Photos from the Unveiling of the Royal Scarecrows at Cottington Gardens

On Saturday I dropped by the Cottington Gardens community garden to visit their new royal scarecrows and had the opportunity to meet some very small Cottington gardeners!  It's great to see people gardening and growing flowers and vegetables in an urban setting, and the community garden has an immense variety of wildlife, flowers and herbs.  Feel free to visit, as it is open to the public!  The weather was unseasonably warm, and the Cottington Gardens residents enjoyed a barbecue :

Meet the bridge, Kate Middleton, the Royal Scarecrow.  Look carefully and you'll see a chain around her waist.  She's chained to the lamp post with her back to William.  A subtle comment on the state of marriage today or a security precaution?  There's no getting out of it now...

And here's William, not looking terrible comfortable, preparing for the big day.  I do love this subversive SE11 commentary on the Royal Wedding:

Lovely flowers in one of several "allotment" style community boxes:

Pink tulip close-up.  Beauty with a concrete backdrop.  This box belongs to the Little Starz nursery on Whitehart Street:

And here, there's an entire herb garden:

The sparkling, shiny new green house, opened on Saturday will allow the community to cultivate their plants:

This is a willow house (funded by the National Lottery).  The willow will grow up around it, and provide a tiny green space for children to play:

It looks like an load of old crates, but this is actually an upmarket bug hotel.  Diversity is taken seriously in this garden in this thriving haven for bugs...

Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park bulb planting and gardening (of the non-guerrilla variety)

There's a fantastic park, just over the SE11 border, named Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park.  It opened in 1934 and was dedicated to the "struggling mothers of Southwark", see here.  Many people, I suspect, probably just consider it to be part of the grounds of the Imperial War Museum.  As a park managed by Southwark Council, it's fortunate enough to have two full time park rangers, who hope to build on the work started last year to bring extra Spring colour to the park.  This is the part where you come in...

Over the next few weeks, 5000 bulbs will be delivered to the park and the rangers could use some helpful volunteers to plant them all.  Consequently, Sunday 24 October, from 10am – 1pm has been named "Bulb Planting Day".  Anybody wishing to plant bulbs needs to show up on the Kennington Road side of the park wearing outdoor clothes.  You can stay for as long (or leave as soon) as you like.  Gloves will be provided.  I know that Spring feels a long way off, but the reward for taking part in this activity will be an amazing display of colour next year, and you can't beat the pleasure that comes from back breaking hard work, right?  In any case, voluntary projects are a great way to meet local people and contribute to making London a better place to be.  I wonder whether any of the regular Tweetup/bloggy people might be interested?

Kennington Gardens Society - 12th August - Guerrilla Gardening Talk

Just a quick post to note that on Thursday 12th August (this week) at 7:30pm, Kennington Gardens Society are hosting a talk from Richard Reynolds, who is a local founder of the Guerrilla Gardening movement.  There's a £2 fee on the door and the venue is Roots and Shoots on Walnut Tree Walk (see poster below)

I've been to KGS talks in the past, and they usually prove fascinating, even if your garden is only as extensive as a patio.  I'm definitely attending this one, since I'd be interested in hearing whether there might be local sites that could benefit from beautification.

Rooftop gardening of fruit or vegetables or Purloining other peoples' roof space

It was only the other day that I was gazing down from my luxury Kennington palace, wondering whether I could purloin roof space from my and neighbours' rooves, in order to grow some flowers or vegetables. Everything looks very grey when gazing over rooftops, and some of the roof spaces get a lot of sun...

But it seems that somebody else has been thinking the same way. A Telegraph article tells of roof space to be converted to vegetable gardens for feeding Olympic athletes. I suspect we might be too far away to participate, but I really like this idea.

I think there may be issues re. accessing rooves. Our roof is communal, and requires a ladder to reach it. Not sure who I'd need to get permission from (not that that would stop me). Also, to access my neighbours' rooves (some of these are light commercial enterprises) would need permission, as well as odd access, and I don't know whether some of the roof space could support the weight of soil and pots, but it is a thought that I don't want to entirely dismiss. In the meantime, I should really get in touch with the local Guerilla gardeners.

Does anybody know whether there are any types of vegetables that can be grown through the winter?