Southwark 1 Lewisham 0

Gardened today with visiting celebrity Tofiq Pasha and Naheed his partner - and given a. the uncertain status of plants in the NX pits and b. that I haven't been back to Dog Kennel Hill for over a year, I decided on the latter as our locale. 

We planted at least 5 Verbena Bonariensis, 2 geum, 1 primrose, 1 strawberry, 1 hardy geranium, 1 Agave (and its offshoots) and 1 Alchemilla in a section almost as if it was prepared for us - albeit with some rock hard ground (suppliers: my garden and my parents' garden). It was really interesting to hear Pasha's stories about other compost conditions and his concern at my weeding and clearing! We also scattered a pack of bee-friendly wild flower seeds (thank you Liz!). After warning these troops for the day that it was likely to be a mess, actually the whole strip was really not bad! The star plants are currently: Iris, Rosemary, Acanthus, Artichoke [thank you Giovanni], Euphorbia, Fennel, Leucanthemum, Echinops, Vinca - and eventually after some strategic weeding around Hollyhock seedlings I found 3 surviving Red Hot Pokers.  I'm not sure what the weeds are [tall dandeliony things, tall probably pink flowering things]: they are ok - good for pollinators, not matting and easy to pull out where they are swamping more desirable plants. But the bad ones pretty much were not there [infernal grass, huge thistles, sticky sweethearts]! 

It is supposed to rain this afternoon. Yes please.

All of that was written then. Here, belatedly, are some of Pasha and Naheed's photos of our guerilla determination to plant. You can't really tell but it was hot and muggy.I've been past a few times and the Agaves are doing well. In the future people will make Tequila on Dog Kennel Hill.

View from the crossing: not exactly Gertrude Jekyll, but it is green.

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...

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.

Beating the Weeds

Its 2013, I finished my book, its ridiculously mild, still, though not actually raining again. So, I went to the Dog Kennel Hill patch with gloves, recyclying bag and plants. I added in 3 x bronze fennel, 1 x euphorbia robbiae, 1 x euphorbia wulfenii and a hardy geranium - and did two whole sacks of weeding... J had to stop by and bring the second sack along with a second set of gloves because the first set got sopping wet. Mainly I pulled out the stuff I thought was couch grass but is probably trefoil, groundsel and sodden leaves. The whole patch is looking really healthy in spite of the carpet of weeds. The Euphorbias are all doing really well. With all the rain the Acanthus is finally bedding in to the otherwise hard soil. The California Poppies seeded widely so they will look extra great this year. I am rather amazed that the Lychnis does not seem to have seeded even though it does so willy-nilly in my parents' garden which is why I have some to guerrilla garden. The Hollyhocks remain alarmingly prolific. At some point I want to transplant a lot more of them up the hill and perhaps in St Giles Churchyard gardens.

I did check in to make sure the plants I added to St Giles were still doing ok and yes indeed, 2 Arum Lillies and an Acanthus.