At the beginning of April last year I discovered The Edible Bus Stop, a community garden at a bus stop in South London, brilliantly conceived
and led by local resident and fellow glamorous gardener Mak Gilchrist.
They had only been gardening for about a fortnight at the time but, as it was one of the most inspiring concepts I had ever seen and imagining the
enormous potential ahead, I posted a blog about this wonderful garden anyway,
complete with rather boring photographs of seed-sown patches of empty
soil. It looked like nothing at the time
but I didn't care - I knew it was a
fantastic idea!
I returned in August after Mother Nature had done her
thing, and the gardeners had done theirs, and it looked amazing. The Edible Bus Stop has gone from strength to
strength. Starting as guerilla gardeners, ‘outsiders’ who
fought the local Council to keep this space green .... and won, there is now a second garden with three more planned, as they work to achieve London’s first ‘green route’, establishing many more such gardens along
the 322 bus route. I was thrilled and
excited to see their installation garden at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show
where I spent a very busy Monday and Tuesday last week, unfortunately in the
endlessly drizzling rain.
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| With ultra-fabulous EBS founder Mak Gilchrist. See how I'd dressed for summer but thrown jeans and wellies on at the last minute. July - but it's cold and raining! |
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| Will Sandy and Mak Gilchrist |
Entitled "A Riot of Colour" this garden is an
interpretation of the after-effects of the London riots last year. It includes a vandalised, burnt out red
telephone box and an overturned black taxicab.
Nature’s got involved and is making the damaged space beautiful again. I loved it.
It was such a pleasure to finally meet Mak and landscape architect and
designer Will Sandy. It was
disappointing to learn that this garden had not been included in the main judging
category. I'd have given it Gold! I guess we have to be content that the EBS
garden was there at all. Small steps.....
So much more to say about Hampton Court Flower Show. Another time.
Love The Edible Bus Stop
Love Life
XXX
2 comments:
We were there on Saturday and had a fantastic time. Much more enjoyable than Chelsea. There were chickens, cheese and plenty of places to sit. And the catering choice was far better. We took our own lunch, but ended the day by feating on chips and mushy peas. You wouldn't get that in the rareified atmosphere of Chelsea!
Very few of the show gardens impressed me. Most were too clean and clinical for my taste. Light at the End of the Tunnel had a powerful message and beautiful planting - much better than some of the big show gardens in fact. The Badger Beer Garden was the most enjoyable, for planting and generosity.. Our First Home, Our First Garden was the closest to a real garden of any of the show gardens. It was like someone had just plonked a real back garden in the middle of the show.
But best of all was Preserving the Community, one of the Summer Gardens. Howard has been set the task of finding enough corrugated iron to make a small version of the shelter for our allotment!
Haha! We think alike - I say Chelsea is for people who have gardeners, while Hampton Court is for the gardeners!
I loved it too. I was working, reporting for my i-D column so had absolutely loads to cover hence two days, but really enjoyed every moment, despite the weather.
Glad you went on Saturday and got some sunshine.
I look forward to reading about your shelter in due course!
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