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Over the past six months our balcony at home has gradually been taken over by seed trays, pots and a growing collection of Niwaki tools. My girlfriend, Beth, has been exploring how gardens and growing spaces can give people in cities access to plants, vegetables and community. Our balcony only catches the morning sun, with the overhang from the flat above meaning everything gets shuffled around to follow the light throughout the afternoon. It's been great to watch her interest and knowledge grow over the past few months, along with enjoying the handfuls of fruits, herbs and the occasional vegetable that make their way into the kitchen every few days. You can follow her journey at @sometimesannuals. Last Sunday we visited the Serge Hill Project, near St Albans, for its annual Plant Fair. The site is home to a rich variety of gardens, landscapes and buildings, all centred around learning, experimentation and exploring different approaches to growing. We first came across Serge Hill through the Homing podcast with Matt Gibberd, co founder of The Modern House. In separate episode he speaks with Sue Stuart Smith and Tom Stuart Smith, who work with the land in different ways while sharing a common ethos. As the Serge Hill Project describes it: "The Project draws on Sue's work as a psychiatrist, psychotherapist and author of the bestselling book The Well Gardened Mind, which investigates the power of gardening to transform lives, as well as Tom's horticultural expertise as an internationally renowned landscape architect." It was an inspiring place to spend the day, and a reminder that gardens can be much more than traditionally planted beds, bringing in sandy aggregates and less “pretty” ways of planting. They can become places of learning, care, community and quiet observation.
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