The HEDGE that’s appearing and disappearing in the front and back garden – and inside the house – of the South London Botanical Institute in Tulse Hill is like no hedge you’ve ever seen before. Created by artist/garden designer Alun Jordan and a company of techno wizards, it is a virtual hedge that grows before your eyes when, having downloaded the free HEDGE app (H.E.D.G.E stands for Horticulturally Evolving Digital Garden Entity) you point an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch at one of the bright green coded ‘maps’ on the ground. It takes about three minutes to grow from a staggered line of twirling and whirling bright green seedlings to a shoulder-high ‘hedge’ of polygon-shaped leaves on thick stalks. Holding your device, you can even walk down through the middle of the plants, an experience a bit like forging your way through a piece of tropical rainforest.

Is it art or is it horticulture for the digital age? A bit of both but mainly art. Alun, who was inspired by the historic Great Hedge of India, a 2500-mile brush hedge that served as a customs line across the country and was transformed into a living hedge in sections during the late 19th-century,  thinks that walking through it is ‘like stepping through a Cubist painting’. He wants to know what Chelsea Fringers make of it.

You can see how it works seven days a week until the last day of the Fringe (8 June) by visiting the front garden where the hedge line starts or, if you want to experience the full 50 metres, go along on Thursday 29 May and 5 June, from 10am-4pm, when Alun’s team will be there with their devices to let you have a go.  On 29 May there’ll also be a special HEDGE trail for children.

Find out more about Conversations over the HEDGE.

The team at Emmaus near Brighton tell us about their community and their Wizard of Oz-inspired event on 31 May.

In the heart of Portslade village, just to the west of Brighton and Hove, lies a very special place.

Emmaus Brighton and Hove is one of 26 Emmaus communities in the UK supporting people who have experienced homelessness by providing them with a home and meaningful work in a community setting. Through social enterprise, each community is able to offer work for the people that call Emmaus their home and also generates the funding that maintains them.

A worldwide movement started in France in 1949, there are Emmaus communities all over the world, and of the UK communities, Brighton and Hove is the largest, providing a home and work to 48 formerly homeless men and women, many of whom you can read about on the Emmaus Brighton Blog.

Comprising a secondhand superstore, a vintage emporium, Café Revive and Emmaus-by-the-Sea in nearby Southwick, Emmaus Brighton makes a wonderful place to visit, to browse and buy secondhand goods donated by the public or to attend an event.

Since 2012, the community has been working on the greenhouse @ Emmaus, a gardening project run by Rachael Woodgate, a silver medal winner at RHS Hampton Court in 2006. Led by Rachael, a team of companions and volunteers have been busy creating what has now evolved into two garden shops and a community food garden. Housed in a Victorian-style conservatory and a converted boiler room, the greenhouse sells upcycled goods, plants, planters, seedlings, secondhand gardening books, tools and bric-a-brac.

Upcycling is at the heart of the project, with the team constantly finding new ways to repurpose the many pre-loved goods donated to the community. See the greenhouse @Emmaus Facebook page for examples of their work and have a look at this video of their official launch in March.

This year will mark the first time that the greenhouse @Emmaus has taken part in the Chelsea Fringe. Beyond the Yellow Brick Road will have a Wizard of Oz theme and a day of creative gardening activities is taking place on Saturday 31st May.

Rachael says: ‘The signature  song to the Wizard of Oz, ‘Over the Rainbow’, tells us that we should ‘dare to dream’ and we reference that message in everything we do at the greenhouse. It’s become a sort of slogan for us and as a favourite movie classic of the team. We’re excited to explore its themes and interpret them in our own unique creative way.’  There will be a a dapper scarecrow, a tin man and the legendary ruby slippers, all made from recycled, donated materials. There will also be a ‘summer colour’ plants sale, pop-up café and BBQ, picnic area, face-painting and the chance to help Emmaus create their very own yellow brick road. Local choir The Archway will be providing entertainment throughout the afternoon.

There will also be a ‘living shed’, inspired by Dorothy’s home landing after the cyclone. Companion Lee Radford explains: ‘The project has evolved organically, as all of the materials have arrived at just the right time by serendipity. We’ve had to embrace the random and let go of traditional building methods. Most of the wood came from scrap piles and many of the fixings led a somewhat more boring life before arriving at the living shed. The joints aren’t quite square and some of the wood bends toward the centre of planks, but it’s been beautiful to let go of uniformity. With the shed structure built, we’re looking forward to our visitors helping us to plant it up.’

