Pearl Street Garden - Summer 2009

This was our first project and actually got pulled together very quickly. The Pearl Street garden is directly on Pearl Street in between the HAAA park and the pedestrian bridge in between two apartment buildings. It is a tiny pie shaped piece of land that was filled with weeds, broken glass and most unfortunately lots of gifts from the neighbourhood dogs.

To our surprise the clean up only took one evening's work - heavy dirty work with 6 adults and 2 children but still it was accomplished very fast. By the weekend new soil could be added, while the rain came and went on us. Some cool rocks and branches were added and it started to feel like an actual garden.

Plants were added the week after. Most are meant to attract butterflies to the area. Two vines are planted, a honeysuckle that will bloom all summer and a Virginia creeper to help cover the concrete wall, eventually protecting it from graffiti - we hope.

Our crew also painted over the existing graffiti and added a mural on the wall. Space was left for budding artists to contribute their own art work in a positive way - which did actually start shortly after.

Some of the residents who saw us at work commented on what an improvement it was for the small area. Others even "guerrillaed" our guerrilla garden and added plants of their own.

I was surprised how quickly a group of strangers could pull together a project to accomplish something. And also how it makes you feel like you part of a community by making those strangers part of your community.

Gardening Event: Straight from the Garden, September 27th 2009

Molly MacDonald, the Historic Garden Demonstrator at Dundurn Castle has send kindly sent this notice of their upcoming event:

Straight from the Garden
September 27th, 2009
12:00 - 4:00pm

Come to the fair! Dundurn Castle invites you and your family to join us in celebrating Hamilton's agricultural communities, past and present. Activities include a farmers' market, an agricultural exhibition, garden demonstrations and workshops, garden tours, cooking workshops, live music, and activities for the children. Bring your backyard produce for the community horticulural exhibition!

Some of the presenters and workshops:

• Russ Ohrt from Backyard Harvest
• Sapphire Singh, on starting community gardens
• Simon Taylor and Molly MacDonald on building hot frames and cold frames

Free exhibition to outdoor activities. A small fee will be charged for cooking workshops. Regular admission rates apply to the museum.

KGG's Fall Neighbourhood Planting Initiative: BYOBulbs!

Kirkendall Guerrilla Gardeners invite you to join our Fall Neighbourhood Planting Initiative, Bring Your Own Bulbs. On October 17th, we'll be planting bulbs around the neighbourhood in neglected spots, and you can help in the following ways:

• Meet us on October 17th, at noon in front of the Locke Street Bakery, and bring your own supply of spring-blooming bulbs, a trowel and some gloves for planting;
• Suggest some spots in the neighbourhood that could use a bit of spring colour by pinning a location on our map, either at the Locke Street Festival on September 12th, or on the Google map here;
• Donate bulbs, garden tools or gloves that you don't need any more; or
• Donate cash to help us buy bulbs for all of us to enjoy!

Contact us through our email address at kgggrow@gmail.com.

Some Inspiration: Guerrilla Gardening is a Worldwide Movement

The response to our first project on Pearl Street in Hamilton has been remarkable and inspiring. Over the past two weeks of working on the garden and the cement wall in behind it, lots of community members walking, cycling and driving past have stopped to inquire, comment, express their excitement and thanks, and volunteer to help. Who knew that changing this small corner would have such an immediate effect on how people feel about their street, and would start so many conversations between strangers? Stay tuned: a post with the full range of before, during, and after pictures is coming soon!

In the meantime, for folks curious about what guerrilla gardening is all about, here are a few links that highlight both global and local groups that are using gardening to improve their communities and also challenge assumptions about what our cities should be like and who they should serve.

• Richard Reynolds' blog, The Guerrilla Gardening Homepage: Richard Reynolds lives London, UK, and started guerrilla gardening by planting the empty planters in front of his highrise. He's also written a book, On Guerrilla Gardening.


• The Toronto Public Space Committee: This group emerged to protect streets and public spaces from commercialization and privatization, particularly as large billboards began to occupy so much of the visual space in Toronto. Guerrilla Gardening is one of their major areas of activism.


• The Green Guerillas: A New York-based community group that helps people develop and sustain community gardens and public art projects. The network of community gardens that they have helped to found and sustain numbers in the hundreds.

This is the tip of the iceberg in this diverse and global movement, but there's a lot to be inspired by in these three websites.

Calling all Neighbours: Let's Beautify and Transform our 'Hood Together

Kirkendall Guerrilla Gardeners is a group dedicated to transforming neglected spaces in our neighbourhood into beautiful oases for everyone to enjoy. We're inspired by the thousands of people in cities around the world who, individually and collectively, are:

• reclaiming unused, misused and abandoned urban spaces to grow flowers, trees or food for public benefit;
• empowering themselves and each other to transform their own communities and cities into the places they need and want, rather than waiting for others to do it for them; and
• creating and strengthening relationships in the community by acting together to make positive change

We recognize that the economic and environmental challenges of our era will require large scale changes, but also small and local changes too, in the way we organize our cities, get and share our resources, and relate to each other as a community. The KGG aims to make a contribution to that change, through the simple act of neighbours gardening together.

We've got one project nearly completed, and some exciting plans for the coming months. Check back soon for pictures of the KGG's first garden, on Pearl Street. In the meantime, if you're interested in getting involved, please send us an email at kgggrow@gmail.com.