No garden? No problem. A beginner’s guide to guerrilla gardening
We speak to the green-fingered guerrillas themselves
By Kyra
Country Living
28 May 2023
Excerpt:
In the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, footballer and Grow2Know founder, Tayshan Hayden-Smith, turned to the soil as a way of processing his own emotions, but the resulting gardens brought a grieving community together. Speaking to Country Living, Hayden-Smith expressed how gardening strengthened community ties:
“In the moments following the Grenfell Tower fire, where 72 of my neighbours, friends and community lost their lives in such a horrific and tragic way, it was guerrilla gardening that allowed me to channel my anger, my hurt and my trauma into transforming a derelict, council owned space into a beautiful garden ‘The Grenfell Garden of Peace’.
It was in the moments of guerrilla gardening that I witnessed the healing and unifying powers of nature. As an inner city boy, I realised that it was what I have been craving all my life. These spaces became soulful sanctuaries – safe spaces to share, to learn and to just be. We often forget to just be in the moment, and guerrilla gardening was a way to do that whilst also a catalyst to bring people together to take action for the better of the community.”
