Nonetheless, the colour and upward facing flowers of bedding plants are testament to  the immense creativity and patience of nurserymen since 19th century, when bright floriferousness (that’s an actual horticultural term) was prized and alleviated gloom.

The Sivananda Yoga Centre have a festival coming up, the Bhagavata Saptaha, a seven-day celebration. To welcome the special guests we’ve planted a luminous drift of primroses through the perennial planting. Not ‘wild’ primroses (an Australian asked what the plants were, and responded saying they sounded very English), but a cultivar from the nursery. They should, nonetheless reappear early next spring.

Under grey skies a hint of spring…and delighted to find a healthy worm population as a result of our drought insurance mulching last April (ha ha).

As an alternative to the Chelsea Flower Show, the Fringe runs for three weeks 18 May – 9 June. The Squash and Bean swap grows out of an amazing 2012 of community growing for me – involvement in Incredible Edible Lambeth and the design and set up of the Clapham Common Bandstand Beds.

Follow the project on facebook and twitter.

Late May and early June are the ideal time to put out squash and bean seedlings, after all risk of frost has passed. It’s a good moment in the growing calendar.

The seedling swap event will see the 150 or so Lambeth community growing groups, and anyone else who wants to join in, share with each other and other residents whole gamut of self-saved, heritage, commercial and world varieties of these food crops.

The event will look ahead to a summer of watering, feeding and tending. Then the autumn harvest, and big cook off for the Incredible Edible Lambeth Harvest Feast!

Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris – French beans) and squash are grown all over the world for winter storage. Summer sunshine is converted to protein and carbohydrates. The fruits are choc-full of minerals and vitamins to see through the dark months.

Tired old front garden hedge? We are in the dormant season so cut back the slower growing side of deciduous hedges (privet, beech) and do the other side next year. You’ll see good fresh growth in spring.

Keep weeding, especially perennial weeds like dandelions apparent now foliage has died back, and mat-forming ones like couch grass or chickweed. However, do cover bare soil with compost, leaves, bark or other mulch to protect it from driving rains.

Research your present list! Membership of Garden Organic or the Royal Horticultural Society provides inspiration for both new and competent growers. Adopt a Veg from the Heritage Seed Library and help save heirloom varieties such as ‘John’s Purple’, a carrot.  James Wong’s book ‘Homegrown Revolution’ is fresh take on what crops to grow and eat. Dahlia rosti, anyone?! A simple packet of seeds in a card makes a sweet gift too.

Don’t be too tidy: leave drying stems and leaves for insects, including gardening friends solitary bees and ladybirds, to hibernate in. You can bundle up hollow stems and bamboos and place in a dry corner outside, ideally south-facing for warmth.

Herbaceous perennials put on fresh growth in spring, flowers in summer, die back in autumn. Michelmas Daisies, Japanese Anemones and heucheras are some common London garden ones. Now is the time to divide their root clumps and share around your garden or with friends.

What about a Christmas wreath? Contact me!

I’m going to direct you to the Lambeth Poly flickr set, where I’ve prepared a photo tutorial with one of the residents involved in this grow-to-sell project. See taking semi-ripe cuttings.The tutorial is a great way to begin to explore plant science and botany from applied horticulture.

See my training page if you’re interested in learning more.  I often work with clients in their gardens training on the particular issues and plants.  I also teach groups, give talks and run workshops.

I’ll be leading training at the next Capital Growth networking evening on 10th Ocotber and teaching a two-Sunday course October 14th and 20th at City Lit in Covent Garden on container gardening – see the post here.

I’m growing beans for drying as an experiment in resilience planting – crops to store forwinter months. See here for this summer’s new project, at the Clapham Common Bandstand Beds. And I’m interested in sustainable sources of protein (ie non-meat).

I’ve done a few nice design consultations lately – maybe I can work with you to develop your productive gardening?

