Guerrilla Gardening - Tumblr Posts
Why guerrilla gardening is solarpunk AF
A way to advocate for the environment in your local neighbourhood through small, everyday actions
Guerrilla gardening is the act of cultivating plants in a public place, usually in a spot that is not otherwise being cared for, often with the aim of improving the surroundings and protecting the environment. It has a range of benefits from improving biodiversity to helping to keep temperatures low.
Jenny van Gestel, coordinator of Guerrilla Gardeners NL, explains how transforming one street can have a far-reaching impact on the environment.
“Stones and tarmac capture the heat,” she notes. “When you remove stones and you add plants, then you know that the temperatures won't rise so much.
“There’s water retention as well; we have flash floods nowadays because of climate change, or we have really dry periods. Adding more green means that you have better water management.”
“It’s direct action against nature deprivation and depletion - highlighting the issue of biophobic urbanisation while fighting it,” explains Ellen.
“It’s fighting for people, plants, and the planet by taking action into your own hands. It’s anarchic, in the purest sense, and is challenging the status quo of what we’ve been taught cities should look like, and who can have the power and right to shape them.”
Ellen also sees the connection between guerrilla gardening and community. She notes that living in greener neighbourhoods improves mental health, life spans increase and that there are patterns indicating that crime is less common in greener areas.
“I find it empowering to positively impact my local environment and have a sense of ownership of the place I live,” explains Ellen. “There’s a real issue of young urbanites not feeling they ‘belong’ in their neighbourhood, and it’s clear why - cities just aren’t designed for people.
“Guerrilla gardening puts the power to transform the streets that people live in in the hands of the people who live there. It lifts the spirits seeing bright patches of life in otherwise bare, grey spots and I love knowing that I’m helping the local ecosystems and community.”
Hi! I'm looking to start guerrilla gardening and you seem like you'd know about that so I wanted to ask, what would be good places for seed bombs? Cause despite how much i long to destroy golf courses, I know they're very well maintained so anything i planted would just be killed off.
*sweats a bit* k so I know a bit but I'll admit I haven't had a whole season of gardening under my belt in actual practice so I'm gunna tag @solarpunkani since she prob knows more. But also I'm in the North (alberta) and she's down South (Florida) so hopefully if she tag teams me on this we can round each other out
Gurella Gardening Basics
1) Pick a spot. Scouting for these can be super fun! I'd suggest some place you visit regularly (bus stop, empty lot you walk by often, park on the way to work, paths by home, etc...) someplace you are familiar with and bugs you to look at.
2) Pick out what you wanna grow and the method you wanna use.
You'll wanna do research on the type of plants and why you wanna plant them at that location. Are you restoring an area? Improving beautification to public spaces? Making a political statement?
Seed Bombs* are best in large numbers, littered across cracks in sidewalks, alleyways, and tossed over fences into vacant lots. They are simply a numbers game though! Your not super likely to see something pop up but it's magic when you do!
Gardening ideas other then Seed Bombs/paper: (rated by risk level)
Pothole gardening ***
Grafting fruit onto trees *
Vacant lot gardening **
Public space gardening ***
Moss Graffiti **
3) Gather your gear! A simple backpack will likely be your best friend but here's a company who's coming up with spy like gear for it
A bag to travel with your stuff
Safety vest ** reduces risk**
Shovel
Water bottle/ spray bottle - filled with water
Planting material / fertilizer
Plants
Get your hands dirty and have fun!!!
Be safe, have fun!
Hey! I have a plan and a question as growing season gets closer and you're about the only Solarpunk person I feel comfortable asking this to, but for context, there's a park across the street from my apartments and they built a waterpark on part of it, but all the trucks and stuff left this large spot that collects and holds water pretty often I want to plant some semi-wetland wildflowers there, but my main concern is the plants getting mowed down once they start growing. Is there anything you think I could do to stop it?
👀👀 oh shit I’m The Solarpunk Gardener now
I haven’t done a lot of guerrilla gardening so I can’t speak from personal experience but I would think there’s a handful of things you could do to prevent mowing, mostly by making the area look as Intentional and Official as possible. This could likely include things like
- Making a sign. Something to name the garden, something like ‘abcxyz park wildflower garden’ or something to make it seem official or at least notable.
- Surround it with stones, I guess like paver stones or just Large Rocks. Or just in general something to signal ‘don’t mow here’ like wood beams or something. I doubt someone on a riding lawnmower or a push mower would dedicate the time to push/move it all aside (unless directly told to) and would instead just skirt around it. It could help if you added mulch as well maybe? They also sell like little short fences/borders and edging at places like Lowes or Home Depot that could maybe work too
- If you’re feeling funky maybe you could make a walking path through it? Make it look even more Intentional and Official. I think that would make it a Several Night Operation instead of just a one night thing, but it would make it look official and encourage people to enjoy the space. I’m thinking a path made of like. Pebbles or something at this point.
That’s all I can think of at the moment. Maybe if anyone else has ideas, they can chime in?
Best of luck on your project! Rooting for you!