Seedballs: from Fukuoka to Green Guerillas

Milkwood Permaculture have posted a great piece on creating seedballs, for guerilla gardening or just plain efficiency. To quote: The poetry of the Seedball concept is simple, yet immense. Encase a seed (or seeds) in a protective jacket of clay, creating a Seed ball. Distribute Seedballs across ground, not worrying if this day, or this [...]

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From little things, big things grow

I’ve been very active on our nature strip, madly guerilla gardening in several citrus trees, a bay tree, kaffir lime, and lemon-scented tea tree. My next step is to progressively get rid of the grass which is competing with the trees (no small task, will be waiting for some cooler weather!). One of the residents [...]

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Council gives Guerilla Gardeners a green light

Yarra Council in Melbourne has recently come out in support of Guerilla gardens in their municipality. This will set a precedent for other councils. Are you listening, Marrickville Council? In the meantime: As Rebecca Solnit, the inspiring San Francisco-based activist, concludes in her book Hope in the Dark: the Untold History of People Power, there [...]

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Street food comes to Lewisham

We’ve been steadily planting out on the nature strip. First the bay tree that moved with us from the old unit. Then a kaffir lime, and two dwarf lemon trees. Finally a lemon-scented tea tree. Yes, this is guerilla gardening, but not just for our own selfish benefit. From the outset, the aim has been [...]

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Lemons into the nature strip

A few weeks ago I ordered two dwarf myer lemons from Perry’s Fruit and Nut Nursery in SA. These are your typical Australian backyward lemon, but on “Flying Dragon” roostock, which according to the nursery is the only “true” dwarfing stock. This morning both lemons went into the nature strip, in front of our house. [...]

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Second planting into the nature strip

Our plan has generally been to put things into the nature strip that provide edible leaves, rather than fruit. That way the plants should be better able to withstand the local (encouraged) harvesting. The bay tree was an obvious choice. Then the topic of kaffir limes came up in conversation with our next door neighbours, [...]

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Guerrilla gardening in the U.S.: flyer boxes

I found a blog post this week about a guerrilla gardener in the U.S. who has converted a flyer box into a planter box. I’m not sure how sustainable it is (what happens if somebody closes the box???) but it’s a cute idea nevertheless.

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The Pansy Project

We recently came across The Pansy Project. It’s an inspiring act of guerilla gardening: Paul (based in the UK) plants pansies on sites where homophobic abuse is experienced. The project’s website has been offline for a little while, but Paul’s blog makes for interesting reading.

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Planting our bay tree in the nature strip

I’ve had a bay tree for 3+ years, and it’s been happily growing on my balcony in the old unit. Without full sun, it was getting a bit scrawny, but it nonetheless provided plenty of bay leaves for cooking. With the move to Lewisham, the time was right to give it a proper home in [...]

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