Beyond the Yellow Brick Road will take place at Emmaus Brighton, Drove Road, Portslade, BN41 2PA, from 1-4pm on Saturday 31st May. Entry is free.

Some Chelsea Fringe projects are taking place exclusively online, such as Hypertufa High Jinks, in which you can follow the adventures of Hetty the hypertufa elephant in New York City, You Should Have Seen it Last Week, an opportunity for gardeners to upload pictures of their garden over time (so we really can see what it looked like last week) and Shows of Hands, hosted by Michelle Chapman. She tells us more.

This is your second year of taking part in the Fringe, virtually – what inspired you to take part?
I’ve loved the idea of the Fringe ever since it first started, but realised there are plenty of people like me, who live too far away to attend an event. Hosting a virtual project on my blog seemed the natural solution.

What gave you the idea for the theme this year? 
My project’s called ‘Shows of Hands’. The idea is to link gardens with a gardener’s most precious tool, their hands. The title sprang into my head whilst I was writing up last year’s Fringe project linking gardens and cake. It changed to ‘Shows of Hands’ as I’d like to see as many different interpretations as possible of my simple brief.

How will it work?
I’m asking participants to blog, tweet, Facebook or email me a picture of hand(s) in a garden, or in the act of gardening, or some sort of garden-related activity. The hands can be human or not, and group or individual shots are welcome, the muckier the better! Participants will need to tell me their picture’s location and a little bit about it (e.g. the activity and people involved) so I can produce a clickable Google Map of everyone’s contribution at the end of the project. I also need to know if I can use the picture as part of a collage I’m hoping to produce. How this will actually work depends on the contributions I receive. Participants should email me at vegplotting.gmail.com once their contribution is live, or to tweet @malvernmeet using the hashtag #showsofhands. Facebook users can add their details to my blog’s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/VegPlotting?ref=hl

I hope many of the other projects will find time to take a photo for ‘Shows of Hands’, so we can link together the physical and virtual worlds of the Fringe.

Tell us more about your Veg Plotting blog.
It’s a general gardening blog, rather than just about growing vegetables, with hefty doses about Chippenham (where I live) and other subjects which interest me such as travel, photography and the environment. Many of the ideas come to me when I’m working on my allotment, hence the plotting in the title. It’s been going for seven years now and I strive not to repeat myself. Having lots of projects on the go, like the Chelsea Fringe, helps with that. A friend once described my blog as ‘… like a well stocked department store with something on every floor.’

Find out more about Show of Hands

vegplotting.blogspot.co.uk

Learn to grow and make your own botanical remedies at this brand new medicinal garden.

On Sat 31 May and Sat 7 June, an English medicinal garden in Maida Vale will be hosting a day that’s all about the healing properties of plants. Garden owner Galit Zadok and medical herbalist Christina Fattori tell us more.

What inspired you to create a medicinal garden?
Galit: Witnessing a growing concern around safety and effectiveness of pharmaceuticals, I started investigating remedies that have been used by humans for hundreds of years. Herbal remedies featured strongly and as I already had a large garden, I felt the best way to learn is not from a book but rather from the plants themselves. With the help of Christina I was able to plan a garden that encompasses a lot of English herbal remedies.

Christina: As a practising medical herbalist I have always felt that it is important to bring the client closer to their medicine by teaching them how to grow their own medicines. The BSc degree I studied at the University of Westminster did not incorporate the growing side of medicinal plants, so I studied the RHS Level 1&2 course to help me better understand the growing needs of plants. It gave me the confidence to create medicinal gardens.

Many common garden plants have medicinal qualities. Tell us about a few.
* Rosa/Rose – any rose can be used in a tea provided it has not been sprayed. Roses are good to help with grieving for the loss of a loved one or a big change in life. It soothes our hearts. Use the petals to bathe in or make a tea.

* Calendula officinalis/pot marigold – the best healer. It can be used for nappy rash, fungal infections, cuts and bruises and to soothe itchy, sore skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis. Internally this plant will heal various gut afflictions, too. Use the aerial parts in a tea, ointment or the flower petals in a salad. Apply the tea topically to soothe inflamed skin conditions.
* Alchemilla mollis/Lady’s mantle – Drink the tea to soothe heavy painful and irregular menstrual bleeding. This plant tones the womb. Use aerial parts.

Note that it is best to use the botanical name when buying medicinal plants as various species exist.

