Cross Talk

Went back to the pits today and planted a blooming Rudbeckia (from R who also supplied the other boisterous patches of it) another Verbena and another teasel, all in the pit near Mughead coffee. Also, of course, did a massive tidy up - this time all the way around every pit. Reyna is becoming Nene and seems to have slightly expanded the frontage. So maybe they care? Neither on twitter yet.

Anyway the best part was a long conversation with a local woman who told me that she and local school children planted all the roadside Plane Trees from Queen's Road to Deptford in 1964 to combat smog! We also had a chat about the infernal littering. She said that in her day the street cleaner would say 'I know your mother' to offenders and it would be an effective deterrent, but these days it would be insulting at best.

pics to follow.

Cloudy, rain expected

Finally it has rained. Quite a bit now, with more expected. I've wanted to plant again for months but yet again months without rain makes it pointless. However the pits aren't doing too badly. W and I bagged up the usual sodden fetid rubbish - to the amazement of the street cleaner who luckily came at just the right moment to empty the bins. Then we planted 2 x day lillies, a strawberry, a fennel and a thing that might be a geum. I pulled up a vast amount of an unknown weed - the kind that is technically good for pollinators as it does flower but is ferociously matt-forming and so will destroy any perennials or annuals in its path. It was a strangely uneventful gardening event, given previous experience in NX.These photos were taken the following week, hence rubbish still being visible. In the background you can see the lovely new coffee shop - Mughead. I took my Mum to see the pits and we contemplated sticking up posters at the bus stop - something like 'Dont be a lazy ass. Use the bins that are right next to you.'

Glad to see somethings have survived from the last planting, including a day lily and a strawberry, a Verbena and the transplanted hardy geranium. The - self-seeded? - Elder is thriving and currently in berry. The lovely Russian Sage really needs a hard prune next year.

The Fig is surviving. I'm willing it to burst through the top of these shrubs and claim the space. I gave the shrub around it a bit of a trim, the Bay tree is getting away and again that Holly looks too brown to come back.

A thicket of Rudbeckia and red hot poker. Again I gave the shrub a bit of a trim but really these guys could do with thinning out in the autumn. 

This is the troubling end pit with the sudden death shrubs. On the upside, the ivy and vinca are now colonising it and the Rudbeckia is indefatigable.I'm thinking of coming back with a big bag just to do pruning and shaping - but what to do with it? Lewisham isn't so great on collecting green waste (unlike Southwark) unless constituents pay for a bin...