Bringing green to the concrete jungle

So some months ago i conceived the idea to create a lovely green space in central Croydon, where i live, that could be used by me and my neighbours. By use i mean design, dig, plant and grow things in. This was going to be a proper community green space - not one controlled by the local council and maintained by some landscaping company that employed people who couldn't even prune a hebe. 


If you don't know Croydon it's fair to say that its not very green. In fact what it lacks in green it more than makes up for in shops! If you've a talent for spending money then this is the place to compete in the Shopping Olympics. But being a resident here, the grit of the concrete can wear you down. In winter there is nothing to break the constant grey and in summer the hard surfaces cry out for a bit Eden-style softening. Don't get me wrong i love Croydon: the trains run all through the night; I have three large shopping malls two minutes from my door; and the fifty police swarming around Surrey Street and the High Street every Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights are a source of... comfort.


But back to the alchemy of turning concrete to vegetation. The view from my bedroom window is one of a large multi-storey carpark. Ugly. 

I had visions of lush green growing on the top floor open to the skies and flowing down the sides. I could see fresh fruit and vegetable being produced and eaten by shiny happy, people. I even had ideas of using the left over green waste from Surrey Street Market in a large composter and then selling the subsequent black gold to locals. I survived the winter snows with these small fantasies until a friend of mine put me in touch with Mikey. 

Mikey has a keen interest in community gardening projects and bee keeping on the roof of Festival Hall. Genius! Who comes up with the idea of bees on the South Bank... Only a hippy. Mikey is doing his PhD on setting up community gardens and is involved up to his eye balls in a good ten other projects, but for some reason he has a soft spot for Croydon and has provided me with a lot of inspiration and support. We agreed that although Surrey Street car park would be a fun location isn't wasn't exactly practical. I hadn't really added the details of getting topsoil up there in my little fantasy let alone watering it or dealing with the considerably stronger winds at that level. I was easily persuaded to look at different locations where the soil was already in place and the water easier to source. 

Behind this delightful shopping parade is a real gem:

You can see Mikey to the right.
This has the potential to be a great site - very central and easily accessible; protected on all sides by buildings; and currently really ugly - it would be a great feeling to bring idea of Eden to this sad and forgotten corner.  On the down side its got no soil and potentially problematic access to water. I'm learning!

These flower beds in the shopping area off Katherine Street have the potential as future sites but for now don't quite fulfil my itchy need for the outdoors with the earth beneath my feet.

At the end of Church Street is, quite astoundingly, a church and rumour has it that Rev looks kindly on green fingered projects and could be amenable to a bunch of Halstead Close residents making a mess of his grass in the name of horticulture. I'm yet to contact the magical Rev, but i've high hopes as he's a man of God and therefore should love the people and love nature...


I've also yet to have a band of gardeners but that's a mere detail.