What will visitors learn at the workshops?
Christina: I aim to arm the group with tools to create their own remedies. We’ll demonstrate how to convert raw plant materials into useable medicines such as teas, ointments and tinctures. Attendees will be able to taste and try the preparations.

If you could only grow one medicinal plant, what would it be?
Galit: Nettle is among the most valuable herbal remedies as it is a powerful anti-inflammatory and blood builder. It is a true weed-of-wonder that has been used by humans since the Bronze Age.

Christina: I would grow pot marigold for it’s ability to soothe and heal internally and externally.

Tickets for the workshop are limited – book them in advance here.

The Chelsea Fringe, the alternative gardening festival, runs to 8 June, and features around 250 projects taking place in London, Brighton, Bristol, Vienna, Ljubljana, Turin, Kent, Norwich and online.

Many of the events are free, so do pop along. Some are running for the entire duration of the Fringe, others are one-offs or on specific dates.

You can find out what’s on by looking at events in chronological order below this post, or by clicking on a specific day on the calendar to the right. Alternatively, go to the What’s On tab (above) and click on your chosen city, then use the ‘search’ section to find an event by date or location. If you’re looking for something specific, such as child-friendly events, go to the ‘Event Categories’ tab above.

In the meantime, here are some one-off events happening this weekend – don’t miss them!

Both days:

Half Term Wild Magic at Abbey Physic Community Garden in Faversham, Kent

The Little Paper House on the Prairie – paper-related events at Sussex Prairies, West Sussex

 Sat 31 May

From Plot to Potion - tours and workshops at a medicinal garden in Maida Vale, north west London

Stop me and Grow One - roving tricyles distributing seedlings in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea

Bee Day at the Calthorpe Project  - a celebration of all things bee-related in Grays Inn Road, WC1

The SPAB Secret Garden - visit the garden of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings in Spitalfields, East London

Go Wild at the Library! Family events in the garden at Ealing Road library, Wembley, north west London

LUSH Herbal Hair Experience, Ethelburga Community Centre, Battersea

The Fringe that Launched a Thousand Maps - meet Chris Colllins, the Blue Peter gardener, at this launch event for a free map of London’s community gardens, at the St Mary’s Secret Garden in Hackney

Nettle Weekend, Natural History Museum, London

Khecharii – She Who Moves Through the Ether - art installation in an artist’s studio in Clerkenwell

Vanguard Court: a Secret Garden Takes Root - chance to see a garden that was originally created for the Chelsea Fringe 2013, in a toilet block

Shhh it’s a secret! Preview of London Open Garden Squares weekend at Cafe Crema in Lewisham, plus Giggly & Green Fingered, an event for kids

Vauxhall Sculpture Garden, Lambeth

Sun 1 June

Art in the Garden: Plants, Paints and Picnics - rare chance to see the acclaimed Inner Temple Garden, between the Strand and the Thames. Take part in the ‘Long Draw’ on this art-themed day

Ethelburga Community Big Lunch and Poppy Field Day, Battersea

A Real Surprise: opening of a tiny garden in Clapton, East London, packed with space-saving ideas

Exotic Gunnersbury - explore the exotic heritage of Gunnersbury Park, west London

Nettle Weekend, Natural History Museum

Khecharii – She Who Moves Through the Ether - art installation in an artist’s studio in Clerkenwell

Pop-up Bee Garden, Canterbury, Kent

On 1 and 7 June, Jenny Holliday will be opening up her tiny 4 x 4m garden in Clapton. She tells us how it was achieved.

When did you start?
We moved in four years ago when I was eight months pregnant, and the whole family came together to transform the house and garden. It’s a maisonette on an estate in Hackney so it’s not massive, but it was ours and we wanted to make it nicer.

What were your inspirations?
I grew up in the Kent countryside, and ever since I went to university I missed my parents’ garden, full of its flowers, smells and sounds of nature. I was especially nostalgic about getting a rose and honeysuckle, but we also had to be practical in a garden that was only 4 x 4 metres.

How did you deal with such a small space?
My mother and I designed the garden, and my dad and brother built a shed made out of trellis to hide the bins and house plant-pots. Honeysuckle grows up the side and covers it like a scented carpet. One wall is hung with cut-up milk bottles, in which we grow all sorts of vegetables and herbs together with flowering plants. On the opposite wall there is lettuce growing out of guttering, which is mounted on the wall to catch the sun. We’ve just put up a shelf at the back with pots of strawberries on it. On a warm day, the garden is filled with colour and scent. Despite its size, there is also a small table with four chairs and beside that, a large pot of runner beans curling round poles.

