Guerilla Warfare in my Neighbourhood

As I try and make use of every bit of growing space in my garden my eyes have now turned to the space just outside our gate. That unused piece of road frontage that officially belongs to the City Council but we are responsible to mow and keep tidy. You know the one you probably have one too!. What a waste of space growing grass, I have decided to start growing some of my food on it instead?

I love things a bit sneaky and undercover! Guerrilla gardening ticks all these boxes.  Guerrilla gardening is a term that has been coined overseas by people who actively plant and beautify neglected and underutilised urban spaces. There are armies of Guerrilla gardeners in large metropolitan centres such as New York , London and Paris. One groups catch cry is “Lets fight the filth with forks and flowers”   Guerrilla gardening is even slowly catching on here  in New Zealand.

The boys preparing the planting holes
along our street verge.

Last year, neighbours in our street got together and decided to plant some fruit trees along the council verge in front of our properties.  As a community we all loved the idea of our children walking home from school munching on a sun ripened apple picked straight from a tree. We didn’t ask for council permission as what sort of Guerrilla gardening would that be! You do need to act responsibly so we ensured that the trees are maintained, don't interfere with services, including power lines, and remain attractive. Importantly ensure they don’t obscure any views for cars reversing out of driveways. As with any sort of digging we first checked where underground services were located.

Our newly planted trees.

The plan is to graft several varieties of apples on to each tree so we have a good variety of fruit available throughout the season. We have chosen the older heirloom varieties as these types generally do better in an organic system without a rigorous spray programme. These newly planted tress do require a level of care for at least the first year, until they are established. They require regular watering during dry periods, staking to protect from high winds and a good idea is some sort of trunk protection from lawn mowers. I use the leg of an old gumboot cut off and inserted over the tree down the trunk. You can cut it off as the trunk grows.

if you are concerned about people picking all your fruit you could choose to plant types that need some processing before they are ready to eat. Plant quince, olives or medlars. Imagine if most streets was growing some edibles on their council strip, rather than just grass.

Low maintenance Productive trees for guerrilla planting.

• quince
• hazelnuts
• Plum
• Mulberry
• Fig

• 

  Some of our street apples ripening.

  Apples- disease resistant heirloom varieties such as Monty’s Surprise, Hetlina, Winter Banana, Ballarat, Cox’s Orange
• Medlars
• Feijoa
• Grapefruit
• Lemons
• Olives

Another idea is to plant your verge in nectar rich wildflowers. This will naturally beautify the space with an array of colourful flowers in spring and summer but will also create a habitat and food source for important pollinators such as honey bees and butterflies.

Imagine being able to havest this from your curb?

Is your neighbourhood big salad eaters? Why not plant your verge in mesclun mix salad.  I did this last summer and invited the neighbourhood to come and harvest whenever they wanted a fresh salad. It is a great way of meeting your neighbours and the kids sold freshly picked salad from their roadside stall to earn some pocket money. I do suggest that you erect a simple wire barrier around your crop to keep the dogs off it. 

Eddie making seed bombs.

Seed bombs are part of the arsenal of a guerrilla gardener. They are a great way to germinate an area with a variety of seeds easily and successfully. Seed bombs are small round, hard clay balls which have an assortment of seeds encased within them. When they are thrown on to bare soil they will sit and wait until conditions are right for germination. The clay will absorb moisture but protect the seeds from birds, heavy rain and frosts. Eventually the seeds will burst out of the bomb and fight it out for world domination in your garden. Making seed bombs is a fun project to do with the kids.

Do you have local space, maybe a park, reserve, walkway or stream gully that is neglected? Why not plant some low maintenance edible perennials in this space for your family and other members of your community to seasonally harvest. It is important to be responsible and not introduce any plant which is deemed a noxious weed by your council or any plant that can become invasive. A good idea is to plant these edible resources away from any path edge so that they are not removed by any over judicious council weeding programme or sprayed with any herbicides. For a successful planting, choose low maintenance, drought tolerant perennials that can cope with being planted and then left to fend for themselves.

Why not draft your own army and get out there and start creating gorgeous productive spaces from local neglected urban wasteland.

Globe artichokes.

Here are some of my suggestions for low maintenance perennial edibles

• Kale
• Horse radish
• Rhubarb
• Asparagus
• Jerusalem artichokes
• Globe artichokes
• Parsley, rosemary, thyme and oregano
• Rocket
• Miners lettuce (Claytonia)
• Amaranth
• Cape gooseberries
• NZ Cranberries
• Garlic
• Florence fennel

Our grass verge next to our letter box is now growing heirloom maize, which I hope to harvest and make cornflour from, pumpkins and potatoes. Can't wait until harvest time! Next year I think I may grow some barley grass as a neighbour has got the bug for home brews!

My heirloom Maize growing on the council strip

Pumpkin vines snaking out onto the road.