Fearnley-Whittingstall´s initiative, “which would bring disused or derelict land back into productive use for growing fresh fruit and veg by householders right across Scotland” (read article here). 

All in all, building a landshare network is a commendable goal. Let´s just hope that the extensive list of garden-friendly UK citizens isn´t later exploited as a cash cow. 

Read more about the Landshare Project in Landshare schemes: Share and share alike , a Telegraph article from February 2, 2009.

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