Socioeconomically, the effects are more obvious in that the growing of fresh vegetables improves health and nutrition in a budget-friendly way. However, the bigger picture offers a multitude of benefits that just beget more benefits. For example, neighborhood rejuvenation leads to community pride which leads to less litter.
Producing your own food also leads to increased personal pride and the opportunity for landless city dwellers to call at least one small plot of land their own, at least for a while. But what if there aren’t any plots available? You’ve got the know-how, the tools (you could get by with just a spoon), the drive and the time- even tons of ugly empty space surrounding your apartment in the middle of a concrete jungle, but you lack the legal and spatial stamp of approval.
All over the world, people are taking matters into their own hands and turning wasted space into lush, green space. Much like the government sanctioned Liberty and Victory gardens of World War I and II, guerilla gardens offer a beautiful and nutritious bounty in lieu of, well, nothing at best, heaps of trash more likely.
London’s Richard Reynolds has been a horticultural outlaw for several years now, dodging and facing criminal charges and environmental awards at the same time. Inspiring people of all types (freelance landscapers, students, computer programmers to city farmers) to take a stand and take the land and do some good, despite the potential repercussions.
Some of these gardeners have even become neighborhood legends. One city superintendent of grounds maintenance in San Diego refers to his neighborhood stealth gardener as “the 007 of gardening.” Finding a stretch with a ready water source can be tricky, and coming up with the funds to maintain the work may sound daunting. But this aforementioned “007 of gardening” has been proving to the city of San Diego that you can have a beautiful stretch of greenery and plants while using minimal water and effort by planting drought-resistant varieties. And trying to re-coup the loot spent on the seeds and such by asking passing foot and vehicular traffic isn’t out of the question.
However, doing the work from the heart is what seems to yield the most success. In light of our current economic and energy situation, it may be a good idea to bring back the Liberty and Victory garden programs (see the one set up for Slow Food Nation in San Francisco last year) to our communities. Otherwise, keep up the good work, Guerilla Gardeners! May the hoe be with you….
If you want to engage in the behavior without settling in for a long gardening session or if you believe yourself to have a black rather than green thumb, check out this video for a recipe for a “seed bomb” – sort of like slice and bake cookie dough for flowers. For more specific instructions on how you can join the movement and become an outlaw gardener, look for Richard Reynolds book, On Guerilla Gardening: A Handbook for Gardening without Boundaries. Keep up to date with his projects by checking in with his blog, GuerillaGardening.org.
This article was contributed to Celsias by Julie Reitz
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