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 the pothole gardener
People often ask me how they can get involved in the pothole gardener project. I love it when people send me their gardens from all corners of the globe, so please do keep sending them to me! Now, for those of you that are not so green fingered, there's another way to get involved.
Finally, it's almost time to dust off the BBQ, fire it up and soak up some sunshine. I headed out gardening with photographer Jonathan Perugia who got this great snap the other morning of my BBQ inspired garden...
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Growing up in Australia, my childhood memories are chock full of adventures at the clothes line. On my recent outing with Stephanie Wolff, I created this little clothes line garden complete with pegs, clothes basket, a fork and a spade.
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.
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.
I headed out last weekend for some more gardening - this time with journalist Hanna Welin. Here are the results, enjoy!
I blogged yesterday about my adventures with Kate McAuley over in the Queen's poscode creating a little garden to celebrate Williams and Kates big day. Well, we shot a wee video and here it is. Enjoy!
I was recently sent this picture along with the note: Whilst driving on Mexico's Yucatan highway 261 between Dzibalchen and Xpuhil in the Campeche region we hit this massive pothole.
Stay tuned for my next garden - I'm heading out with my friend Kate from i am not a celebrity and partner in crime in Weather to Wear (our fashion forecast based on the weather) to bring you a Will and Kate royal wedding special!
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