Anybody you garden with won't be a stranger for long! I think this could be an excellent situation if it is done right and you have a little bit of luck. I would think there would be plenty of people willing and excited about a rental agreement that includes garden chores--especially if it includes a rental home with access to a beautiful garden.

Horse people do this all the time. In exchange for a certain amount of work a discount is taken on the cost of your horse's board. It's the owners barn, owners rules. I wouldn't look for someone to be a "garden partner on equal terms," but someone that would be willing to add labor. In this case it may not be so much that a discount on rent is taken, but that rent includes use of the garden.

A good written agreement is a must. It should include a minimum number of hours a week/month, take into account an adjustment of those hours as needed seasonally, identifies the type of work expected, clarifies how any expenses will be handled, etc. and then if the renter doesn't live up to the agreement a specific amount the rent is increased for that month with the consideration it is needed for professional garden assistance.

I think it is a lovely idea with a big potential upside. It's not without risks, but I think the risks can be managed.

(I cross posted! Sorry)

It would be nice to 'share' my garden with someone who just wants to do work while I make the decisions, sure :D That kind of sharing sounds fun! I can't imagine anyone taking me up on that, though ;)

I do share parts of my garden with folks who just need a space to grow tomatoes or something. Lots of people like that sort of arrangement. But if she means that they don't get to choose what to plant for themselves, that's the part folks always want, in my experience.

Theren were a number of attempt in the UK to unite people with gardens which were too big for them, with people who really wanted to garden and did not have access to space of their own. I forget the name of the initiative (common land or something) but it was a small scale success (in the light of closing allotment sites and the lack of affordable housing with garden space). I think it is an excellent idea with obvious benefits for all parties - I would certainly consider this as a sharer or sharee...and already, as an allotmenteer, I am prediposed to gardening on land which does not belong to me. Of course, there are pitfalls, matching suitable people with similar needs and expectations...and obviously, as a socialist, I welcome this sort of scheme. Win-win all round, I think and one of the better uses of social networks and the internet in general.

I already do this. In exchange for rent, I have a family who feeds my horses when I can't, repairs fences, helps me with the things I can no longer do in the garden due to arthritis, helps with weeding and planting, and feeds my house animals when I'm out of town. They have been here since 2005, and so far the benefits outweigh the problems, but there have been minor problems. My DH has been very ill off and on since they came, and I'm not sure what I would have done without them. They work about 15 hours a week, split between three people, so it's not really a hardship for them.

Having a good written agreement and back up plan would help. Mom has a help deal with her tenant. But so far he is best at eating peaches, eggs and other fruits...oh and picking roses. But he is a nice guy, rarely there and so we don't worry that we get no help

..I suppose if you struggle to manage, then you could adapt to it out of need.... otherwise it would be anathema to me, I'm afraid.... something like...over my dead body...?

I confess, my instinctive reaction to reading the thread title was a shoulders hunched, "what do you mean, share?!"

However, I did have an arrangement a bit like that a few years back. I rented the second floor flat in a house with a garden, and in exchange for a break on the rent, I sorted out and maintained the garden, landlord supplying the materials. I also fed/ temporarily adopted his his cat as he was abroad for work. That arrangement worked well, because I was only planning to live there for a limited time and he was planning to sell the house, so the garden (weedfilled rectangle of 'grass') needed sorting. Because I knew I wasn't staying I was able to not invest myself in the garden, and make it look ok, even if it wasn't how I would like it. In my experience it's not an unusual arrangement, but it's more commonly done with absentee landlords.

I think depending on your area, finding someone willing to do garden chores in exchange for reduced rent would actually be pretty easy. The advice to get it written into the rental agreement is a good one. Finding someone to actively share the garden, in a sympatico fashion will be considerably harder - my advice is to go for the former and see if over time the tenant wants to shift into a more sharer type agreement. Gardens have a way of working on people after all. I was into my thirties before gardening awoke like an inherited disease in my blood.