Guerrilla Gardening: A Manualfesto
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The term "guerrilla" may bring to mind a small band of armed soldiers, moving in the dead of night on a stealth mission. In the case of guerrilla gardening, the soldiers are planters, the weapons are shovels, and the mission is to transform an abandoned lot into a thing of beauty. Once an environmentalist's non-violent direct action for inner-city renewal, this approach to urban beautification is spreading to all types of people in cities around the world. These modern-day Johnny Appleseeds perform random acts of gardening, often without the property owner's prior knowledge or permission. Typical targets are vacant lots, railway land, underused public squares, and back alleys. The concept is simple, whimsical and has the cheeky appeal of being a not-quite-legal call to action.Dig in some soil, plant a few seeds, or mend a sagging fence - one good deed inspiring another, with win-win results all around. "Guerrilla Gardening" outlines the power-to-the-people campaign for greening our cities. Tips for effective involvement include: finding plants and seeds cheap (or free); handling city officials; getting the dirt on soil; planting to bring back the birds; knowing when to ask permission and when to seek forgiveness. Social activists, city dwellers and long-time gardeners will delight in this fast-paced and funny call to arms.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
"Its better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission" - so runs the underlying theme of this wonderfully readable and entertaining guide to everything you'll ever need to know about the more subversive end of the urban community gardening movement. Guerilla gardening can be as simple as spontaneously clearing up litter and pulling out a few weeds from outside your front door to something as involved as collectively squatting derelict land and turning it into a beautiful or productive green space for the benefit of all.
Tracey places guerilla gardening into a historical context, from Adam and Eve (whatever became of the seeds of that forbidden fruit???), and the potato planting nomads of North West India over 1000 years ago, through to the (probably mythical) early American travelling tree planter Johnny Appleseed, the Yippies and Green Guerillas of 1970s urban USA, right up to the "Resistance Is Fertile" Direct Activists of May Day 2000 in Parliament Square and beyond. Strangely overlooked however are Gerard Winstanley and the Diggers, who in 1649 came to work the land in common at St Georges Hill in Surrey before being brutally suppressed by the local gentry. California Governor Ronald Reagun's forcible eviction of the Berkeley People's Park in 1969, during which a bystander was killed and hundreds more injured when police opened fire on demonstrators, shows that when it comes to land access for the people, the attitudes of the Men of Property have not changed a great deal over the centuries...
Which isn't to say that would-be guerilla gardeners should feel intimidated against committing random acts of planting - on the contrary, Tracey argues that a polite, good humoured and non-confrontational attitude will go far when challenged by the authorities, and may well yield positive results. Most people actually prefer flowers, trees and herbs to grey concrete and litter, and whilst the green guerrillas who plant up vacant lots, back alleys and boulevards from London to New York are technically guilty of illegal trespass, the spectacle of prosecutions does little other than highlight officialdom's own lack of resources or commitment towards providing urban environments fit for the people they claim to serve.
Winstanley observed that "The earth is a common treasury for all", and we can all sow our small seeds without waiting for an official say-so. Not so long ago I found a few onion sets at the bottom of my pocket whilst waiting for a train - I pushed these into the soil of a neglected flower bed by the bench, and hey presto! a few months later free onions for anybody that cared to pick them...
Tracey places guerilla gardening into a historical context, from Adam and Eve (whatever became of the seeds of that forbidden fruit???), and the potato planting nomads of North West India over 1000 years ago, through to the (probably mythical) early American travelling tree planter Johnny Appleseed, the Yippies and Green Guerillas of 1970s urban USA, right up to the "Resistance Is Fertile" Direct Activists of May Day 2000 in Parliament Square and beyond. Strangely overlooked however are Gerard Winstanley and the Diggers, who in 1649 came to work the land in common at St Georges Hill in Surrey before being brutally suppressed by the local gentry. California Governor Ronald Reagun's forcible eviction of the Berkeley People's Park in 1969, during which a bystander was killed and hundreds more injured when police opened fire on demonstrators, shows that when it comes to land access for the people, the attitudes of the Men of Property have not changed a great deal over the centuries...
Which isn't to say that would-be guerilla gardeners should feel intimidated against committing random acts of planting - on the contrary, Tracey argues that a polite, good humoured and non-confrontational attitude will go far when challenged by the authorities, and may well yield positive results. Most people actually prefer flowers, trees and herbs to grey concrete and litter, and whilst the green guerrillas who plant up vacant lots, back alleys and boulevards from London to New York are technically guilty of illegal trespass, the spectacle of prosecutions does little other than highlight officialdom's own lack of resources or commitment towards providing urban environments fit for the people they claim to serve.
Winstanley observed that "The earth is a common treasury for all", and we can all sow our small seeds without waiting for an official say-so. Not so long ago I found a few onion sets at the bottom of my pocket whilst waiting for a train - I pushed these into the soil of a neglected flower bed by the bench, and hey presto! a few months later free onions for anybody that cared to pick them...
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Good book, but more pictures/illustrations would help
28 July 2008
Format:Paperback
I liked this book as it was a good read on a topic which has the ability to be over written. The book covers the philosophy of guerrilla gardening, has a few pictures, and numerous accounts from other people involved in guerrilla gardening. I feel the accounts are the strong point of this book as it has community garden leaders, public officials, and other peoples views on guerrilla gardening. It really gives you a good basis on the issue of greening our cities. There's also a lot of info on potential grow sites, asking permission, recommended plants, and many other gardening basics.
The weak point of this book is the lack of color photographs and illustrations. I know that guerrilla gardening is pretty straight forward, but inclusion of pictures can really help get the juices flowing.
The weak point of this book is the lack of color photographs and illustrations. I know that guerrilla gardening is pretty straight forward, but inclusion of pictures can really help get the juices flowing.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
ok book on inner city gardening...but enough with the politics already!!!
5 Aug 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I liked the creative ways the author documents what worked in Canada for making the inner city there nicer by adding plants, planting on private property and even the parts about the guy who spray painted improvements (as in artwork) to the crosswalks up north...I was so turned off about how he kept pointing out about left and right, and Al Gore global warming it made me want to toss the book. if they kept the politics out of it the book would have been so much better...I only picked up the book because I live in an urban area and wanted to see what I needed to have a garden in the back mini-yard....
I gave him three stars cause the info, pics, and ideas were interesting- but again he totally bought in to politics on the left and even if I'm not with either the left or right- I am about sick of politics- the last place I want to read about Mr. monster House/private plane/ climategatioligist, Cap and Trade -con man- payable to the world IMF bank, Al Gore is my pleasure reading. Pe'shaw.
that being said the rest of the book that I could read after that was ok. (and no I don't support Bush or Obama. I am only interested in personal freedoms!)
I gave him three stars cause the info, pics, and ideas were interesting- but again he totally bought in to politics on the left and even if I'm not with either the left or right- I am about sick of politics- the last place I want to read about Mr. monster House/private plane/ climategatioligist, Cap and Trade -con man- payable to the world IMF bank, Al Gore is my pleasure reading. Pe'shaw.
that being said the rest of the book that I could read after that was ok. (and no I don't support Bush or Obama. I am only interested in personal freedoms!)
Poorly-written
30 Aug 2011
Format:Kindle Edition
This book is very poorly-written. Each paragraph is a random tangent or non sequitur. It is so bad that it seems as though this book was written by the author in one drug-induced manic episode.
I really do appreciate the content, but a good Editor would have left much of this text on the cutting room floor.
I really do appreciate the content, but a good Editor would have left much of this text on the cutting room floor.
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