Guerrilla gardening at the
Port Eliot Lit fest

The Port Eliot Literature festival is situated on the landscaped grounds of the 18th century Port Eliot House at St Germans in Cornwall. Taking part over three days, the Lit fest attracts a diverse range of performers, and has something for all tastes. Whether you want to catch some music, listen to poetry, see talks by authors about their work, watch films, or take part in a pub quiz, the Port Eliot Lit fest will not disappoint.

One of the highlights of the festival this year was a talk by Richard Reynolds, a guerrilla gardener. Guerrilla gardening is essentially about reclaiming land which has been neglected and transforming it into a beautiful garden. The land they work on is often land which councils are responsible for, such as traffic islands and road side verges, land the councils consider unimportant, and not worth spending money on. Once a piece of land has been identified, guerrilla gardeners will go out at night or early in the morning, dig it up, plant plants, and give it a new lease of life.

Although Guerrilla gardening is getting more media attention today, it goes back about 2000 years, with references to guerrilla gardening in Matthews Gospel. One of the first guerrilla gardeners was Gerrard Winstanley, who in 1649 decided to dig up some common land and grow vegetables to feed the hungry people in the village. The name ‘Guerrilla Gardening’ wasn’t created until the twentieth century, when Liz Christy, an American living in New York, noticed children playing amongst litter and broken fridges. She set about getting a group of volunteers together who then transformed the vacant lot into a garden which is still there today.

Richard’s talk was accompanied by a selection of slides of successful gardens that have been created all over the world, including land alongside the torn down Berlin wall, and outside a school in Singapore. Guerrilla gardening also has a serious side as in poverty stricken parts of the world; guerrilla gardening is a practical solution to providing communities with food. In Uganda, for example, we saw a photo of a woman growing onions outside her house on public space as she needs to eat.

With the population rising and land becoming a finite resource, Guerrilla gardeners feel it is wrong that there is so much land going to waste. They are politically motivated but also pragmatically motivated as they want to make the places people live in more pleasing to the eye.

The reception guerrilla gardeners get from residents in the areas they garden is generally supportive. Many people thank them for their work, which is voluntary and relies on donations of plants and equipment. While talking about his work, Richard showed a photo of an area of Plymouth they had worked on and a member audience called out:

“That’s outside my Mum’s house.”

She went onto say her Mum was really pleased with the planted area, as it really brightened up the area. She had had no idea, that it was Richard and his team who were responsible for the transformation.

Richard’s enthusiasm for guerrilla gardening was evident throughout the talk, and even while he was down for the festival he couldn’t resist having a go at brightening up the run down St German’s station. Early Saturday morning Richard and his team arrived at the station, dug a gravestone size bed and planted some Verbena and Mallow.

Guerrilla gardeners often finance projects themselves. However some gardens can also be self-sustaining. One project where wasteland in central London was planted out with lavender, was then harvested at the end of the summer, and lavender pillows were produced which raised around £700 they could use to buy more plants.

Anyone can have a go at guerrilla gardening themselves, after all the land is there for us all look after. Richard believes a sign of success of the guerrilla gardening movement is when:

“everyone feels they can do this, and that this isn’t the activity of some hardcore cult or extremists.”

If people find a bit of land in their community that is neglected then Richards suggests they adopt it. Unfortunately trying to do this legally is a frustrating long drawn out process. He says it’s much easier to go out there do the gardening, and then when people see the results they are more likely to endorse it.

He offers tips for successful guerrilla gardening such as; wearing a yellow jacket so people think you’re a council worker He also suggests you tell people what you are doing, as they may be able to donate plants or even want to get involved and help. Many other tips are available, alongside success stories all over the world, on Richard’s website www.guerrillagardening.org, and Richard’s book on guerrilla gardening is due out in the spring next year.

Look out for more articles on the Port Eliot Lit fest in the coming months on Jax Writers spot