Gardening heroine Marian Temple, who has transformed several odd little patches of bare earth around Wanstead, writes of her latest venture.
“The brick built beds round the old water fountain near Wanstead Station were built, filled with compost and… well not much else. As is the way with bare earth, they sprouted a fair collection of weeds. Taking advantage of this glorious mild autumn we’re having, Kathy Taylor and I decided it was action time. What a team! Kathy a gardener, the landscape variety and me, not a pro, but between us, we know a thing or two about plantery. Those two beds have light loamy soil and are in full sun. Yippeee! Why wait? Sunday saw us weeding and planting. One bed is full now. Light the blue touch paper and stand well back. The other bed we have ideas about. The council might have some bulbs spare. The other bed would be glorious sown with wild flowers and a cottage garden seed mix. Cheap, easy and high in delight factor.
We will liaise with the council about this but they didn’t seem to have any definite plans in the offing. Money is a factor. Credit to Kathy who brought plants from her garden and allotment. Many thanks too to Daisy the flower shop who passed on their excess to us. The Forget-me-nots, bellis daisies and primulas are from them. Kathy and I reckon we spent about 11 hours between us setting up this bed. We hope Wansteadianss will enjoy it. If you’d like to join in the fun and become a community gardener (no knowledge needed, just come to working parties if and when you can) get in touch with me via marian@wansteadium.com.”
It’s amazing the council do not attend this garden
Hmm, what about the skateboard damage that is likely?
Superb work! Well done Marian, Kathy and Daisy, rather than walk by and moan you’ve started something worthwhile. I would suggest treesforcities or the Woodland trust, who provide saplings and young trees for these kind of ventures free of charge.