And how would you describe the results?
What’s nice is that there is nothing precious or expensive in the garden – it’s a labour of love and it shows. It’s basically a vertical potager, but it’s also imaginative, original and full of space-saving ideas. From the street, you wouldn’t have any idea that there was anything special behind the rather unpromising exterior, but when you open the gate, there’s a wow factor. I work full time and have two small children so time is limited, but the size of the garden means it’s manageable for us to look after. I love coming home in summer and picking off chives for the kids’ omelette or cutting roses for the table. It’s brought us together, and even better, it’s a little piece of the Kentish idyll I grew up with.

What are you doing for the Chelsea Fringe?
We’re opening the garden on Sunday 1 and Saturday 7 June, from 10am to 5pm. There’ll be a plant stall and home-made cakes and tea. What I’d really like is to give other people with small gardens some inspiration to transform a blank space into an oasis that is sublime to sit in and provides edible treats to boot.

Open 1 and 7 June, 10am to 5pm. Entry 50p. Plants and seedlings, refreshments and cake for sale

The Chelsea Fringe, the alternative gardening festival, is now in it’s final week. It has featured around 250 projects in London, Brighton, Bristol, Vienna, Ljubljana, Turin, Kent, Norwich and online.

Many of the events are free, so do pop along. Some are running for the entire duration of the Fringe, others are one-offs or on specific dates.

You can find out what’s on by looking at events in chronological order below this post, or by clicking on a specific day on the calendar to the right. Alternatively, go to the What’s On tab (above) and click on your chosen city, then use the ‘search’ section to find an event by date or location. If you’re looking for something specific, such as child-friendly events, go to the ‘Event Categories’ tab above.

In the meantime, here are some one-off events happening this week – don’t miss them!

Mon 2 June

Second Nature at the Espacio Gallery – the work of 18 artists on display in Bethnal Green

Waterworks – spend an afternoon with artist Kate Osborne at the Garden House in Brighton, learning how to use watercolours and other materials

Tue 3 June

The Bristol Bike Project – Beewheelin’ Garden – help plant up a bicycle wheel planter with bee-friendly plants in Bristol

Vauxhall Village presents Summer Screen - free viewing of Best In Show, in the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. Featuring a secret pop-up gin garden.

Lost Gardens of the Strand Walk – explore the gardens that would have bloomed along the Strand in years gone by. Hosted by ‘Old Map Man’, Ken Titmuss, and poet Sarah Salway

Second Nature at the Espacio Gallery – the work of 18 artists on display in Bethnal Green

Wed 4 June

Making Meadows at Strawberry Hill House, south west London – see a meadow being planted and discover how to do it yourself at home

Thurs 5 June

Rooftop Veg Plot: Growing Container Veg Beautifully – visit Wendy Shillam’s rooftop in central London and learn how to grow veg in a small space

Fri 6 June

Rooftop Veg Plot: Growing Container Veg Beautifully - visit Wendy Shillam’s rooftop in central London and learn how to grow veg in a small space

Sat 7 June

Pocket Places Peckham Spaces – a one-day event to highlight the work of Pocket Places, which aims to bring community spaces to Rye Lane

From Plot to Potion - tours and workshops at a medicinal garden in Maida Vale, north west London

Play with Succulents – be inspired by these easy container plants at North One Garden Centre, London N1

Go Wild at Carnegie Library – family day in Lambeth, SE24

Plants Party in the Park – a celebration of plants in Victoria Park, Bath. Specialist nurseries, kids’ planting workshops, seed swaps, live music, free garden design advice, food, ice cream and gin

Get Growing Garden Trail: Woodcroft Community Orchard – learn about the new orchard, St Anne’s, Bristol

A Real Surprise: visit a tiny, restful garden packed with space-saving ideas in Clapton, East London

Get Growing Garden Trail at St George Park Community Garden, St George, Bristol

Embassy Gardens Open Day – open day at the Embassy Gardens, next to the new US embassy and at the heart of the new linear park, a green ribbon that will connect Vauxhall town centre with Battersea Power Station

Haven – enter a 3m x 3m scented tent in Crystal Palace Food Market. Peer through a lens at tiny mosses and take part in mini meditations and yoga

To read the article please go to http://www.theresident.co.uk/london-culture-events/things-to-do-london/chelsea-fringe-garden-festival/

Please click here to hear it: http://www.thebrecklandview.com/2014/05/25/audio-art-gardens-and-words/

See the video on: http://www.londonlive.co.uk/news/chelsea-fringe-and-housing-cunning-plan#play

Poppies are a feature of the Chelsea Fringe this year. We meet the owners of the Walled Nursery in Kent are working with local primary schools to commemorate World War I – they tell us more.

