Guerilla gardening/ making Harringay more beautiful

Liz has written a very thought-provoking piece on her blog, about planting up some of the more neglected bits of Harringay's streets. Her piece is here.

There have already been some very helpful and positive comments to this, which I'll reproduce below.

Anette Comment by Anette 1 day ago
This is a lovely idea, Liz. And I have looked at the state of that tree too, it would be nice if it was looked after a bit better!

One question though: How long would a nice patch under a tree in a public space be left alone..?

Liz Comment by Liz 1 day ago
Only one way to find out! :)

Anette Comment by Anette 1 day ago
Very true!

Hugh Comment by Hugh 21 hours ago
Like it - interesting link with the guerilla gardening thingy Keir posted about some while ago. And a few months prior to that, the video I added.

Next steps, Liz?

alistairj Comment by alistairj 21 hours ago
Nice idea - Steve's photos from Berlin are inspiring. It would need a bit of care to avoid damaging the roots of young trees and their plastic irrigation pipes. I think in Berlin the council must promote the concept in some way, if not the implementation (Steve?).

Alison P Comment by Alison P 20 hours ago
Another good idea (you're on fire today Liz!). Agree with Alistair - would need to be careful with some v small areas around trees, but I'd imagine could take care of that with careful planting. For eg. I've a concrete front-garden and it is amazing what is managing to grow just between the cracks - geraniums for one, or campanula. And as my previous garden could testify, californian poppies seem to grow just about anywhere inhospitable (and are damn hard to get rid of).

How to take forward? We've missed the boat this year with annuals (which in some way are the ideal thing to use - cheap, fast growing etc, though clearly - ahem - annual). Should we compile a list of spaces that might suit this?

Liz Comment by Liz 18 hours ago
This is why I've called in you the professionals because I am sure that with careful planning we can choose varieties that will do no harm and survive the rather harsh conditions. It might be a good idea to start thinking about what we can plant
I think a list of spaces is good, including neglected planters or patches of ground. Please let us do something about Felicia's memorial. I happen to know that there is no one else round here to do it.
Then when the MTD bids go in we can try to get some cash. Unless anyone has some secret connections to the guerilla gardeners...

Sapphireblue Comment by Sapphireblue 17 hours ago
mmm.... anything to do with gardening you can count me in... memorials to local women should definitely be promoted and taken care of...we could meet up with our trowels and some soil and.......plants - we could maybe expand the spot by taking up a paving stone??? or does that involve masses of bureacracy - where I lived in Crouch End someone (oh yes, it might have been me) just did it with out bothering to ask - but then I am a bad bad rule flouter....smack my hand!

Liz Comment by Liz 5 hours ago
Lets talk about this at the next drinks and draw up some plans. We could start by simply doing something quick with Felicia's space in Seymour Road. I'm an enthusiastic but very novice gardener. I'm happy to go and remove litter and weeds and keep an eye on it. Maybe a candidate fo Hugh's 'A story in 5 frames'?
http://www.harringayonline.com/group/thephotographyclub/forum/topic...

Stephen H Comment by Stephen H 1 hour ago
@Alistair... The councils here don't really promote the street gardens, they just 'tolerate' them. The whole thing really started after German re-unification when the Berlin boroughs suddenly had less money to spend on 'borough beautification', leading to overgrown and (dog) messy areas on the streets. The bases of trees without 'gardens' tend to get used more as dog toilets, whereas those with gardens do not.
Also in 1994, after seven weeks of 30°C+ temperatures, the Berlin Senat asked residents to go out and water the trees on their street. After this many trees were adopted and the whole thing roller-coastered.
Even now some boroughs don't allow 'fencing' around the trees, but the gardeners got around this by using string and four posts.. Where there's a will there's a way...

Comment by Alison P 1 hour ago
I think I'm away at next drinks (can't remember when it is though) but would like to be involved.

Agree that we should start thinking about possible plants and seeing what others have used in these sorts of inhospitable situations - very happy to contribute to that. What is the best way of doing that - contining to post here or having a separate non-blog post (only advantage of that is that you can then respond to specific comments rather than having your post always at the bottom)?

Liz Comment by Liz 1 hour ago
How about starting a thread in 'Gardening' group and messaging the group that it is there? Hugh could flag it up in the next update, perhaps.
I'm not sure we've fixed a date for the next drinks yet but if there were a few interested people we could always meet separately, in the Garden ladder might be appropriate!
@Steve, if you've got any hints from Berlin about plant types etc they would be most welcome.