Call it a matchmaking service, of sorts, for gardening enthusiasts.

Maple Ridge-based CEED Centre is a partner for the interactive Sharing Backyards website (www.sharingbackyards.com) that matches people without land to garden on with folks possessing spare planting space.

"It's an important program because it gets unused arable land used," said Christian Cowley, executive director with CEED.

"It allows people to put an icon [on the webpage] that they are looking for somewhere to plant, or an icon that they have a place to plant."

Cowley said farming is really about soil productivity, which relates to the microbes found in the ground.

"As long as you keep the land worked well with lots of organic matter," he said, "it will be productive."

Left fallow for too long, some of the soil's productive capacity can be leached out by the rain, Cowley explained.

Visitors can browse the list located on the right side of the website to find their area of choice.

The website allows the public to place an icon on a map of Maple Ridge that indicates an offer of planting space or a desire for the use of it.

Along with the icon, you can type in a detailed explanation of the terms on which you wish to participate in the sharing program.

Personal information is hidden and messages are delivered directly through the site to its users.

The CEED Centre's role is to be the local host of the program. Its task is to find local people to use the site as well as local sponsors, including businesses.

Cowley is personally involved. Over the past year, he has donated a plot of land on his Maple Ridge property to Emi Uchida, so she can plant vegetables such as corn, pumpkins, and squash.

Cowley would like to see more people involved in the program.

"We'd like to see more matches," he said. "We would like to see more land used productively in Maple Ridge to grow food. One of our goals is to make Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows more food secure, and this is one of the ways we can do that. It's a tool in the tool chest."

In the last year and a half, there have been about 10 matches, Cowley said, and he's hoping that number will increase as more awareness about it spreads.

The CEED Centre has a sample agreement available so that people interested in the program can use it to help set parameters around sharing their backyard.

The Sharing Backyards website was created by LifeCycles, a Victoria-based non-profit dedicated to cultivating awareness and initiating action around food, health, and urban sustainability.

The site is now hosted by local partners like the CEED Centre in cities ranging from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Deluth, Minn., to B.C. cities including Maple Ridge, Nelson, Vancouver, and Williams Lake.