NEWS: Engagement
Location: Westminster Bridge Rd, London, SE1
Back in February 2008 I planted a cherry tree in our big guerrilla lavender shrubbery. It was a gift from Claire 2812 and Stephen 2819 (one might have expected lilac from them) to mark their engagement. And now, like the confetti at a wedding, I’m glad to report it’s blooming brilliantly and even thought it’s an autumn flowering variety it still gives its main blossom in spring. What with the fresh red tips of the Photinia this corner of London is looking splendid already this year. Tulips next.

Location: New Kent Road, London, SE1
Guerrilla Gardening: 22 March 2009 First we planted sunflower seeds (on 1 May, International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day), and last October during the Guerrilla Gardens of SE1 Guided Tour I got a group of new troops digging in ‘Jet Fire’ daffodils (small yellow ones with an orange trumpet). This are now flowering, and I returned for a long over-due tidy up of the dead sunflower stalks (potentially useful stakes) now that the heads have shed all their seeds to the winter wildlife and hopefully self seeded for this year.

Location: Elephant & Castle roundabout, SE1
Guerrilla Gardening: 25 March 2009
Budget: £107.74
This narrow strip along the bottom of a fence on the roundabout opposite my tower block is what I’d call a seasonal bed. I’ve only ever successfully planted annuals here, cutting away the weedy turf and sowing ridiculously easy nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) - which should you fancy it make a nice salad (I didn’t). My tentative digs here have been vulnerable to the occasional visit from an ad man who changes the hoarding above and ignores the bed beneath by plonking his truck stablisers on it unless the patch is in obviously tip top shape. So I decided a more permanent garden was needed here with more permanent and bigger plants. The first issue to resolve was the soil. It’s very shallow because the concrete foundations of the fence extend under the bed. So I stocked up with new top soil, peat-free compost and packed my string-on-sticks to cut the bed wider. At the appointed hour (roughly 8.30pm) Clara 005, Lyla 1046, Sunny 1600, Julia 2274 and I wheeled the old shopping trolley of ammo over the road and got digging, once again making elegant use of the ‘half moon’ spade to cut a neat edge. The police were soon there too but Julia and I saw them off with a few cheerful reassurances and got on with enriching the soil. As with the Steedman St dig earlier this month the planting scheme was a mixture of solely decorative plants and edible plants. Purple wallflowers (Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’) with aubretia made up the bulk, both are content in well drained soil, and both are perennials. In between we sowed lettuce seeds, red lollo rossa, that look great anyway, but amongst the purple flowers should be sufficiently disguised to be passed over by urban foragers (as if that was seriously a problem, neither humans nor slugs particularly like this part of the neighbourhood). Sunny brought along a small Azalea that she’d saved from the bins of the flower market (and we planted in a well of acidic soil which is likes) and we also found room for a couple of hollyhock (Althaea rosea). And even though we didn’t plant any more, like last year, there will probably be self seeded nasturtium appearing too. All in all an hour and a half front line action.

It’s traditional to plant vegetables in neat rows. This evening that was are only option, as our new guerrilla garden was one thin brown line on a side street a few minutes from my flat. The soil was compacted and sunken, a puddle sat in one part, a few shoots of grass in another. It was a blank canvas. For the first time in a while I called up troops through the Community and had a force of ten, mostly newcomers, several of them even more local than me gathering outside the nearby Chinese restaurant at 9pm wondering what patch we were going to strike. The ground didn’t look promising to the uninitiated but once the crust was broken it proved rich, wormy and speckled with lumps of dark compost, the remains of root balls from long gone plants. I left to pick up more fresh compost and while I was gone the police arrived. Meike 122 took charge and reassured them our actions were with good intentions. One of the officers knew of our activity in the area and was aware his colleagues had become unfortunate celebrities for their appearance on camera threatening us with arrest last year. Their minibus drove off just as I returned, remarkably avoiding the whole awkward incident! We continued with confidence. A student accommodation block is adjacent to this plot, and our gardening drew a small crowd of intrigued revelers. One girl joined in, another passer by stopped and gardened with us until we were finished. It was a text-book operation. The planting scheme was a mixture. As green bollards to give structure we used evergreen shrubs including Rosemary, Lavender and some unknown Australian conifers salvaged from last year’s Chelsea Flower Show and in the space between them we alternated between seed beds of parsnips and radishes and zig zags of Jerusalem artichoke tubers. And just to make it really clear this patch was now under new management we dotted clumps of cheerful yellow primroses. Then just a scattering of mulch and water and we were done.