Has anyone ever planted anything on public land?

[ecofriendlywendy]

:56ecofriendlywendy

I am only on about either just grass verges with no biodiversity or little brown edges. I don't want to introduce bluebells to a woodland or anything like that.

I have seen a few things on YouTube where people have made systemic changes by 'gurilla gardening'.
In Pheonix a man illegally cut the curb of the road and planted deep bowls of native plants, watered by the water drained from the road. Now new estates need to have these road water fed gardens incorporated by law. Because he did it on his own first. If he had asked he wouldn't have had permission.

Another one is the UK Town of Todmorden. Where a group of residents decided to start planting food in public land. It became so popular that GP surgeries and other places started to contact the group and asked them to plant their wasted green space neat their surgeries and shops and fire departments. People can pick as they please. The lady said she was asked how she would feel if someone took every cabbage. She said if they took them they needed them. It doesn't matter if one individual is greedy because the whole town has come together and grown and grown and grown. It has been a complete mindshift for the whole community and the children who are now 7 or 8 years old today have only known a world where you pick tomatoes from next to the shop and cucumbers from outside of the doctors.
Also now people outside of the original group have started their own groups including groups on cooking and preserving.

how amazing is that?

It has inspired me. I started on my own windowsill. then balcony and now I have invested in an allotment.
BUT I want to spread the word. I want my children growing up picking not just apples and blackberries but runner beans and cucumbers and everything and anything else.

I have noticed a few people have planted flowers outside of their garden, on the other side of their fence and its always a beautiful edition to the road. nobody can complain about pretty anuals on their street can they? So I am going to sow some and grow some and plants some flowers and tomatoes and bits and bobs here there and every where. I have actually been thinking about it for years but haven't done it. This year I have a bit of experience and all the pots and seeds and I am going for it!
Anyone else had some success gurilla gardening? or have any stories to share? I genuinely believe we can plant our way out of this climate crisis. From grass roots.

Reposting from climate change for traffic and more ideas.

I was with you until you said you really believe we can plant our way out of the climate crisis.

No, we cannot.

Why don't you speak to your council and set up a proper community group?

You're likely to get more involvement if you go at it from a community perspective than a climate change one.

There's a chance local gardeners will be willing to donate seeds and clippings.

I'm on Merseyside. Lots of people have planted on grass verges and slightly outside their property. The Council grass cutters are flexible and allow them to care for the area they've used. The people who have done this have planted native, wildlife friendly, none invasive plants.
I agree that we can't plant our way out of climate change and you don't understand all of the issues.

We can't plant our way out of a climate crisis but we can have a bloody good try.

Not quite the same but our local councillor runs an eco group in our village and they have planted out native wildflowers in much of the green spaces. He also runs an eco club at the primary where the children have a mini allotment going on and a herb garden at the school entrance for community use.

Someone by me has.

If you are going to do this please use seed rather than buy peat grown potted plants (lots of gardening is peat heavy and contributes to the climate crisis rather than helping it).

My mum is a secret seed scatterer. She has a beautiful garden full of poppies, hollyhocks etc and so when they finish she saves the seeds and then just always has a load of seeds in her pocket and scatters them around the local area on bits of waste ground like verges or areas by a bin, or car parks, just any area that looks like it needs brightening up.
She’s thrilled when they come up! When we go and visit, if we’re driving into the local village she’ll sometimes say “I started that Cosmos patch five years ago” and there’s a load of flowers there.

Hemp for victory !

One of the fastest growing and carbon capturing crops it's possible to grow.

britishhempco.com/pages/hemp-carbon-capture

Ozgirl75 what a great idea, I think I'll join your Mum in becoming a secret seed scatterer. I've often thought about throwing bee bombs down when I'm out on walks so now I need to do it.

I chuck safe wildflower seeds down (no foxgloves). A few of them come up.

I suggest you speak to your local authority and do it properly

Let’s hope if you do go guerilla and start planting on verges etc you dont hit utility supplies which are not hurried very deep on them

People won’t be happy if you do!

@technosausage

We can't plant our way out of a climate crisis but we can have a bloody good try.

We can have a bloody good try indeed. I have spent years and years trying to change my own little life to be more planet friendly and it just made me feel terrible. The only change that has made an impact bigger than my own family is growing food and sharing it. I haven't bought jam in years and neither have any of my family. I didn't buy a single vegetable all season last and now we have run out it feels weird going to the shops. I absolutely think if everyone can get on board and grow a bit more and compost a bit and reuse everything (because have you seen an allotment or a shed of an avid gardener? absolutely everything can become a pot!)

I don't like all the negativity. it isn't needed. we know there are thousands of factors but its people who make major changes. not politicians. We need a positive thread about climate change. We need it.

