Turn Every Lawn Into A Community Garden

Wish your area had a community garden? Instead of waiting for local councils to act and land to become available, we had an idea to turn every lawn into a micro-community garden for people who were yearning to get their hands in the soil. It's just like having your own allotment, except your allotment is in a kind neighbour's yard.

New Zealand tends more towards the community garden model, though there aren't many. Allotments are a concept from England and the UK where people who live in flats can rent a small space to garden on a piece of land that's walking distance from their home. It is a practical solution to urban intensity where not everyone has a lawn that they can use to grow food. Alot extends the allotment concept to a New Zealand setting, where we actually have plenty of houses with underutilised lawns, that green thumbs could easily turn into thriving, nourishing gardens.

People with allotments in the UK pay money to rent their allotments, and get some formal renter's rights in return. But allotments and community gardens can still be taken away by the council or land owner at any time. The Alot model promotes a cashless trade, and a relationship built on trust and mutual understanding. This creates a different type of security.

If you're imagining a garden at your place, sign up as a land owner. If you'd like to work someone else's land, sign up as a gardener. If you want a garden at your place AND you want to garden at someone else's land, sign up once as a gardener and then sign up again as a land owner.

Absolutely! Most people are interested to get involved with the gardening once it gets started - there's so much to learn and it feels so rewarding to plant!

The land owner. Usually they set a budget for what they're willing to pay each season. The gardener is often the one who spends the most time at the local garden center.

Both people usually split the fruits, seasonal vegetables, berries, flowers, native plants, herbs and medicinal plants 50/50.

Not usually. Alot promotes building community through sharing skills and non-monetary trades.

Not at all. We encourage you to discuss your own arrangement over a cup of tea, and come up with something that suits you both. A regular check in once-a-season is also a good idea, so arrangements can change over time.

We don't. The website runs for free, and we maintain it as an act of service to the community.

No. No AI is used in the running of Alot. No AI has access to the database. No AI reads your data. AI was used to help write the code that built this website, but the code is completely seperate from the database where your information gets stored. No AI can access your information, and there's no AI running in the live website.

The first step is to sign up using the form at the bottom of the page. Then share this page on your local community Facebook group, send a message to your group chat, ask your local Resident's Association to put it in their newsletter, and tell every gardener you know. If you'd like some flyers that you can pin up in your community or garden center, please reply to any Alot email and we'll send some through.

Spread the word! Alot grows through the grapevine by word-of-mouth, so please share this page in your local community Facebook group, send a message to your group chat, ask your local Resident's Association to put it in their newsletter, and tell every gardener you know! If you'd like some flyers that you can pin up in your community or garden center, please reply to any Alot email and we'll send some through.