The Walled Nursery is run by husband and wife team, Monty and Emma Davies, and sits in the grounds of Tongswood Estate in Hawkhurst, Kent. It lost fourteen of its workers during the First World War.

‘We wanted to do something in the walled garden that would be a memorial to the men who died and that involved children from our local school,’ explains Emma. ‘We chatted to the headmaster at our children’s primary school and came up with the idea of a poppy wreath – we would provide wooden poppies, one for each year group of the 14 primary schools in the High Weald, and the schools would run competitions and then select the best design.  The seven poppies will then be made into a wreath to represent that school.’

The Walled Nursery will be awash with poppies, real and fabricated, during the Chelsea Fringe. There’s already a poppy wreath sculpture there that’s part of a 2012 installation by Cornish artist Vivian Pedley who had been inspired by the sandstone memorial in the estate grounds.  The children’s wreaths will be surrounded by plantings of hundreds of scarlet field poppies which have been sown, ready for 17 May, and there’ll be poppy seed cakes and snacks for sale.  A percentage of all plant and refreshment sales made during the Chelsea Fringe will go to Gardening Leave, the charity that uses the very special nature of walled gardens to provide gardening therapy for troubled veterans of war.

Find out more about Walled Therapy.

The roof topvegplot is a retreat from the city as well as a productive potager.

High among the chimneypots of Fitzrovia is Wendy Shillam’s vegetable plot, which she’s opening for Chelsea Fringe. We climbed her stairs to find out more

What has rooftop gardening taught you?
There is always more to learn, but now I reckon I can tell you a lot more about urban veg growing than many of the books. For example, only this year I’ve discovered the magical combination of pansies and lettuces. The deep, velvet colour of the purple pansies looks amazing against the spring-fresh lettuces. Like every good combination there’s a practical advantage. I’ve discovered that pansies keep the slugs from eating the greens. Pansy flowers are good to eat in salads. And the slugs obviously agree.

Are there any drawbacks to gardening where you do?
I live right in the heart of central London, surrounded by air conditioning extracts and ventilation systems. There is so much pollution here from traffic, we have to dust every day. Leave a white shelf for half an hour and it will get grimy. That dust is mainly caused by particulate matter from diesel engine exhausts. I’m surrounded by supermarkets selling produce from Chile, Morocco and South Africa. If I want to buy local it is very difficult.

And how about the advantages?
My flat roof is one of thousands around here. If a few more people did as I do, then we could really cut down on the food miles that cast unnecessary CO² into the atmosphere. If people stopped air conditioning their offices, and planted something – anything – on the roof, we could make a fundamental difference to what is termed the urban heat-island effect. That is the overheating that comes from too much energy use and too much concrete. My records show that temperatures up here are about 5° warmer than those in the greenbelt, just a few miles away.

When the rain falls on my roof, the flow of water is interrupted by the plants, which absorb it to make our food. When the sun shines the temperature is moderated by plants that absorb light energy and carbon dioxide and pump out oxygen. My rooftopvegplot is not just a micro-farm producing delicious food for our table, it is a wonderful moderator of climate and pollution that, if replicated across London, could radically improve the city’s environment. And when I need fresh veg I have no need to get into a car and steam off to a supermarket. I can just saunter up to the roof to pick my own.

Why did you join Chelsea Fringe?
I can’t change the world, but I can show how small personal actions, replicated hundreds of times, by hundreds of different people, could make a massive difference.  That’s why I’m opening the garden for the Chelsea Fringe this year.

Rooftopvegplot is open on 5, 6 and 7 June from 1pm to 6pm. Wendy Shillam writes a blog about her garden at rooftopvegplot.com

Read the full article here: http://www.doddingtonplacegardens.co.uk/myblog/chelsea-fringe-2014/

The grounds of Clapton Park Estate are like no others. Organiser John Little tells us more.

