This is Richard Reynold’s original guerrilla garden.  It’s not actually his, it belongs to the tower block he lives in.  Richard cleared it of dead plants, litter and rubbish in 2004, replanted it, and has been looking after it ever since.

It is just 2×2 metres –  even smaller than the Penelope Bennett’s window-box allotment (the subject of the first BSGL podcast), yet for Richard it was the first step on a journey which would see him developing neglected land all over London, cultivating a forum for other guerrilla gardeners around the world, now several thousand strong, and being invited to create a garden for this year’s Hampton Court Flower Show.

I met up with Richard for a pot of tea in his flat above this little patch to find out more.  He started off by telling me how he became a guerrilla gardener.

https://citybumpkin.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/bsgl2-richard-reynolds-80.mp3

Or click here to listen in a new window

Richard’s book, On Guerrilla Gardening: A Handbook For Gardening Without Boundaries is excellent – I highly recommend it if you would like to know more about the movement.

Richard’s website has a forum where guerrilla gardening events are plotted and co-ordinated.

And check out the blog of his Recycled Garden, built for the 2008 Hampton Court Flower Show.

Finally, there is an article I wrote about guerrilla gardening in issue 57 (current issue at time of writing) of Permaculture Magazine.