Even though these planters look a bit ragged and rugged at the moment, they still bring me that little uplift that one needs when starting a long day of work.

Yesterday was a day at For Earth's Sake, and it was longer than usual. We had an additional meeting in the early evening - a Business Improvement District meeting - so my train back would be late. It's rarely a chore to travel down and visit Vanessa and the team, however multi-sequenced my trek... They're all working so hard to try and do good for the planet, its wildlife, flora and fauna and its people. Nothing to not enjoy being part of, though it is a trek; albeit giving one time to think, as public transport often does.... though more on this another time...

... going back to these planters!

It's early morning and the middle of winter and they're looking a little forlorn. In a few months' time some of this grouping will be flowering and giving up their yellow buds to commuters already weary and worn on their morning commute... I'm sure they are even more of a blessing during their evening trudge back to home! These planters, or rather the plants, are also adding a little fresh air, doing their carbon dioxide and oxygen thing that they do so well. These little green growing places, these oases that we often walk past without a care do lift the spirit, if you let them. I'm forever grateful that there are those willing to care for them; as part of their job or on a voluntary basis of one sort or another.

We had some planters at the top of our road which had "seen better days", sullen palms in them. Not really the ideal plant for this place at the outskirts of London, in my humble opinion... I suppose the council thought "plant a palm and you won't have to worry about it", though the rest of the human detritus that gathers in these planters is the main problem. You see, the issue isn't the palms... it's the people. At one time I thought about taking up the cudgel with these top-of-the-road travesties and doing some guerrilla gardening, though there's already a lot going on in our life and maybe that would've just been a step too far... Anyhow, now they are gone, and the space is more barren... ...

... going back to these planters!!

As I continued my journey to Cranleigh, I had a little outward smile and inward warmth at this little oasis of greenery; positioned awkwardly amidst the rolled steel tracks of railway lines, harsh steelwork hoardings, softening wooden fences, vibrant caution stickers, and the hard concrete, tarmac and slabs of the platforms.

Returning late last night, and passing through the station at a little past 11pm, I glanced over my shoulder at these planters again; through the cinematic little lit pods of travellers of the train as it trundled out of the station.

There they were... unsurprisingly... across on the other platform, in darkness yet lit up by the neon glow on the station. All quiet, and gentle, and resting...

One bus ride home and I would be doing the same.

A Guernsey Gardener in London, Day 23

Even though I love travelling by train, sometimes it can be a bit of a pain to get to one of our local stations.  The journey can to often feel far longer than it actually is, especially during rush hour.

Yesterday, as I started my journey to visit my client For Earth's Sake in Cranleigh, the traffic in which my bus was travelling seemed a bit endless.  It seemed we were literally inching closer and closer rather than happily trundling along in our charabanc.

However, once I got off the bus and started walking down to the station I passed this lovely area of community gardening.  It really is something that lifts me each time I'm nearing the real start of my journey.  There are areas on either side that are simply grass verges and weeds, and in their own way they would be lovely - if the detritus and plastic was regularly removed! However, it is this block of community gardening that always lift my heart.  To see the Calendulas happily blooming away and a few other perennial plants now in place alongside explanations of how and why this community managed space is here, it literally put a spring back in my step.

So, as I mentally skipped down to the platform and my train came trundled in, I already had a smile on my face.  It really is amazing how just these little happinesses can lift our day.

A Guernsey Gardener in London, Day 8

​As I looked across the Community Gardens this morning, before our rather wet and curtailed Saturday Social, I was overwhelmed with emotions for the journey this place set me off on almost five years ago.

A week before Christmas in 2014, I received the keys to a very local community gardens and the tenancy of the 3m by 3m growing space below.  It was weedy yet had a pretty prolific perpetual spinach, a fabulous thyme and a fragrant fennel in situ. A few hours later, using our communal tools, I'd cleared all the weeds, dug the rich soil over and begun thinking about the growing year ahead.

It's from this quiet, contented few hours that my love of growing vegetables and fruits really began to return, and I started to benefit from working with my hands in the earth once more.

Over the next 10 months some things grew really well whilst others did the bare minimum of what I had hoped for; though to be frank everything was a success in my rose-tinted eyes!

At our Association AGM the following October, I put up my hand when they called for new committee members.  At my first committee meeting a week or so later the Chair stood down, and I found myself the only person in the room with a little time on my hands.  I thought it would be a fun and worthwhile project, and anyway I had an hour or two a month to spare.  It's fair to say that I totally underestimated the amount of time and commitment this decision would eventually entail, and I also totally underestimated the amount of fun, value, friendship and fabulous community engagement I'd encounter along the way.

Having now been active in guiding the running of the Community Gardens for the past four years, alongside a fabulous and supportive committee, I'll be standing down as Chair at our AGM in early November. It seems the right time for myself AND the Community Gardens.  With any organisation, the time comes for some to move on and for others take the reins; new energy and guidance reinvigorates to take things further and continue the success. 

At our AGM we'll also be celebrating ten years from breaking ground on the Community Gardens - ten years of growing food, flowers, enhancing the ecology and environment and doing our bit in community development and enhancement.  It seems the perfect time for another to take up the baton.

I'll keep my plot at the Community Gardens for another year, and remain on the committee.  I'll be taking a back seat, though supporting whenever I'm needed and able.  Our new Chair is already a very active member of the committee so the Community Gardens will be in solid and safe hands.

Little did I know when I took on my small growing space five years ago that it would lead to me being the Chair of trustees of Social Farms & Gardens today; an organisation that at the time I didn't even know.  As a national charity, with members and offices in all four countries of the UK, we support and are a voice for over 1,300 community gardens, city farms, care farms, forest schools, school farms, orchard projects and lots of other community managed green spaces.  My small role in this organisation is something I'm proud off and derive both benefit and satisfaction from.

There is no doubt that sometimes I find my time challenged.  Though I work largely from my home office, and am regularly able to take an hour out of my day to attend the plots, my clients obviously need my time and energy too.  Though I'm lucky to now love much of my work, the satisfaction I get from my voluntary work really grounds me, as do the benefits that I get from taking time to grow at my Community Gardens plot and our allotment plots.

So, as I stood this morning amidst a tangle of weeds and mud, with a tinge of cold in the air and rain tumbling down, I appreciated that though ours is by no means a perfect life, it is a good life.  

​A Guernsey Gardener in London, Day 5

Urban Greening is something that we don't really notice in our daily lives, though if it wasn't (or isn't!) there, then we see our city environment with a rather grimmer view.  Whilst leaving our local Lidl the other day, I was struck by the beauty of these trees, and how they layer over each other to give depth and a moving perspective of changing hues as I walk.  Yes, a car park and a road; though with the beauty of the trees the space is transformed to something more tranquil. And, importantly, trees help reduce air pollution by removing a variety of air pollutants, including both ozone and nitrogen oxides.