In Brief<\/strong><\/p> What is almost impossible to believe is that this exceptional exercise in high horticulture is a freely accessible community garden in the southeast London suburb of Erith. And then the number 99 bus thunders past, and two worlds collide.<\/p> You may also like:<\/strong><\/p> In 2016, all you would have seen from that bus window was a boarded-up library surrounded by brambles and rubbish. But then local residents Peter Nutley and Sarah Batten asked the council if they had any plans to regenerate the site. \u201cOur timing was perfect,\u201d says Peter. \u201cThe council was looking for a local organisation to take over the space, and we had always daydreamed about turning it into a community arts space.\u201d<\/p> Getting the levels right was an essential part of making a place that welcomed people in and invited them to explore.<\/p> <\/blockquote> Having previously worked for the Churches Conservation Trust, Sarah had professional experience of comparable regeneration projects, while Peter had an arts background and six years as head technician at the Garden Museum under his belt. Together, they had the perfect combination of skills to turn their vision into reality, and the council snapped up their proposal.<\/p> \u201cIt still wasn\u2019t easy,\u201d says Peter. \u201cWith limited funding, we had to phase the work while applying for more grants, but we always knew we wanted to create a destination garden that would bring new people into the area, as well as enhance the lives of those who were already here.\u201d They also knew which designer they wanted for the job. \u201cI\u2019d worked with Sarah at the Garden Museum and loved her aesthetic, but I was still surprised when she replied to my email,\u201d says Peter.<\/p> On her first visit, Sarah was struck not just by the site\u2019s design potential but by the possibility You\u2019re as likely to come across a community art group sketching the plants as you are a gaggle of garden-design aficionados.<\/p> <\/blockquote> Sarah was soon sketching out a draft plan that was very close to the garden that exists today. \u201cI immediately knew the atmosphere I wanted to create, with site-appropriate patinated materials to show off the plants, but first there were lots of technical issues to deal with,\u201d she says.<\/p> One of those issues was the limited budget<\/a>, which required a phased approach and a bit of lateral thinking in order to turn Sarah\u2019s ideas into reality. \u201cWe had to prioritise getting the levels right, which included huge excavations next to the building to open up what is now the Fern Yard, and putting in the bespoke Corten-steel<\/a> steps that link this area with the upper level at the back of the building. It was an expensive but essential part of making a place that welcomed people in and invited them to explore.\u201d<\/p> The result was a series of gardens wrapping the entire building, linked by paths made from But most of the time now, I feel that people are simply drawn by the beauty of the garden.<\/p> <\/blockquote> Those recycled elements included many of the plants, which were rehomed from a pop-up garden that Sarah had created for luxury brand Herm\u00e8s. \u201cThe timing was just extremely lucky and, although that temporary garden looked very different, the plants translated really well into their new setting.\u201d She also used her connections with online nursery Crocus<\/a> to acquire a number of the plants it had supplied for her last Chelsea garden.<\/p> In all, by autumn 2021, Sarah had a palette of several thousand plants to get into the ground, aided by an army of volunteers ranging in age from toddlers to octogenarians. \u201cWe did it all in two mad days. Everyone was enthusiastic, but not everyone had the experience to work in the way we normally would on a job,\u201d she says, with masterful understatement.<\/p> Sarah eschews formal planting plans in favour of an intuitive approach that layers plants into a rich tapestry, and as she carefully set out pots in the prepared areas, she could only hope that the subtle relationships within each group would survive the planting process.<\/p> The volunteers rose magnificently to the challenge, helping to nurse the newly planted garden through the apocalyptic heatwave of summer 2022 and the Arctic winter that closely followed it. When head gardener Colin Stewart started in January 2023, he was astonished by what had been achieved. \u201cThe planting was incredibly generous. Sarah designs in time as well as space, so there was already a real depth and fluidity, which we have continued to develop.\u201d<\/p> Given Sarah\u2019s \u2018undone\u2019 aesthetic, the garden requires constant subtle tweaking to keep the picture in balance. A case in point is the narrow strip between the front of the library and the street, where Euphorbia<\/a> seguieriana subsp. niciciana<\/em> zings between clumps of Iris<\/em> \u2018Benton Susan\u2019,<\/a> Gladiolus communis subsp. byzantinus <\/em>and Hesperaloe parviflora<\/em>, with an airy understorey of self-seeding Eschscholzia californica<\/em> \u2018Ivory Castle\u2019, culinary dill, Stipa tenuissima<\/a><\/em> and Centranthus ruber<\/em> \u2018Albus\u2019 that would overwhelm their more esoteric companions given half a chance.<\/p> Colin instinctively understands the challenge and then raises the stakes, introducing a splash of orange horned poppies here, a flutter of shell-pink Beth\u2019s poppies there. He has pruned the Pinus halepensis<\/em> to enhance their edgy contortions and filled the greenhouse<\/a> (a wonderful creation shaped like a library bus) with the zingiest pelargoniums he could lay his hands on.<\/p> Every Friday morning, the volunteers still turn out in force to help him. For the rest of the week, you\u2019re as likely to come across a community art group sketching the plants as you are a gaggle of garden-design aficionados on a pilgrimage, or a posse of toddlers taking their first wobbly steps on the handmade brick paths. \u201cFifteen years after the library closed, I still get the odd person asking me if they can do their council tax here,\u201d says Colin. \u201cBut most of the time now, I feel that people are simply drawn
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Colin\u2019s tips for running a community garden<\/h2>