If you want to swopaplot, then go there – it’s going to be big, people!

You can register in one or more of the following categories:

• Grower (I want to grow my own food)
• Landowner (I have land I can make available for growing food)
• Land-spotter (I know of some land which may be useable)
• Facilitator (I’d like to support elderly/other Landsharers who need help locally)

You can also sign up via Channel 4′s Landshare site

Happy Landsharing!

And I only found out because someone who’s developing a TV project about garden sharing and read the Guardian piece just emailed me about it.

I still think this is a great idea, but I’ve been into other things. Does anyone fancy getting involved? This might suddenly become popular… (I knew I was onto something…)

Ah yes Anna, a brilliant idea, but sadly one I can’t commit to taking forward, on account of having decided not to move to Carshalton after all, but rather to see if those rather lovely people in the New Zealand immigration service wouldn’t rather have us instead. Hmm… Wallington or Wellington? What’s in a vowel? Tough choice. Not that I’m knocking Wallington mind. It’s where my daughter first ate fried chicken.

But where was I? Oh yes, as I’m hoping to leg it off to the other hemisphere I was hoping that there might be someone out there interested in developing the Swopaplot project. Taking it forward. You know, a successor, who might, well, succeed. Let me know if you’re interested.

If you just fancy sticking your toe in the Swopaplot pond, then perhaps you’d consider taking on the job of moderator for this site? That way at least that won’t get neglected.

Any offers?

Sorry for not posting for a while. Had a lot of family stuff on – hoping to trade our flat up for a house – perhaps even with a garden…

But it seems that an overzealous moderator has immediately banned me from Freecycle without explanation, despite Freecycle’s stated “two strikes and you’re out” policy. I had hoped I wasn’t too badly in breach of the Freecycle house rules, but they don’t appear to have seen it that way. My wife just told me I should probably have posted it in the Freecycle Cafe, not the main posting list, as it was a bit off topic. They may have objected to the post as Swopaplot might count as “trading”, which isn’t allowed within the bounds of Freecycle. On reflection perhaps that is the case, although what was being offered was the opportunity to get involved in setting up a free service, not any specific trade.

Oops. It seems I’ve upset somebody. Sorry folks. Maybe I’m just being soft, but perhaps rejecting the propsed post with a short but polite email and a referral back to the terms of Freecycle might have seemed a more civilised thing to do, rather than a summary total ban after one attempted, enthusiastic if possibly ill-judged post; after all, wasn’t it enthusiasm that got Freecycle started in the first place? And there I was thinking people were allowed to make mistakes occasionally.

As Jack Nicholson once said just before the Martians got him, why can’t we all just get along?

In spite of this little disagreement, I would heartily recommend Freecycle to anyone who wants to get rid of any physical stuff that might otherwise end up in landfill. Anyone with any old gardening equipment that’s no longer needed, Freecycle’s your place. (And if you’re after any old used tools etc you might be able to help somebody out and pick some up there too – but be sure to offer something to the community first – otherwise you might just get yourself banned…)

Now I’m not always one to jump on local paper nimby bandwagons, but on this occasion I’m right behind the Sutton Guardian’s Save Our Lavendar campaign.

a blog about building a website to help Londoners with underused gardens and Londoners who’d love to dig them to get together to share their time and space to help London grow a little bit greener

Phew. Can you say that without taking a breath? Hmm. Just about. I think it sums things up in 40 words or less. Doesn’t it? Maybe. If you think you can do any better please let me know!

(I quite like “Really digging other people’s gardens” as a short version though.)

Oo I do like the colours and the rounder O in SWOP. Just need to tidy up the O in PLOT and I think we’re sorted. But feel free to disagree!