What to wear gardening isn’t something I often really think about (apart from maybe on world naked gardening day). But it’s London fashion week so I headed off gardening with my most fashionable buddy Kate over the weekend and we made a little garden to celebrate these wonderful clothes by Mary Katrantzou. Enjoy.
I recently became aware of the charity called PTES. They have a wonderful little site full of hedgehog friendly tips, check it out http://www.hedgehogstreet.org/
I was so inspired by what they are doing, I decided to create my own hedgehog friendly pothole garden. You wont believe who stopped by and checked it out…
While my little visitor is an African variety, PTES is all about protecting local species. Here are some more snaps of my new best mate…
A big thanks to Anne and Simeon (official Hedgehog wranglers) and Cheyne for the video!
This week I also learned of this awesome pothole garden hunt in tassie – check it out!
London was covered in a thick blanket of snow overnight, not exactly perfect gardening weather. But hey, this is London and you can’t let the weather get the better of you, right?
What are the ideal props for a little snow garden I hear you ask. Mini skis and a sled, of course.
One thing that always amazes me is how people react to my gardens. So much so that I’ve created this short film, Holes Of Happiness (with the help of Cheyne and friends).
We tried to capture peoples first reactions to our gardening antics, and we asked them about what they were looking at and why they thought they existed.
Inspired by a lovely little piece of knitting sent to me recently, here’s my latest little garden, created in Moss Place East London.
Thank you so much Louise for sending me this lovely little knitted flower which now has a home outside Buckingham Palace, London.
I’d like to dedicate this post to those close to me who have suffered from the effects of cancer this year. Fingers crossed that next year is a healthy one. If you’re doing some last minute shopping for Christmas, why not consider giving in celebration? It’s a great way of giving that helps to benefit Cancer Research.
I’m not sure if you’ve heard about them, but a blogger picked up some seriously dodgy photoshopping of some Filipino government officials recently, and they’ve become an internet sensation! The trio have been photoshopped everywhere, from South Park to The Price Is Right – check out the Facebook page.
I found it so amusing I’ve put them in one of my pothole gardens!
I blogged recently about my chat with Ryk Goddard on ABC Radio. After our discussion, I agreed to create a little garden for Ryk with an Australian theme. After some searching I managed to find some Kangaroo Paw in London…it’s harder than you might think!
Ryk also discussed Hobart’s Phantom Knitter with me, a lovely project that’s got plenty of press over the past few months.
Well The Phantom Knitter posted me the cuttest little piece of knitting, which I found a home for in Trafalgar Square this morning.
Here’s a little video we made of our antics and a couple of pics. Enjoy!
The Aussie garden…
And The Phantom Knitter goes global!
I also recently submitted a post to My City Is – check it out, it’s a great little project (even though I might be a little biased!) www.mycity.is
I think every post on this blog to date has included a garden or two. This post is a little bit different.
One of the things I really enjoy about my gardening adventures is the different reactions people have to my gardens. Most people enjoy them and take them in the way I intended, but not everyone.
Here are some fantastic shots Stephanie has captured of some reactions to a few of my gardens. Enjoy!
To follow my gardening antics, join me on facebook or twitter.
London, indeed the UK, needs some love right now. My latest little garden is my loving London garden. There are no props, no chairs, no tennis court, just some good old fashioned love.
A rather perplexed, but happy passer by.
As I was walking around looking for a suitable spot for my garden (yes walking, my replacement bike that my mate Kate gave me was stolen during the riots), I spied this new piece and thought it appropriate for this post.
I posted some pics on my facebook page from my recent shoot with Story Worldwide, here is the garden we created (the video is on its way). We had a great morning over on the Olympic site – I created a little picnic garden for all those tired shoppers when the Westfield Centre opens.
A few weeks ago I had a great chat with Ryk Goddard on ABC Tasmania and they’re sending me over some things for a Tasmanian themed pothole garden. I headed to the British Museum to get some inspiration from the Australian Season exhibition. Here are a couple of snaps from the wonderful Australian garden they’ve created.
Thanks to everyone who wrote to me about my stolen bike I appreciate it!
To follow my gardening antics, join me on facebook or twitter.
Continuing my adventures south of the river with Stephanie we recently headed to Cross Bones, a post-medieval burial ground for “single women”, a little know site around the corner from Borough markets in South London.
It took quite a while to create these mini gardens, but I thought they were really quite striking!
For more information on the Graveyard, check out the website.
