Transform Your Unused Space

Share Your Garden

Earn Value. Grow Something Lasting.

Thousands of gardens, paddocks, and smallholdings across the UK sit unused every season. Runrig Garden connects garden owners like you with vetted gardeners and expert permaculture mentors who design, plant, and maintain a productive food forest on your land, while you keep a share of everything it produces. Free to list. No gardening experience required. You stay in control throughout.

What happens when you

Join as a Garden Owner

Food Grower Appointed

A food grower from the panel is appointed to grow food and harvest at your garden for the season.

A Permaculture Mentor

An expert designs the food forest and guides the growers through every season.

Your Share of the Harvest

You and the food grower agree a harvest split at the start of the project.

A Growing Community

Access to other RunRig growers and a platform for shared knowledge.

Is it safe to share your garden?

Vetted Growers and Permaculture Mentors

Every gardener and permaculture mentor on Runrig Garden is fully reviewed and approved before they appear in any match. You see their complete profile — growing background, qualifications, previous projects across the UK, and the type of collaboration they are looking for — before you agree to anything. No gardener sets foot on your land without your explicit approval. Every time.

A Written Project Agreement on Every Garden Sharing Collaboration

Every Runrig Garden project is backed by a clear, plain-English written agreement before a single seed goes in. It covers access rights and visiting arrangements, maintenance responsibilities across every season, the agreed harvest split, winter arrangements, and exactly how either party exits the collaboration if needed. No legal jargon. No ambiguity. No disputes. Runrig provides the template — you just need to agree the terms and sign.

FAQ section

Garden owners questions answered

How do I find a trustworthy gardener to look after my unused land in the UK?

Finding a trustworthy gardener for unused land in the UK is easiest through a vetted matching platform rather than informal classifieds or social media groups. Look for services that review growers before matching, show you full profiles including previous projects, and require both parties to sign a written agreement. This three-step process — vetting, matching, and written terms — is the standard that protects UK landowners.

What can I do with unused garden space in the UK?

Unused garden space in the UK can be transformed into a productive food forest, a no-dig kitchen garden, or a community growing plot — often without the landowner doing any of the physical work. Matching your space with a skilled grower and permaculture mentor is the most efficient route. Even a small neglected garden can produce fruit, vegetables, and herbs within a single growing season.

Where can I find a permaculture mentor to help design my garden in the UK?

Permaculture mentors in the UK can be found through dedicated growing collaboration platforms that connect landowners, growers, and designers in one place. A qualified mentor will assess your specific site — soil type, aspect, water drainage, and available light — before producing a design tailored to your land. The most productive approach pairs the mentor with a grower who implements the design across a full growing season.

Should I be worried about strangers accessing my property through a garden sharing scheme?

Concern about strangers accessing your property through a garden sharing scheme is completely reasonable and any reputable UK scheme should address it directly. The safeguards to look for are grower vetting before matching, the ability to review and approve your match personally, and a signed written agreement covering access arrangements before anyone visits. With these 3 protections in place, garden sharing in the UK is a safe and well-established practice.

Should I list my garden for garden sharing if it is overgrown or in poor condition?

You should absolutely list your garden even if it is overgrown or neglected — in fact, many of the best Runrig projects start exactly that way. Growers and permaculture mentors are experienced at working with difficult ground. Over 40 percent of plots listed on Runrig Garden are described as overgrown or unmanaged at the point of listing. Condition is not a barrier to getting started.

What is no dig gardening and does it actually work in the UK?

No dig gardening is a growing method that avoids disturbing the soil, instead building fertility through surface mulching and compost layers. It works extremely well in the UK climate — reducing weeds by up to 95 percent, improving moisture retention through dry summers, and producing yields comparable to or better than conventional digging. It is now one of the most widely adopted methods among UK growers and permaculture practitioners.

How does permaculture gardening differ from conventional gardening in the UK?

Permaculture gardening in the UK takes a whole-system approach rather than focusing on individual crops or single seasons. It designs growing spaces around natural patterns — water flow, sun angles, soil biology, and plant relationships — to create gardens that become more productive and less work-intensive over time. A conventionally managed garden demands the same effort every year. A permaculture-designed garden improves with every season.

How do community gardens help biodiversity and the environment in the UK?

Community gardens improve biodiversity and the environment by creating layered growing habitats that support wildlife, build healthy soil, and sequester carbon on land that would otherwise sit unused. A well-designed food forest in a UK urban setting can support up to 3 times more insect species than a conventional garden, while improving soil organic matter by up to 40 percent within 5 years.

Still have questions?

Get in touch with RunRig Garden team.

"I had a garden I was embarrassed about for three years. Now there are people growing food in it and I get vegetables every week. I did not expect to feel this good about it."