IS your garden lovely enough to share with others If so, find out how you can get involved in the National Garden Scheme and raise money for a good cause at the same time.

Keen gardeners usually love to share. Cuttings, seeds and surplus produce can all be "swopped", and it's great fun to exchange gardening ideas and know-how with fellow enthusiasts.

Carrying this one stage further, are the hundreds of Hampshire gardeners who open their gardens to the public each year to raise money for various charities.

One of the biggest and most successful of these garden groups is the National Gardens Scheme, whose popular "yellow book" lists more than 150 private gardens in Hampshire, with their opening dates.

This year Hampshire's NGS gardeners have raised over £100,000 for ten nominated charities, including Macmillan Cancer Relief and Marie Curie nurses.

If you have ever thought of opening your own garden to the public, this is a good time to start thinking about next year. Throughout the next season, NGS organisers will visit prospective newcomers.

NGS Hampshire county organiser Patricia Elkington said: "There must be masses of gardens out there that deserve to be seen by the public. We are just waiting to hear about them!

"There is always a natural turnover, as some people move away or become too old to continue, so we very much welcome newcomers to the scheme - although I should just mention that we can afford to be selective.

"Sometimes we do have to say, for example, that a garden is not mature enough, or perhaps there is not a high enough standard of maintenance. Good plants are also important - but generally owners have visited other gardens so they know the standard expected.

"We are looking for examples of excellence - that is the main criterion. As a rough guide, we say that there should be enough to interest a visitor for about three-quarters of an hour.

"That doesn't mean that the garden has to be particularly large. A small garden packed with interesting plants could be a good example of excellence, and there's definitely no need to have a grand house! Some of our best gardens are hidden behind semis or terraced houses.

"In some places there are two or three nearby houses in a group and we would love to hear from any new groups.

"It would also be nice to hear from competition winners, such as gardeners who have done well in the Southampton in Bloom contest and other similar competitions.

"We have relatively few city gardens, or gardens which specialise in annuals, so we would particularly like to add some of those to our list."

NGS gardens open to the public at the appropriate time of year. For instance, some open to the public early in the gardening season to show off their spring bulbs or hellebores. Rose specialists and gardens of annuals would be visited in the summer, whereas some open later to show off their display of autumn colour or late-flowering perennials.

Once accepted as part of the NGS scheme, gardeners take great pleasure in sharing their gardens with appreciative visitors.

Some gardens in the NGS scheme are only open once a year, usually on two consecutive days (in the hope of fine weather on at least one day). Others open several times a year, or can be visited by appointment.

The NGS tradition of hospitality usually includes refreshments for visitors, ranging from a modest snack of tea and biscuits to an elaborate range of home-made cakes or cream teas.

Tea specialists Jackson of Piccadilly support the NGS by providing free tea for garden open days, and visitors often remark that they have been offered a "good cuppa".

The new "yellow book" for 2000 will be on sale in bookshops and garden centres from late February. The small booklet for Hampshire costs only 50p and has all the information you need for the county. The complete NGS book for England and Wales costs £4.50.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.