Whispering Smith Column published in the Littlehampton Gazette May 10th 2017

Guerrilla gardening is the act of gardening on land the gardener does not have the legal right to cultivate. I do not know what the various local councils take on this activity is but I suspect it might be a negative one. For that reason, I will not disclose the site of my guerrilla gardener’s activities. Suffice to say he (or she) has added considerably to the area close by to their dwelling by digging a very precise circle around a sapling and planting bulbs and wild flowers in the freshly turned, well-watered and fertilised soil. Similar work has been carried out to a fully mature tree and to the wide gaps where brick garage walls meet a tarmacked road surface. A little effort, a lot of imagination, a handful or two of rich earth, a dozen or so bulbs and a packet of wildflower seed can work wonders for what some might consider to be a plain grass verge on a bland housing estate. The area is much more attractive and welcoming for that effort as well as to the bees who frequent the guerrilla gardens.

LOVELY weekend weather so I decided to tackle my own walled garden. First step, my annual visit to the Fairhaven Nursery in Toddington Lane where, sadly, I learned this is likely to be their last year of business. What will the regular nesting robins do then poor things, when those lovely plant filled greenhouses are gone and replaced as part of what must surely be the ugliest red bricked housing estate in the county? If this be the future of the once lovely countryside surrounding north Littlehampton then I truly despair.

TO the man I caught urinating on the wall of my house, if he reads this, which I suspect to be unlikely, I thank you, sir, and should I ever discover where you live, I will be sorely tempted to return the compliment…