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FACTBOX-How to be a Guerrilla Gardener
30 Apr 2008 00:04:40 GMT
 Source: Reuters
April 30 (Reuters) - Guerrilla Gardeners are an illicit movement taking hold of urban wastelands in some of the world's biggest cities and turning them into mini-gardens for the community to enjoy.

In his handbook, "On Guerrilla Gardening", Richard Reynolds outlines campaign tactics. Here is a list of essential items in any would-be Guerrilla Gardener's arsenal:

Seed bombs

-- In its purest and simplest form, Guerrilla Gardening is little more than scattering seeds in places where, with time, they will sprout to fill the air with colour and scent. Some veterans have even fashioned gun- or grenade shaped "bombs" of damp compost mixed with seeds.

Tough plants

-- The cheaper and hardier the plants, the better. Choose varieties that can withstand cold, drought, neglect and abuse by pedestrians, road users and dogs.

Bulbs

-- Hidden time-bombs whose impact returns year after year. Guerrilla Gardeners often fill their pockets with daffodil bulbs and secretly pop them into neglected pots or around the base of tress on rough grassland as they pass.

Chemical weapons

-- Only natural chemicals, of course. For major planting attacks, take a bag of compost made from your own heap of recycled kitchen waste, or "worm juice" -- fertiliser made in a wormery fuelled with food waste.

Tools

-- Seed-bombing -- the most basic Guerrilla Gardening -- requires no tools, but Reynolds recommends carrying at least a small fork to aggravate the soil: "The seeds will root more easily in looser than in hard, bare ground."

Light

-- If your illicit planting is done mostly at night, a head torch is the best way to illuminate your work and it leaves you free to get both hands dirty. Some Guerrilla Gardeners park their cars by the roadside and use the headlamps to light up their planting activities.

Water

-- This precious resource needs to be considered from the very start of any Guerrilla Gardening campaign. Some plants fare well despite neglect, but most would benefit from a little watering, so a plot on a regular home-to-work route which can be regularly tended with a splash of water is best. Reynolds points out that in the United States, main water can be legally intercepted from hydrants that stand on the sidewalk.

Source: "On Guerrilla Gardening", to be published in Britain on May 5 and in the United States on May 31.

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Sara Ledwith)


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