@WhatAWasteOfOranges

Not quite the same but our local councillor runs an eco group in our village and they have planted out native wildflowers in much of the green spaces. He also runs an eco club at the primary where the children have a mini allotment going on and a herb garden at the school entrance for community use.

Hi I completely understand if you don't want to, privacy reasons and all that but if you don't mind would you be able to privately message me his name so I can get into contact and get some ideas for my own local Councillor. I'm brimming with ideas but it would be nice to have someone showing how it works and the pros and cons/ what worked what didn't work.

if not could you tell em a but about what they do? Is it for children or adults? etc etc

Thanks for replying

@Ozgirl75

My mum is a secret seed scatterer. She has a beautiful garden full of poppies, hollyhocks etc and so when they finish she saves the seeds and then just always has a load of seeds in her pocket and scatters them around the local area on bits of waste ground like verges or areas by a bin, or car parks, just any area that looks like it needs brightening up. She’s thrilled when they come up! When we go and visit, if we’re driving into the local village she’ll sometimes say “I started that Cosmos patch five years ago” and there’s a load of flowers there.

You tell your mother that she is an inspiration! Thats an absolutely lovely story

I once lived in a house share where it turns out one of the guys had planted cannabis plants in a secluded spot the nearby countryside!

Not sure that counts though 😆

OK let's be clear. Gardening does nothing for the climate crisis (unless you use peat in which case it makes things worse) because although the plants take in carbon, this is quickly released again when they die and rot. The exception to this are when you plant trees and shrubs that can lock up carbon for a long time.

However, guerilla gardening and ordinary gardening can help the biodiversity crisis by converting boring, close mown amenity grassland into something good for wildlife. Although even a normal lawn is better than those plastic monstrosities people are installing.

There's a bit of land near me that is left to be reasonably wild (it's opposite some new houses and alongside tree/ hedge cover and landscaping for an A road). In lockdown me, my son and two of the families on that road deliberately planted some apple trees between the hawthorns planted by the developers (3 apple trees). We'd all been using the space to do nursery outdoor learning and over the course of distanced conversations agreed to do that, to give that space something 'back'. We'd all been litter picking it, and we are working on the local council to provide a bin next to the footpath now. Hopefully by the time my son is in secondary school there will be apples to pick for that street!

I also live near Coventry which has seeded most roundabouts and verges with wildflowers for a few years now. They look stunning.

On gardening programmes such as Gardeners World they claim it's a myth that you throw a seed bomb and it will turn into a lovely wildflower garden. The ground needs prepared etc.

There is a very urban built up area near our city centre with lots of back to back terraces. Some residents started a 'city garden' in the alley ways, just planting in lots of pots and containers and this morphed into growing veg. It's more for fun/mental health, but they open the alleys every so often for the public to see and they really are beautiful.

@Porcupineintherough

OK let's be clear. Gardening does nothing for the climate crisis (unless you use peat in which case it makes things worse) because although the plants take in carbon, this is quickly released again when they die and rot. The exception to this are when you plant trees and shrubs that can lock up carbon for a long time.

However, guerilla gardening and ordinary gardening can help the biodiversity crisis by converting boring, close mown amenity grassland into something good for wildlife. Although even a normal lawn is better than those plastic monstrosities people are installing.

But if people are growing fruit and vegetables and eating them instead of going to the shop and buying fruit and veg with all the food miles that entails - then surely that is absolutely good for reducing carbon emissions

@decemberrainydays yes locally grown fruit and veg do reduce the carbon footprint of food (again, not if you use peat gro bags though). I always associate guerrilla gardening w flowers but I guess you could do food.

@WellThatsATurnipForTheBooks

I once lived in a house share where it turns out one of the guys had planted cannabis plants in a secluded spot the nearby countryside!

Not sure that counts though 😆

Probably the single best crop for carbon capture on the planet (see links upthread).

My Godmother's son is a guerilla gardener - just flowers, but I love what he does. Just round lamp posts etc that are set in grass, but in our v urban environment, it sparks joy.He's never had any trouble.

Tomatoes might be a separate issue though.

Check out the Incredible Edible website. A few of us got together in our town and started a group about a year ago using the Incredible Edible model. We have been able to start growing fruit, veg and edible flowers in a variety of local locations including some Council flower beds and doctors' surgeries which anyone can help themselves to. We have also been able to donate some of our produce to a local foodbank which provides cooked meals.

It helps show people that you can grow some of your own food quite easily thereby cutting food miles. It also helps with biodiversity, and is great for improving physical health/mental wellbeing and combatting loneliness/social isolation.

The costs for us have been pretty low, and we get a lot of donated plants and seeds and have also been able to get some grant funding and donated compost. It doesn't take huge amounts of time to do either.