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Guerrilla Gardening

Prime

Prime

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Guerrilla Gardening could be said to be the intentional but surreptitious planting of an area for the benefit of harvest at a later date.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_gardening

In a Post Collapse world having a few areas of abundance hidden away but marked and designated on a map could be a good thing.

So crops that self seed and grow without attention would be positive card to have up ones sleeve.

Which crops do we think could be grown in plain sight but would thrive from a lack of regular attention in the UK environment?

I'm thinking such thinks Jerusalem Artichokes etc

Other Suggestions? Could be planted in those quiet little forgotten areas that the UK seems so good at producing.
 
just remember that you might not have control of such an area, you probably don't own it and it may be publicly owned-council etc. so I would look at this as an EXTRA to food production and be prepared to lose it unless it is right on your doorstep where you can see what is going on.
 
there should be plenty of places one could use, brown field sites, grass verges, industrial estates and the like.
 
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lonewolf said:
there should be plenty of places one could use, brown field sites, grass verges, industrial estates and the like.
Click to expand...

The original question was asking for Crop options - hence the mention of Jerusalem Artichokes.

Not physical locations..
 
a friend of mine tried growing tobacco plants ala guerrilla gardening but he wasn't very successful.
crop options would be your normal fruit and veg - but probably mostly fruit as it wouldn't look to out of place- that grow in your area of the country.
 
Yes , I have a friend that grew Tobacco but only in a Greenhouse.
 
this was in the South Hams of Devon, in the open air.
I suppose they could have been affected by the salt air.
 
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Like growing dope. I suggest Brasicas, good climate there for Chard, Silverbeet, Cabbage, Brussel sprouts, etc. Perhaps some berry bushes too, Red & Black currents, blackberries, Loganberries, Gooseberries. Don't forget natural water plants, Cattail is a good one to cultivate, mint likes wet areas as does watercress. Not sure how squash grows over there, but should be okay & worth a try.
Jerusalem Artichoke was a good choice Prime.
Keith.
 
Silver beet (also known as Swiss chard) is brilliant for this type of thing. I once left a garden completely untended for 10 years and, after that time, there were still silver beet plants growing however many generations down the track. I assumed that the sprouting broccoli would have regenerated as well, but I couldn't find any. However, I do think it might work as an option if tended a little more often than once every 10 years. Potatoes can be left in the soil to multiply untended just about anywhere. I have often thought of doing this idea. There are areas (in New Zealand) where parts of public reserves have been planted out in a lot of native trees/bushes. Hardly anyone ever sets foot inside these areas. I am sure some surreptitious guerrilla plantings could be made within these areas which only whoever planted them would know about.

Happy guerrilla gardening. Judith from New Zealand
 
Welcome to this forum Judith, are you involved in the lifestyle block way of doing things? Nice first post
 
Not quite guerilla gardening but I have edibles growing on my front garden . As others have suggested I have Jerusalem artichokes and chard. In addition I have sorrel , good king Henry also known as Lincolnshire spinach , vchives , garlic , wild strawberries and a few additional herbs along with an almond tree. All of these tty much look after themselves and to all intents and purposes it just looks like a slightly unkempt garden . I very much doubt if most people actually know what they are. As an experiment to see if anything grew legs I planted potatoes which I feel are much more recognisable and not the end of the world if they were stolen. To be honest I noticed only a handful of people even gave it a look.
I have considered trying guerilla gardening although I think choosing the location is important . Preferably somewhere "average" for rainfall and drainage so it doesn't become waterlogged or a dust bowl , preferably not previously used and potentially contaminated industrial land and preferably somewhere that doesn't see too many people to either trample it down or pick it and preferably away from roadsides and paths that are likely to see a spotty 17 year old who gets given a spray tank off weedkiller and isn't too careful with it.
 
It used to be that there was wasteground when I was a kid, usually covered in brambles and other wild edibles (even the odd forgotten apple tree). All this land is gone now, covered in orange brick detached executive homes all built 12 inches apart. :sad:
 
That's very unfortunate . The wasteland that was my playground as a kid is still there. A small area has been built on or rather is being built on and there is a road that wasn't there years ago but there is still a decently large area . The council have "improved" the area which essentially means flattening some of the slag heaps and putting in paths. This has meant that far more people use the area than ever did and they probably term it an amenity but there are still out of the way places that one could try a bit of guerilla gardening .
 
The road that runs from Bulford to tidworth past the bulford range complex is lined with apple trees. I’m convinced that this is a result of soldiers discarding their packed lunch apple cores on the way home!

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Just been cutting down rather large rubber tree plents( fully grown like 15ft,might be wrong about what they are),im doing this as i need to redo a shody frence line and this is inter mingled with said trees.

My question is now what to put back in its place that will grow quick,provide security and food if possible.My thoughts leed toward black berrys and the like.But just thought i would ask if anyone else has done similar and has any tips?

I am planning on staying in this house so im in it for long haul, but plan to plant these the opposite side to mt fence so needs to be little maint and would be good if it brings in wild animals( cat will deal with the vermin).
 
Hi all

Thanks for the welcome. I don't have access to the internet 24/7, so will only be able to comment here occasionally. I do own what you would call a "lifestyle block", but I call myself a farmer since I do actually farm the land and do all the work myself using hand tools only. I have always been interested in trying to obtain some level of self-sufficiency. This is coming more to fruition to me now in my later years since I was made redundant just over 4 years ago and have since decided not to go back to working for other people for money. So partly producing some of my own food has been a question of economy. But, more seriously, I feel there may well be a time within my lifetime when reliable food supplies will not exist. It might not just be a question of whether or not we can afford to buy the food. It just might not even be available to buy. I have a lot of years of experience growing things and farming and raising animals without any help from anyone. So I like to think I am fairly much future proofed in regard to being able to provide enough to eat.

My interest in guerrilla gardening as such came from going on camping trips and working out what food to take. Then I thought, wouldn't it be great if there were already a few basic foods growing at my destination (which I would of course secretly plant in advance where they would be unlikely to be found by other people). And I could use it as a practice survival exercise, planning to camp out and survive just on eating the food that was there already.

Judith
 
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