A cool courtyard beckoned and I greatly enjoyed this casual (seeming) grouping of greenery. Readily available plants give a pleasing range of leaf size, form, surface (mat, shiny) and colour, all united by terracotta pots of the same scale. It doesn’t matter the pots aren’t completely identical. Plants are suited to the lack of direct light: hyrangea and camellia are understory plants in Himlayan forests, for instance. An uplifting burst of green in an otherwise chicly grey Parisian courtyard.

I was also greatly charmed by this display outside the fire station:  hydrangeas in painted concrete pipes.  Though six is a no-no (non-non?) in design terms.

Whether you have a windowsill or a terrace or your very own courtyard, containers are a great way to bring colour and seasonal interest to your outdoor space.

I’ll be teaching a container design course at City Lit College on Sundays 14th and 21st October 2012. I’ll introduce you to the design and horticulture basics. You will design an ornamental container to plant then. We also consider growing fruit and veg. Suitable for beginners or individuals who have either some gardening or general design experience.

It’s course code VF432 in the Visual Arts department. See full course information here, and most of the info below

What topics will we cover?

Design principles, planting combinations, growing media, basic horticulture as it relates to container growing, growing fruit and veg in containers.

By the end of this course you should be able to:

- state design principles as they relate to containers and container plants
- design a planting combination to plant for interest now and in spring
- understand the components of growing media for healthy growth
- have a basic understanding of horticultural considerations such as siting containers, container material, pests and diseases and irrigation
- begin to understand the requirements of fruit and vegetables growing in containers.

What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?

Suitable for beginners or individuals who have either some gardening – or general design experience.
The course will be more accessible to you if you have had some experience growing plants. No formal horticulture qualification is needed. General design experience will also be beneficial.

How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?

There will be an exercise after the first week’s lesson that should take about one hour outside class time.

Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?

Please bring a notebook or sketchbook, pen. We provide scale rulers but recommend that you buy your own for homework (it should contain scale 1:50 and 1:100 and 1:200).

I’ll also be teaching a planting design course in June 2013

Our £50 consultation fee when paid by B£e will cost you £45.45 sterling! And this is redeemable against your design. You’ll get full first impressions advice when we visit your space, and we’ll take a brief for the design. See here for more info on consultation.

Viveka Gardens is very happy to accept payment in the Brixton Pound (B£), ‘money that sticks to Brixton’. It’s a complementary currency, working alongside (not replacing) pounds sterling, for use by independent local shops and traders.  It builds the local economy and community. You can use the beautifully produced notes or…

…now you can pay in Brixton Pounds BY TEXT. Sign up for a Brixton Pound pay-by-text account and when you pay in £100, for instance, you’ll get £110 credited to your account. This means you get 10% extra spending power for our consultation and design services!

In effect, you recieve an 11.1%discount, and you can pay for your whole design and services by £Be if you like. Luckily, your mobile will have a calculator on it.

I’m really happy to support the Brixton Pound as it contributes to making relocalisation become reality. I’ll aim to pay for materials and labour wherever possible in Brixton Pounds too. Oh, and I’ll be visiting all the amazing food outlets you can find in the Brixton village that take the Brixton Pound, for instance!

http://brixtonpound.org/

Sign up now - it just takes a few minutes: brixtonpound.monea.cc

See some links here

construction and lovely you tube stop motion film of construction

aims of project

page on Project Dirt

follow project @lambethpoly

Take the long view and get more for your money.  September and October are the ideal time for planting for your summer 2013 flower border. The soil is warm and there’s more rainfall so that plants establish lovely strong roots. It’ll be all systems go for healthy foliage and maximum floriferousness come the following spring. Small plants are cheaper – so get more! They also show more resilience to changing soil conditions than larger plants.

Start planning now. Engage Viveka Gardens’ expertise to plant your patch. See our planting design page. Consider if you need a full design to make the most of your space.

Picture shows planting from Cleve West’s Chelsea 2012 garden, peonies glowing in the dusk.