Notes of Spring

What have you seen?

Spring is springed, as they say, and the meadows are born again.

The world is bursting with new life at the moment, and rather than ramble on about it for paragraphs I thought I’d just share some images I took from a walk near my home.

Even in the dullest of concrete neighbourhoods there are green shoots to be found. And if you want it to be more vibrant? Pick up some native wildflower seeds and scatter them on verges yourself.

Our gardens and streets should be full of blossom and flowers and trees but instead they’re full of astroturf and ecologically dead, pesticide-drenched lawns.

If you have access to a patch of land (it doesn’t even need to be yours, could just be a communal plot outside your home) stop asking yourself what you can possibly do to make a difference and just start planting.

Ellen Miles heads up a fantastic grassroots movement she calls Guerilla Gardening, which encourages gardening in unused or neglected community areas.

For me, it’s all about community ownership and belonging, and I think we have a right to cultivate these spaces in the areas we call home – and a responsibility to, as well. So-called public spaces have been really privatised, and communities actually don’t get a chance to interact with them often. So I think we do have a right to do that in the places we put down our roots, where we live.

- Ellen Miles

So what are you waiting for? Grab those seeds and scatter them far and wide.

The world needs more flowers.

What have you seen so far this Spring? Let me know in the comments or drop me an email.