Making progress with our railway plantings

A far better sight than a strip of scrubby weeds…

The key to guerrilla gardening is to be indifferent to the survival of any one plant, while remaining passionate about the success of the garden as a whole.

In the year since I last blogged about our guerrilla gardening along the railway line, there has been plenty of progress, and a fair share of setbacks.

First the challenges:

• The railways folks decided to replace the electricity substation right next to the garden, leading to trucks being squeezed down the pedestrian pathway, crushing a pile of plants. (Their reworking of the security fence also killed off a bunch more.)
• Pretty much all of the groundcovers were wiped out by the big hailstorm.
• Local kids keep stealing the stakes used to hold the plant guards.
• Plants are randomly damaged, by dogs or passing people.
• Some plants simply don’t survive the harsh conditions.

But the good news:

• The garden has been progressively extended, and it’s now 10+ metres in length.
• The more established plants are now growing strongly, including all the acacias and callistomons.
• I’ve grown most of the plants from cuttings, so the cost has been minimal.
• Surprisingly few plants have been stolen.

The key is to keep planting each weekend, to replace the 2-3 plants that are damaged, and to then get slightly ahead. Over a year, this makes a big difference, and the pace should progressively increase.

Many of the more established plants are 0.5m high, going into a fresh growing season.

I’ve had plenty of great comments from the locals, and it’s an enjoyable challenge. While it’s still early days, I think I’ve proved that one person can have an impact.

What can you do in your local area? 🙂

 

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