Hot bed

When I was a child growing up in Sussex we spent all 'summer' hoping that at some point the temperatures would hit 70 degrees, ideally coinciding with a weeks holiday in Cornwall. It rarely did (apart from in 1976).  This is the second year in a row my patch has fried due to No Rain. Yes, ironically I am writing this after the weather has broken and we have had quite a bit of rain for a day, off the back of Hurricane Bertha. But the point remains. No rain in June, hardly any in July. Deep fried guerrilla gardens... And so it was that like last summer I met up with a lovely young man for a GG interview, this time Jan van Duppen who is studying at the OU and in exchange - tho' he needed little encouragement - we went to Dog Kennel Hill and chopped down 3 bags of dried out Hollyhocks, Michaelmas daisies and most of it really.

pre-trim (all Jan Van Duppen's photos)

I did have 2 new shorter type Verbenas and 2 experimental Cleomes, a foxglove and a couple of Lychnis to go in, but to see any improvement we need more of the wet stuff. We left a few of the teasels standing for structure (and they may still have seeds in the flower heads, which birds like to eat). On the day we two blondes needed to be rescued by my partner armed with suncream and bottled water. It was filthy hot work. Jan seemed to attract a doubting Thomas who was apparently asking who we were, implying we had no authority to be doing such things, which was true. Sadly he didnt feel strongly enough to come closer to actually have a real conversation about it, which I would have enjoyed.

Here's the short Verbena.

and here's the fennel...

I returned yesterday and cleared up 2 bags more and added in 2 more foxgloves, 1 more Lychnis and 2 Alchemilla. 3 people thanked me from their cars which was nice. Lots of the Ox-eye daisies are growing back, and the bedded-in fennel and irises have all coped very well, but otherwise it is pretty barren. Like last year I know it will green over in a lovely lush way within about a month (assuming more rain - difficult to assume!). If not this spot will be getting some Agave Americana and be renamed California.

Wet Wet Dry

September, and a rude autumnal awakening. Its raining a lot. I decided to plant a few more geraniums, euphorbia and michaelmas daisies in Stories Road as its technically ideal planting weather. Such is the strength of the tree in the pit that digging small holes for these new plants soon found dry soil. But its looking pretty good. Talked to by one mad woman complaining about hating Shakespeare and one elderly good burgher who said "well done".

Storied Road

Stories Road doing pretty well given the heat and the tree dominating this pit. I added another clump of michaelmas daisies, an alchemilla and a hardy geranium.

 

and McNeil Road - revived by Nick with some unmissable plants and shorn by the council. This time they only dealt with the brambles and the stuff growing on the bridge. Shame really as brambles are very wildlife friendly...

pocket spring

 

Stories Road is looking great! almost - maybe everything - has survived and will soon be putting on some height (and thus be noticeable all the way up and down Grove Lane). I have also added some California Poppy seeds so watch out for the blue grey filigree of their foliage. Maybe the Chef Solaire and I should stick a planting plan to the back of the road name.

Dog Kennel Hill is also SPLENDID. If you count the spaces between the trees as sections then there are 5 sections available for guerrilla sensibility. I have noticeably planted sections 1 and 2, plus started in on 4 (there was a logic to that at the time involving a bad weed patch in 3 plus some tragic tomatoes that some well-meaning person had added in and left to fend for themselves).

Section 2 got some more Lychnis, Hardy Geranium and Aquilegia yesterday. 

Section 4 - in which the 3 Fennel plants, previously added in between the irises, are still making it (they are great gg plants as long as they get watered until established). I added in 2 Alchemilla either side of the lavender and a largish pot of Michaelmas Daisies.

No pics yet, but the tree pit in Camberwell Grove, opposite the Vineyard, is also surviving enough to get more plants - Michaelmas Daises, Leucanthemum and Creeping Jenny.

Mucking in

Also... thanks to Helena of Grove Park for some compost! She is spearheading an ambitious plan to guerrilla garden ALL of the tree pits in Grove Park and has kindly donated some compost for my guerrilla works in exchange for some ready to go Michaelmas daisies (and there will be some white daisies, Leucanthemum, and maybe some hardy Geraniums ready in a few weeks too).

Gardening Leave

Belated pics of surprisingly successful plot! (I know its a mess but most of the added in plants have made it). These are the raised beds next to the Job Centre on Camberwell Green, bottles and other detritus mostly removed (I only had one small bag with me!). Banana skins welcome though as they rot down quickly and provide potassium for flowers. The cornflowers are fab and will hopefully self-seed. The Solidago is doing well. The fennel and the white daisies are hanging on [the soil is really rubbish]. 2 Nasturtiums are growing. I gave the Buddleia a slight trim [that got some looks], and a waiting bus driver assured me that he didnt leave his rubbish here.

The other side. I've only added in one pale pink Hardy Geranium and a bit of the lilac Michaelmas Daisy thus far.

Nothing But Flowers

Quickly snapped in the evening - but you get the drift right? Flowers! Lychnis, Daisies, California Poppies, Hollyhocks... on Dog Kennel Hill everything is going bananas. As I thought there are Hollyhocks springing up EVERYWHERE - they really need transplanting. I added in 2 x Day Lilies [poisonous to cats you know] and 1 x Liatris, and did 2 bags of rapido style weeding.