A year of little gardens

Posted on by steve
3

This has been an epic year on the blog, and I thought I’d take some time to reflect on 2012. It all kicked off with my short documentary, Holes of Happiness, getting an incredible response on my YouTube channel, piling up over 200,000 views…

I then headed to Milan Design Week (thanks to Lancia) with filmmaker and partner in crime Ms McCokindale, to create a series of gardens for the opening days of the festival. It was quite a challenge (25 gardens in 2 days) but I managed to create some of my favourite gardens to date. From the arts to fashion to music to art, my little gardens reflected all things Italian.

I was also lucky enough to be invited to speak at some cool events, including TED in Hackney, The Lost Lectures and The Secret Garden Party. I’ve almost managed to get over my fear of public speaking :)

I had the opportunity to pothole garden with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. What an experience that was. I must say she was a lovely, lovely gardening companion and she had a wonderful sense of humour. Next time we go gardening together she promised to bring Charlie…

chatting with Camilla

I organised a few walks over summer, taking out keen pothole gardeners. The first walk was part of the Chelsea Fringe (we also ran a cycle powered garden themed film festival at Hackney City Farm) and the second walk was part of Koppaberg’s unestablishment series of events in East London.

This little project has taken roots all over the world – from Quebec to Broome to The Hague to Colgne to Eastborne, I’ve had pothole gardens sent to me from all over the world. I’ve posted many of them on this dedicated page.

The Olympics took over East London, and so did a series of little sporting fields…

race track 2

And, of course, my little book of little gardens was published last month by Dokument press. The book launch was a blast, and I even managed to squish people so they were small enough to fit in my miniature gardens…

Here’s the trailer for the book:

Thank you to everyone for their support, keep on gardening!

Join me on Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Twitter.

www.thelittlebookoflittlegardens.com

In the shadow of the Barbican

Posted on by steve
2

The Barbican is an iconic London landmark and also home to my latest little garden…

The pothole gardener Barbican

bird box barbican

I’ve been sent two new awesome little gardens recently – Julia Keim included a deck chair for a tired farmer…

IMG_0707

And this one from Sydney, Australia includes real alfalfa!

Sydney-20121125-00663

Keep those gardens coming in – I’ve got some more copies of my books to give away :)

Join me on Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Twitter.

www.thelittlebookoflittlegardens.com

Gardening next to Boxpark

Posted on by steve
1

I headed back to Shoreditch recently, where I filmed many of the gardens for my film holes of happiness, to create a little garden celebrating two of London’s icons…

Join me on Facebook, youtube , Google+ and Twitter.

A Little Book Launch…

Posted on by steve
2

Last week The Dalston Curve hosted The Little Book of Little Gardens book launch.

The event was not only a celebration for the release of the book (and a chance to thank all the people who I have collaborated with on the project) it was also an opportunity for me to see how I could get people interacting and engaging with my little gardens in different ways.

There was a giant green screen, whereby people could pose in some of the gardens from the book (with oversized props of course!). Check out what people got up to…

There was also the cycle cinema, a movie screen which is powered by two fixed cycles. Thank goodness for a few keen cyclists who powered the screen for most of the evening! The screen featured images of gardens that have been submitted to the blog of the past few weeks, intercut with wonderful poetry by Yasmin Ali Khan and Shama Ali Khan from Litterapture. Here is a small collection, check it out!

There was also some wonderful theatre by Gabby, Steph and Janie including some pothole performance art and a Columbia Road Market Seller’s appearance!

Goodie bags had treats from Sow Gourmet, as well as a miniature prop or two (of course), wood fired pizza was cooked by the tasty and talented Richo, and live music was provided by Jaimie Tullo.

A percentage of all book sales on the night went to help this great theatre group: www.troupel.co.uk

Thanks to everyone who helped out making the book such a success, especially all those people who have had kind words to say about my work in the past. A special thanks to Kate McAuley who made a lovely speech and of course wrote the foreword.

The event couldn’t have been such a success without the help of these wonderful people: Natalie Reiss, Graham, Adam, Alex Davis, Jenny Collins, Maia Lloyd, Gabby and Steph, Peter Richardson, Thom Harvey, Jaimie, Jainie, Yasmin Al Khan, Sharma Al Khan, Judit Sarosi-Eotvos, Kate McAuley, Mandy Wheen, Jo McNally, Verity Dephoff, Emma-Jayne Barclay, Jermaine Belgrave, Cheyne McCorkindale, Team Turnaround, Dokument Press and of course Marie and the fabulous team at The Dalston Curve.

The Little Book of Little Gardens

Posted on by steve
1

I’m really pleased that The Little Book of Little Gardens is now available in stores and online.

It was a collaboration between myself and some really talented people.

Heidi Helyard from Blue Wood Studios laid out the book and worked up all of the designs for the text.

Kate McAuley wrote the lovely foreword and took some of the photos.

Stephanie Wolff took many of the pictures, including the cover photo.

Bjorn and the team at Dokument who published the book.

We had a great little launch party last week which I’ll post about shortly. More information on where to pick up the book on the site: www.thelittlebookoflittlegardens.com

Join me on Facebook, youtube and Twitter.

From Germany to the Netherlands…

Posted on by steve
Reply

I’ve been sent two wonderful gardens from budding pothole gardeners (pun intended)… Have a look at this “flower-box” themed garden from Barbara in Germany…

The Dutch pothole gardener has struck again – check out this great clip!

I’ve created a few gif’s for the launch of the little book of little gardens later this week, let me know your thoughts.

Join me on Facebook, youtube and Twitter.

A little trailer for a little book…

Posted on by steve
4

My book hits the shelves next week, here’s a trailer to whet your appetite!

There’s more info on the book here: http://www.thelittlebookoflittlegardens.com

I was sent this wonderful installation inspired by the pothole garden blog from Judit Sarosi-Eotvos in Eastbourne. A book is on it’s way to you as a big thank you!

Join me on Facebook, youtube and Twitter.