Guerrilla Gardening

[Michaelangelica]

This is a cute, empowering idea.

It was a toss up to put it in social or earth Sciences so in the end I decided just to note it here.

The Guerrilla Gardening Homepage

Could it only happen in England?

[freeztar]

Awesome!
Suddenly I want to become a secret agent!

[somebody]

I see that work none other than a volunteer work. I also volunteer at a hospital but very few people (~5 people) appreciate my work. So i see this as a great community work. And yes, i would do it to if i had all the free time in the world and proper resources.

But i admire that their work and i cheer them on.

[ughaibu]

Michaelangelica: That's fantastic, great stuff, but I cant help speculating about the search history that led you to that site(?)

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by ughaibu

Michaelangelica: That's fantastic, great stuff, but I cant help speculating about the search history that led you to that site(?)

LOL

I can't take the credit
Actually it is a new wonderful time waster called 'stumble' dot com?
You install it on your browser; tell it what you like; it makes suggestions; you reject or accept them and so on.
Then, after a while, the CIA have a pretty good profile of how subversive you are

It is only 2.57 am now
I am going to bed. . . soon. .

[Michaelangelica]

Well Guerrilla gardening has moved to Australia, with a slight Ozzie flavour. Looks like they are growing edible and useful plants.
Marricville in a Sydney inner-Sydney, old suburb with a large Greek and Vietnamese population. Great cheap restaurants and bakeries.
Guerrilla Gardening

[Michaelangelica]

ARAHHHHHARG!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The whole concept of guerrilla gardening has been stolen and perverted by reality TV!!
They take over an area and put in pagodas etc!!Like a backyard makeover.
Presenters have the hide to wear ski masks. (Though apparently everyone knows who they are (or watch the credits)


While real GGs' are seeding inner city median strips/ deserts with herbs.

City gardeners can help save wasps

Published 5 February 2009

Conserving areas of bush and forest in cities is essential to the conservation of New Zealand's wasp species, according to research from Victoria University.

With more than 1,000 native species, wasps are an important part of New Zealand's biodiversity says Dr Rudi Schnitzler.

"Despite their fearsome reputation, very few wasps are capable of stinging humans; most tend to paralyse other insects. They play an essential role in the control of insects and are often deliberately used to control pest species such as the apple leaf roller moth in Hawke's Bay and Nelson."

Dr Schnitzler's PhD focussed on the effect diminishing amounts of native bush in urban areas has on native and introduced wasp species.

He found that the greater the proximity of reserves and parks, the greater the number of wasps and the better the health and diversity of the species.

His findings are important for the conservation of urban bush and forest areas and have implications for city planners.

"It's important to have many different types of plants in any section of forest or bush. The more variety in terms of species of plants, the more likely you’ll find a pool of insects that nature can maintain."

He says backyard gardeners can play a part in increasing the diversity of flora and fauna of cities, especially in Wellington where sections of forest and bush are in close proximity to backyards.

Dr Schnitzler spent more than two years collecting and analysing wasps at 10 sites around the greater Wellington region.

Press release
Victoria News Article
Article
City gardens can save wasps(ScienceAlert)

[Michaelangelica]

"Let's fight the filth with forks and flowers."
This is an interesting article discussing and examining the guerrilla gardening guy's motivations for setting up the organisation
The new flower power

"I didn't have a shared garden or a window box to satisfy the gardening itch," he says.

"But all around the council block where I still live there were neglected flower beds.

"We could have just complained but a couple of other guerrilla gardeners and I decided to be positive, and do something about it."

That doesn't sound terribly British. We are supposed to be a nation of moaners who complain but put up with litter and general urban mess.

In fact guerrilla gardening is British – and it isn't. Richard quotes the example of 17th century socialists
The Diggers. Gerard Winstanley started the spade work, leading a group in Cobham, Surrey, who planted vegetables on common land in 1649 – the area was supposed to be for grazing only.

He credits the modern movement to New Yorkers in the early 1970s who first used 'guerrilla' to describe themselves. "It didn't spread much fu. .

His self-taught, have-a-go attitude wins favour with communities in London where Richard and fellow activists are always eager to involve residents to explain what they are doing and to encourage locals to become involved. In some areas, such as the site of Richard's first foray, Elephant and Castle, officials have done more than turn a blind eye. They have given the guerrilla gardeners permission to continue doing their best.

Not everybody involved in conventional gardening is an admirer, though.

Television gardener Monty Don has called the activity "pretty dysfunctional", characterised by "japes and quick-fix" and lacking meaningful engagement.

"It depresses me that gardening has become part of makeover culture where we are told you have to have experts and hundreds of pounds to do a garden. That puts people off gardening."

The hippy-like anarchic vein of the movement isn't restricted to gardening. One activist has taken to targeting potholed roads, others tackle graffiti and litter.

"It is a bit political in that you are taking responsibility for what is around you,"

And, as with any campaign – whether advertising or revolutionary – there is a slogan to inspire the troops: "Let's fight the filth with forks and flowers."

You can learn more about the work done by Richard and others like him at The Guerrilla Gardening Homepage.

His book, on Guerrilla Gardening, is published in paperback this month (Bloomsbury, £8.99)

anyone in Oz want to know where to buy wholesale seed for seed bombs let me know (PM)

[Larv]

Wasn’t Johnny Appleseed a guerrilla gardener?

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by Larv

Wasn’t Johnny Appleseed a guerrilla gardener?

LOL
Yes
The firs? environmental vandal.