I had a busy Saturday in South London, first stop the New Covent Garden Market. What an amazing selection of flowers and plants they have at this time of year.
Next stop was this little pothole just around the corner from Borough markets. I created this garden in memory of my bike that was stolen a few months back.
We had some great reactions from some unsuspecting tourists! More pics to follow shortly – don’t forget you can join me on Facebook here and I’m also tweeting here.
I was recently commissioned to create a new little garden for confused.com. I was over the moon, albeit a little intimidated by the brief – to create a little pothole garden with a road running through it with a little street sign warning of the potholes in the road!
This is by far my most ambitious garden yet.
Armed with some tiny conifers, alpine grass, a Dianthus and some others bits and pieces, I found this pothole just off Valance Road in East London, rolled up my sleeves and began gardening. Enjoy!
I did shoot a short film of the dig and I’ll post it shortly.
On my recent outing with Stephanie, we created this little bundle of colour outside A and B Tyres, much to the amusement of the owner.
After being pestered about it for the past few months, I’ve finally got off my butt and created a Facebook page, I’m also tweeting here.
Also, thanks to Hanna Welin for this great write up about our adventures gardening. Stay tuned as I’ve some very exciting news which I’ll be announcing here on the blog shortly…
Yesterday I posted some snaps of my Wimbledon garden – as promised here is a short video that Tom and I put together featuring a squirrel and pigeon who were very interested in what we were doing!
Wimbledon kicks off tomorrow. Happy memories of queuing, eating strawberries and sipping champagne spring to mind. As a big Wimbledon fan myself (I spent a day in queue a few years back) I decided to create a wee garden to celebrate the start of this fantastic tournament.
True to Wimbledon form, it started to rain as soon as we started creating this little pothole garden. We had some interesting local wildlife visit us including a squirrel and a pigeon during the dig (video to follow shortly).
We did, of course, need to mow the grass before proceedings began…
A while back I experimented with my first “wall garden“. Here’s my second attempt (pictures just in, thanks to Stephanie Wolff). A colourful array of Pansies have brightened up this little hole which has made the perfect pot. I think it works really well with the graffiti on the wall.
Speaking of wall gardens, last night my mate Kate showed me this amazing creation outside the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, London. This living wall is a recreation of Van Gough’s A Wheatfield, with Cypresses. An incredible 8,000 plants make up this living wall.
If you get a chance, check it out. It is absolutely spectacular.
Thanks so much to Kate McAuley for introducing me to this great garden, and for these great pics.
By the way, if you’re inspired by these vertically challenged creations, Urban Allotments have vertical garden kits for sale.
Todd Bieber recently sent me this video, which documents his vigilante garden in Brooklyn. It reminded me of the vegetable pothole garden I recently blogged about.
While Chelsea flower show might be in full swing (my invite is obviously still in the mail…) so are my little gardens. I headed out today with my friend Stephanie Wolff from London Insight, to create some little beauties. I thought I’d post a few – more are on the way shortly.
As you can see the gardens at Chelsea aren’t the only gardens in London that are having issues with the wind…
OK so this last one isn’t a pothole garden, more of a wall garden
The very kind folks over at PG Tips have given me some tickets (two pairs) to BBC Gardeners’ World Live, which is taking place from the 15th – 19th June at Birmingham NEC. It’s all sponsored by PG Tips in aid of their new range of New Ones.
If you’re keen for these tickets, just drop me an email – thepotholegardener@yahoo.com with PG Tips in the subject line, along with your name and I’ll randomly choose two winners on the 9th of June.
Here’s my latest little garden. It’s a little bit different to my other Garden’s as there’s no mini-furniture, or even flowers (I know it’s not the prettiest but it has a purpose!).
I’ve been inspired by recent projects such as The Green Line and Landshare, and so decided to create a mini-vegetable patch.
The kind folk over at Urban-Allotments posted me some bits and pieces (I’ve never received plants in the mail, but why not!) and here is my mini-veggie patch with lettuce. I’ll keep you updated on how it goes
Hopefully I’ll be eating a salad with lettuce leaves from my pothole garden later this summer!
Oh, and to whoever stole my bike a few weeks back, I hope you’re taking good care of her.
I blogged yesterday about my adventures with Kate McAuley over in the Queen’s postcode creating a little garden to celebrate the upcoming royal wedding.
This morning I headed over to Pimlico. Now for those of you who know me, to date my pothole gardens have mainly been around East London. So why Pimlico I hear you ask…