Gardening on a shoestring

Hello Garden Friends,

Perhaps you've noticed that we've been sprucing up the tree pits along Fordwych and St Cuthbert's Roads the past two weekends, including putting out more planted up shoes for everyone to enjoy.

All the shoes we use are 'recycled' old shoes, either donated or abandoned in our neighbourhood.

We mix up soil, free compost we collect from the Eco Hub in King's Cross 

(that's what becomes of the garden and kitchen waste you recycle every week), 

and perlite to help with aeration and water retention and soak thoroughly with rain water.

Then we find a good selection of colourful plants that will do well in the shoes, either ones we've raised in our greenhouse or good ones on sale at nearby shops (and  don't forget to check out places like Sainsbury's and Aldi's as well as garden centres for good buys)

Now for the fun part, time to start planting up the shoes.

Fill the shoes with the soil and compost mixture, add the plant, press it into the soil and top up with a bit more and give it another drink.

Looking good.

Looking very good indeed! Enjoy them as you pass by - 

they're guaranteed to put a smile on your face :)

There are 60 tree pits that Garden Friends NW2 look after on Fordwych Road between Maygrove and Mill Lane and St Cuthbert's Road. We've got most of them planted up with shoes, but we still need 26 more pairs of old shoes or boots to complete the job. If you're in the mood to clear out your closet and run across some old shoes suitable for planting, just put them near the notice board at St Cuthbert's Church and we'll happily plant them up and put them in the remaining tree pits for all to enjoy.

Keep calm and carry on shoe gardening!