My friend and business associate Ben Swett called me the other day. He’s a cutting-edge kind of guy. He started Windowbox.com back in the 90’s. It’s an all-you-will-ever-need website for folks who garden in small spaces (such as windowboxes!).

Ben was an online supplier before most other businesses had a website, and he’s learned how to roll with the online punches ever since.

He wanted to talk to me about a relatively new website concept he’s been working on. Ben’s been involved with the community gardening scene in the Los Angeles area for a long time. He had first-hand experience with eager gardeners waiting for many years for assigned garden plots. This got him thinking about how he could tackle the problem on his own and get those plotless gardeners gardening. Then he thought of a solution: web-based garden sharing. He got his cadre of web developers on the project, and the result is GrowFriend.org.

What is garden sharing?

Garden sharing is when someone with a plot of unused land offers it to a gardener for his or her own use. Garden sharing isn’t new, and there are plenty of garden sharing websites.

Ben’s site is unique because it focuses on building a successful relationship between the land holder and the land user. On the pages of GrowFriend.org (such as What to Talk About, How to Make a Garden Plan, and the Garden Sharing Plan), the site offers the holder and the user some direction on how to lay a solid framework for an ongoing relationship. A marriage contract, if you will.

Isn’t it a good idea to talk about things like access times, who’s allowed, and what fundamental do’s and don’ts each party should adhere to? That’s a smart move, and one that Ben says is meant to create the highest possible chances of success for the land holder and the gardener.

Get started with GrowFriend

Ben’s done little or no marketing for the site. Since I do write for the press, he thought perhaps a call to me might help get the word out. And with virtually no press, GrowFriend.org already has more than 100 people signed up and gardening. He believes the GrowFriend.org site can do some real, honest good for communities around the country, fulfilling the wishes of eager gardeners, creating productive space in fallow fields, growing green spaces in vacant lots. That’s a pretty cool thing to have taken on. Kudos to him for the effort.

Ben may be in Los Angeles, but GrowFriend.org isn’t just for the LA area. It’s viable wherever Google Maps can map a location. So, if you’d like to get involved with the site and spread the news to friends, family, and your own community, I recommend you log on and explore. You may grow a friend or two.