Patch worked

Well. The Dog Kennel Hill patch was fried in the 4 weeks of 30degrees and no rain. In spite of 2 mad dashes with buckets and assembled friends a lot of the plants really suffered. However in the last couple of weeks there has been regular rain so I risked planting some more stuff - the usual suspects, lychnis, alchemilla, leucanthemum. More excitingly, I met up with a very sweet young man doing an anthropology degree and interested in guerrilla gardening and together we planted in 4 Verbena Bonariensis next to the irises and chopped down all the browned stems of the hollyhocks, daisies and everything else singed and burnt. A lovely middle-aged Asian man simply said 'thank you' when he was waiting by the traffic lights.
It looks a bit desecrated but give it a few weeks and this patch will rock again.

 

...and here is the petit pit in Camberwell Grove - the one place that was close enough to maintain through the heat. Plus the people from the Vineyard have helped out. Subsequently some vile person [a plague on them] pulled out one of the verbenas by the roots and just left it there. I've replaced it with small ones.  

New New Cross

I passed through New Cross today and added in another Verbena Bonariensis [and was relieved to see the others were surviving thanks to the sudden rain we have at last had],  and another Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia 'Torch') to the pit immediately opposite the Launderette.

 

Here's the Mexican peeping through in the first pit to which I contributed. It will emerge above the yellow ones in a few weeks... I also added a 3rd Leucanthemum daisy here - they should bed in as strong evergreen perennials...

 

And here's a nasturtium. Its not one of the most rampant types but should self-seed for next year. You can still see some of the rubbish in these pics but I ended up clearing about 20 cans and bottles... At some point I'll bring my teasel seedlings here - they have toothed edges on every surface and might possibly slightly help a bit with dissuading people from littering the pits.
I would love to sort out the massively overgrown and congested irises in these beds. They are very easy to propagate [dig up; divide the rhizome into pieces about 4" long and replant, cutting down the dead foliage and trimming the green to 4" to allow all the energy to go into the rhizome for next year]. The existing clumps are so big they could be re-distributed through every bed in this strip of New Cross Rd.

Holy heliotrope!

Artmonger, Patricio Forrester and New X-ing have collaborated on a brilliant project to cheer up New Cross Road, SE14, and help the bees. '1000 Sunflowers for New Cross' has lived up to its name and planted sunflowers everywhere - in the neglected raised beds and in makeshift planters outside shops. These are Patricio's pics - witness the bee!
I've added some Mexican Sunflowers (Tithonia) and a few perennials too - Crocosmia, Verbena Bonariensis,  and Leucanthemum daisies. Huzzah! I've had my eye on these neglected pits for months...

The Pits of Grove Park

Here are just a few of Helena's stupendous pits dotted around Grove Park:

for those that don't know the area, Grove Park is a long road with many trees in it. Helena has single-handedly spear-headed this community dig and about 14 of the pits are planted up and looking gorgeous.

spring forward

Lots to report. Firstly it is actually behaving like spring and thus everything is growing beautifully. Minus the plant that was stolen from Mcneil Road... Tragically I think it might have been someone seeing us team dig that spot and realised there were some interesting plants going in not 'just' weeds... I wish a plague of vine weevils on them. They nicked the bigger of the Sarcococca Confusas that I planted in January. No more of them for easy to get at spots. Actually they have struggled in Dog Kennel Hill so maybe I'll just keep them all.

Dog Kennel Hill is entering its glory days... I've just added in more Alchemilla Mollis, Lychnis and Hardy Geraniums, and weeded out 3 bags of smothering stuff. I notice that one of the Irises I planted out last summer is coming into flower! And the bronze fennels in between them are surviving. Some yellow and white daisy things are in flower plus the odd bit of vinca, and of course the euphoria of the Euphorbia. There's a bit of a task ahead to sort out section 4 which has large clumps of Hollyhocks on the edges, which is not good: they need to keep the centre line. I've got a whole load of Japanese Anemones growing in pots: a few weeks and they'll find join this patch. More pink alas, but bee-friendly.

Stories Road treepit is also triumphant

Camberwell Green raised pits next to the former job centre is ok. That has the driest, dustiest soil. But maybe the mint was pulled up from there too? The game survivor is Golden Rod (Solidago) and I think some shasta daisies (Leucanthem) plus, and of course! the hollyhocks... I added in some Giant Russian sunflower seeds and some small friends of Borage.

Camberwell Grove petit pit is still going strong

Up the Junction

There is now a budding guerrilla garden on the corner of Mcneil Road and Camberwell Grove. The Sarcococca I added in 3 months ago are surviving and the Chef and C have gamely started adding in lots of donated stuff - brunnera, crocosmia, day lillies and more. I've added in 3 clumps of hardy geranium (donated from Clive of Grove Park open exotic garden fame) and cleared back some of the layering brambles to a. try and protect the young trees, b. give us more space to plant, and c. allow some space to get close to the fencing to plant nasturtium seeds. No need to totally clear the brambles because they are very wildlife friendly [flowers and fruit] - just a bit rampant when left to themselves. I really hope the nasturtiums grow as there's plenty of room for a great display.
pics to follow...

pit-stop

Opposite the Vineyard... so far so good...nothing nicked, no dog shit...no frost damage... we may have the first pimped pavement in Camberwell Grove.