Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Harringay Open Gardens - 1st July 2012
Thanks to Alison for organising a very successful and enjoyable day. The photo above is my favourite photo from the day. To see photos from all the gardens please visit my Flickr page.
Note from Hugh: Since the event posting will be difficult to find again, I've copied the pictures and some of the comments made on the event posting below.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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From Ben Yeomans (copied from the event posting):
And I've just realised there's quite a bit of pond overkill - guess what I'm interested in making..?!
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Permalink Reply by James Putzel on
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Sorry not to have been on the site for a week but wanted to add my voice with a big thank you to Alison for organising this. We enjoyed all the gardens so much and are only sorry we could not make it to the last one. All the photos are fantastic and Sam, you are an artist! Thanks to all who shared their gardens and all who came to see them. A really great day.
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From Alison P on the event posting:
What a fantastic day. Last Sunday ten kind people agreed to let strangers wander around their gardens, having a nose around and asking all sorts of obscure (and not so obscure!) questions. Dick and Ben have already posted their great pictures above, but I wanted to try and do justice to six interesting parallels and contrasts that struck me when I was looking around yesterday.
Theme 1 was simply what amazing things you can do in a very small garden! Of the ten on Sunday, eight were typical Harringay sized gardens – ie the width of a terrace house and a bit longer in length. But so much was packed in – all sorts of wonderful plants, ponds (of which more later), towering banana plants (Sam) and fruit bushes, herbs and vegetables galore (Sonya, James and Gabi). I found it really inspiring and hope others did too.
Theme 2 was not having a lawn. It was obvious a number of us (half) had given up on lawns. A controversial decision, especially if you have children; for me it was about the difficulty of maintaining a small shaded lawn which turned into a mud bath at the drop of a hat (or, more to the point, a football). As we saw on Sunday, without a lawn there is so much more room for plants, and ponds and paths, and all sorts of nooks and crannies (including places for kids to play). But there were some lovely examples of small gardens with lawns – Nemone’s and Anna’s being the ones that really stick in my memory. And of course who could ever say no to eating lunch on the wonderful and very atypical gigantic lawn at Dick's. Perfect for an afternoon snooze…
Theme 3 was varied growing conditions. No matter how small the garden, there will always be a wide range of growing conditions. Even though a lot of the ones we visited faced south, even those had areas of heavy shade, usually because of trees. So there was a lot of discussion about those elusive plants that don’t mind shade and the drought that often goes with it. I was evangelical about my solution (a particular type of Euphorbia) but there were lots of other ways of dealing with it too.
Theme 4 was water. There were at least six ponds, many of which had tadpoles, frogs or newts. Some were made out of pond liners, others in old baths. They were all amazing and I’ve come away very determined to try and include water somewhere in my garden. Jeanette’s wildflower garden had a lovely pond with a dead branch strategically arranged to attract dragonflies. And we ended the day eating cake next to Kamila’s huge pond – crammed with strange snails and the odd newt - in her jaw-droppingly lovely garden.
Theme 5 was pests. Occasionally I heard people talking about foxes, and there was the odd mention of cats. But the things that drove everyone crazy in every garden were snails and slugs. We talked about the pros and cons of pellets, especially the organic ones. Others just lob them somewhere else (the general view was this didn’t work; they return, like slimy homing pigeons). Someone (I’ve manage to blank out who) cuts them in half. But clearly none of us had really cracked it, and we learned from Sam that even snail proof hostas aren’t immune to this Harringay predator.
Finally, theme 6 was ingenuity and making do. Gardeners are ultimately a very practical lot, and there was lots of evidence of using up what you’ve got and recyling. Deborah told us about the old bath she had earmarked for a pond that was left in her front garden by her builders and vanished in 15 minutes flat (very Harringay) but she still managed to fit in two ponds made out of other containers.
Thanks so much again to everyone who came along, and let’s stay in touch. It would be great to organize a plant swap or something similar in the autumn when we’re clearing things up – let me know if you’d be interested.
Alison
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A big hurrah for Alison for arranging this and to all those who so generously threw open their gardens to their neighbours. Some great pictures too which serve to put my currently rather neglected patch thoroughly to shame.
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Permalink Reply by Alison P on
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A couple more comments copied across from the event page, so everything is in one place.
From Sam:
Great synopsis of the day Alison. Bens slug article does'nt mention using scissors but it was me who cuts them up for the blackbirds to feast on!!!!
I've added all my photos to flickr as I just could'nt choose one from each to create a top 10. http://www.flickr.com/photos/choopalone/sets/72157630393535714/
Hope you enjoy them and thanks to everyone and especially Alison for a great day
From Dick:
There are some very nice pics in that lot Sam, many up close with an eye for detail. You clearly enjoyed yourself! I shall try to get round to see your place next week.
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Permalink Reply by Sam R on
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You are more than welcome Dick. I'm at work during the week so evenings or weekends are best.
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And a few more comments from this different thread - thanks again everyone.
From Matt:
Thanks Alison for organising the garden day yesterday. It was great to meet people and visit peoples gardens (and the odd kitchen) to get ideas and see what people are doing all over Harringay.
Defiantly stick our garden on next year (after I have built it!).
Cheers,
Matt
From Kamila:
Thanks to Alison for organising such a lovely day (weather and all!). It was so interesting and inspiring to see people's gardens, especially to see what can be achieved in a small space without a lawn! Very well organised route too - starting at Alison's garden plus cupcakes, lunchtime in Dick's huge garden, and finishing at mine with tea and cakes. Definitely do it next year. Thanks for letting me participate although I am outside Harringay.
And from Deborah:
I agree with everything that's been said. Really enjoyed it and was lovely to meet everyone and see what each one had created, was really impressed.
Look forward to hopefully being involved in another one.
Deborah
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Permalink Reply by Matt on
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Yes - it was a great day, sorry that I could not visit the afternoon gardens, I had some emergency DIY to do : )
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Permalink Reply by Anna T on
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It looks that my earlier post did not get sent, so... take 2....
Thanks a lot Alison. Fantastic event. Very inspiring and a chance to meet very nice local people. Unfortunately, I did not make it to some of the afternoon ones and, seeing the photos, it looks like I did miss a lot. Hoping that the owners of the afternoon gardens will give us another chance to view them, maybe? Look forward to another event next year.
Anna
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