Spring has finally arrived...
I'm gardening my way around the country this spring - from Manchester to Birmingham to Cardiff to Brighton.
The Pothole Gardener project is all about creating unexpected moments of happiness. My little gardens are a respite from the greyness of London. People read all sorts of things into my gardens when they try and rationalise them - something I'm fascinated with, and I've made various films about that.
I don't generally garden on the road, only on the footpaths (I'm not completely mad) and apart from keeping safe, the only rule of pothole gardening is I don't ever use figures in my gardens. I use a lot of miniatures as part of the project, and as a big part of my work is inspiring peoples imaginations and I find leaving scenes helps provoke the audience.
The project all started as part of my Masters in Design at Central Saint Martins and my first book, The Little Book of Little Gardens, was published by Dokument Press late in 2012. I've had a lot written about my work and I've put together a little press page here.
People from all around the world have created pothole gardens, and I post them on the blog. I've now had so many submissions, I've started a dedicated page with some of my favourite submitted gardens.
You can find more of my work at www.stevewheen.com - I'm also the Master Distiller at The Distillery - www.thedistillery.tv where I produce social video content.
If you want to get in touch, drop me a mail: thepotholegardener@yahoo.com
All tagged guerilla gardening
Spring has finally arrived...
I'm gardening my way around the country this spring - from Manchester to Birmingham to Cardiff to Brighton.
I had the pleasure of being invited to speak at TEDxPrague recently. The theme of the conference was Crossing Borders and I was able to show all of the wonderful pothole gardens I've been sent, with the new the world pothole garden map. I talked about creativity and how good it feels to get out there and create something - even if it's as tiny and ephemeral as a pothole garden.
While National Gardening Week kicks off this week in the UK, here is a lovely little garden I've just been sent all the way from New Zealand!
It wouldn't be Christmas without a little festive garden, would it? I created this little garden in London Fields, complete with everything you need at Christmas time: presents, a TV, crackers, Christmas stockings, decorations, a Yule Log and of course a Christmas Tree.
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 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...
I've blogged before about how much I love Columbia Road Flower Market. Nothing beats a Sunday stroll down the buzzing street with a coffee in hand. I spied a pothole at the end of the road during my last visit, and I created this little garden which has managed to stay there for some time now - let me know if you've seen it!
Recently I've been sent some photos of wonderful pothole gardens and I've been meaning to post them. It's great to see potholes from all around the world getting some love!
London has been Jubilee crazy over the past few weeks! I decided to create my own little celebration of the Queen's 60 year reign with a special little garden outside the Dalston Curve as part of the Chelsea Fringe. And, someone close to the Queen turned up! Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall lent a hand finishing off the garden...
I was asked to speak at TedxHackney on the weekend, which was quite an honor. The theme for the event was happiness. Daniel Vais created an awesome programme of speakers which looked at ideas around happiness from all different angles.
Most of my little gardens have sprung up around London, specifically East London. On a recent trip to India I couldn't resist pulling out my trowel and getting my fingers dirty. I'm not sure what the locals made of it, but it sure made them smile!
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...
Inspired by a lovely little piece of knitting sent to me recently, here's my latest little garden, created in Moss Place East London.
Everyone loves mail, right? Yesterday, I headed out with Zing from The East London Gardener to create a little Autumnal garden, complete with a little mailbox.
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...
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.
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.
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.