On Guerrilla Gardening: A Handbook for Gardening without Boundaries

On Guerrilla Gardening: A Handbook for Gardening without Boundaries

by RichardReynolds (Author)

Synopsis

When Richard Reynolds began planting flowers secretly at night outside his tower block in South London, he had no idea that he was part of a growing global movement committed to combating the forces of neglect, land shortage and apathy towards public spaces. But before long, his blog had attracted other guerrillas from around the world to share their experiences of the horticultural frontline, and is now a focal point for guerrilla gardeners everywhere, with over 4,000 people enlisted as recruits. On Guerrilla Gardening is Reynolds' lively, colourful treatise on why people illicitly cultivate land and how to do it yourself. From discreetly beautifying corners of Montreal to striving for green communal space in Berlin and sustainable food production in San Francisco, from Christmas trees on London roundabouts to the political agitations of landless workers in Brazil, Reynolds charts a battle that people worldwide are fighting on many different fronts.Along the way he unearths the movement's notable historic advances by seventeenth-century English radicals, a nineteenth-century American entrepreneur and public-spirited artists in 1970s New York. Reynolds has researched the subject with guerrilla gardeners from thirty different countries, and compiles their advice on what to grow where, how to cope with adverse environmental conditions, how to seed-bomb effectively, how to harness propaganda to win support and even how to handle anti-terror police. On Guerrilla Gardening informs, entertains and inspires. Packed with photographs, anecdotes and sound horticultural advice, it is an irresistible invitation to shoulder your shovel and join the revolution that is blooming in the world's shared spaces.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 256
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: 05 May 2008

ISBN 10: 0747590818
ISBN 13: 9780747590811
Book Overview: An irresistible gardening manual that is both gleefully mischievous and genuinely political A unique, quirky package inspired by the Little Red Book and the work of Banksy with a touch of Boring Postcards Richard has recruited over 2,000 troops, and his website www.guerrillagardening.org attracts 10,000 unique visitors a month He has already had huge amounts of media attention through, among others, Richard and Judy, BBC Breakfast, This Morning, the Sunday Telegraph, the Mail on Sunday, BBC Radio 4 and News 24

Media Reviews
Whatever guerilla gardeners bring to life will be eaten and shared by someone or some animal. And that will further light the green fuse, as will getting a copy of this book. Better yet, read it and become one of the growing guerilla army. --Alan Bisport, Hartford Advocate

In tracing the history of the guerrilla gardening movement, be it for beautification or to grow food, Reynolds' voice is ardent as he writes about Johnny Appleseed and the Digger colonies that provided sustenance in fifteenthcentury England. Reynolds is most assured when advising readers on choosing specimens for planting their own guerrilla gardens and when expressing love for gardening. -- Booklist

Author Bio
Richard Reynolds' first illegal cultivation was at college, where he planted windowsills with boxes of Busy Lizzies. He became a guerrilla gardener in earnest in 2004 when he moved into a council block with dilapidated communal flowerbeds in London's Elephant & Castle.