Gardening guerrilla is cultivating land that does not belong to us.The activities of horticultural guerrillas take various forms and scales.They are interested in neglected scraps of greenery and plant them with flowers, they throw "seed bombs" on wastelands, they set up vegetable gardens on abandoned plots of land. All this to change the appearance of urban spaces.
It was Richard Reynolds, the author of the GuerrillaGardening.org blog, who contributed most to promoting this idea around the world. He began with a neglected flowerbed at the entrance to his block in Elephant and Castle, a borough of London. Gradually he planted it with plants, creating a small garden.Satisfied with the results of his work, he also started empty city lawns. His activities were gradually joined by others.
Today, she continues to green the district, plants, weed and water, and opens vegetable gardens with the local community. He travels the world with lectures, inspiring thousands of people around the world to follow in his footsteps.Each year is also celebrated the Sunflower Planting Day initiated by London gardeners and the International Day of Guerrilla Planting Tulips.Even the British Duchess Camilla joined the annual campaign of collecting lavender from the municipal plantation.
If you also want to become a horticultural guerrilla, you should remember a few rules.You have to carefully choose a place where the plants you plant will not be exposed to trampling. Sometimes in the city we can find forgotten concrete pots or empty places left after trees.
When we choose a place close to the house, we can look after planting more easily - plants watered during drought have a better chance of surviving in an urban environment, and well-kept flower beds do not provoke devastation.If we have any surplus plants in the garden, we can transplant them into public space.
If we do not want to enter someone else's territory and risk conflicts with the law, it is enough to make "seed bombs" from soil, clay, seeds and a little water, dry them, and then take for a walk, find a piece of neglected area and just thrown over a fence or other fence.When it rains, the water will wash the seeds into the ground and allow them to germinate.
Native green initiative
There are also gardening guerrillas in Poland.The Kwiatuchi duo has been organizing the "Żolibuh" campaign for several years, during which, together with the residents, they plant forget-me-nots at Aleja Wojska Polskiego in Warsaw's ŻoliborzPlanting flowers, in addition to making the urban space more attractive, is also a good excuse to spend time in the open air.
For two years, together with a group of friends, I planted flowers in empty concrete pots on the platform of the Ursus railway station. Despite the difficult conditions, the plants survived until late autumn, watered with imported water in bottles.This winter, the pots were removed due to the renovation of the platform, but this is certainly not the end of our activities, because there are still many neglected places in Poland …
The seeds of plants that tolerate harsh urban conditions, such as water scarcity and degraded substrate, are best suited for "flower bombs". Let us also not forget about the valuable honey plants that provide food for urban insects.The selection of seeds must be carefully considered, so as not to introduce alien and expansive plants into the urban flora, which can spread out in an uncontrolled way and displace native species from natural habitats .
Honey-bearing plants that occur naturally in Poland are, for example, Echium, clover, cornflower or mullein. Their seeds can be bought or harvested in the late summer by themselves in the meadow.At the beginning, I encourage you to walk around the area and look for places where we can make positive changes with small measures and simple actions. Unauthorized city development can be risky, but remember that public space also belongs to us and we have the right to use it, and flowers - also planted in the city - you can simply make someone's day pleasant.