How did your connection with the Clapton Park Estate come about?
My firm, The Grass Roof Company, tendered for the grounds-maintenance contract in 2002, and the residents liked our plans for wild flowers and food growing, as well as adapting the maintenance work to fit with their own comments and ideas. Clapton Park Estate is unusual in that it’s been run by its tenants since 1994, which means they can choose their own contractors – even small contractors, who wouldn’t usually get the chance to work on public spaces like these.

What has the experience been like since then?
It’s been a privilege to look after the green space on Clapton Park, and over the years we’ve built up a wonderful relationship with the residents, who are involved in virtually all the new community gardens and public-food planting. Grounds maintenance has always been the Cinderella of horticulture, so this has been a great opportunity to respond to local people and tweak the techniques to improve biodiversity, reduce herbicide use by using wild flowers and to look for new food-growing space for residents.

How have the grounds developed over time?
We all wanted people to notice and use the green space. At first native trees and shrubs were a default for any new planting, but for the last five years we have only used fruit trees and bushes, as well as planting many herb beds for everyone to use. We now have over 200 fruit trees and bushes around the estate, with over 40 growing plots for residents. Good for wildlife, good for residents, and an ongoing public food-source!

What will visitors be able to see?
We’ll have lots of fun stuff for the kids, free packs of the flower seed we use along our famous railings, and amazing food stalls in Gilpin Square, plus free drinks, snacks and music. Come and see us: you won’t see a council estate like it anywhere else!

Open on 7 June from 11am to 7pm, with guided tours of the estate at 12noon and 4pm

It’s the final weekend of the Chelsea Fringe, the alternative gardening festival. It has featured around 250 projects in London, Brighton, Bristol, Vienna, Ljubljana, Turin, Kent, Norwich and online and has been a huge success so far.

Now’s your chance to catch the final events. Some have been running for the entire festival (see the panels to the right and the events in chronological order below). Some are one-off happenings, listed below. Many are free, so do pop along and help the Chelsea Fringe go out with a bang.

Fri 6 June

Rooftop Veg Plot: Growing Container Veg Beautifully - visit Wendy Shillam’s rooftop in central London and learn how to grow veg in a small space

Sat 7 June

Pocket Places Peckham Spaces - a one-day event to highlight the work of Pocket Places, which aims to bring community spaces to Rye Lane

From Plot to Potion - tours and workshops at a medicinal garden in Maida Vale, north west London

Play with Succulents - be inspired by these easy container plants at North One Garden Centre, London N1

Go Wild at Carnegie Library - family day in Lambeth, SE24

Plants Party in the Park - a celebration of plants in Victoria Park, Bath. Specialist nurseries, kids’ planting workshops, seed swaps, live music, free garden design advice, food, ice cream and gin

A Real Surprise: visit a tiny, restful garden packed with space-saving ideas in Clapton, East London

Embassy Gardens Open Day - open day at the Embassy Gardens, next to the new US embassy and at the heart of the new linear park, a green ribbon that will connect Vauxhall town centre with Battersea Power Station

Haven - enter a 3m x 3m scented tent in Crystal Palace Food Market. Peer through a lens at tiny mosses and take part in mini meditations and yoga

Never Mind the Bollards - The Edible Bus Stop native edibles & wild flowers community garden – the opening of the West Norwood ‘Hoopla’ garden – join Blue Peter gardener Chris Collins for a planting day. London SE27

Grow Brixton Pop up in a Car Park! - free pop-up event to find out more about Grow:Brixton – music, film screening and local beer

Get Growing Garden Trail - community gardens and veg plots all over Bristol open their gates to the public

Sun 8 June

Horniman Garden Festival - music, acrobatics, cocktails, garden tours, the Pothole Gardener and more at the Horniman Museum, SE23

The Piazza Garden - for one day only, help turn Wimbledon Piazza into a garden

Pop Up Bee Garden - poetry, prose and fascinating facts about bees and other pollinators at Biddenden Vineyards, Kent

Embassy Gardens Open Day - open day at the Embassy Gardens, next to the new US embassy and at the heart of the new linear park, a green ribbon that will connect Vauxhall town centre with Battersea Power Station

Lost Gardens of the Strand Walk - explore the gardens that would have bloomed along the Strand in years gone by. Hosted by ‘Old Map Man’, Ken Titmuss, and poet Sarah Salway

Get Growing Garden Trail - community gardens and veg plots all over Bristol open their gates to the public

The roof topvegplot is a retreat from the city as well as a productive potager.

High among the chimneypots of Fitzrovia is Wendy Shillam’s vegetable plot, which she’s opening for Chelsea Fringe. We climbed her stairs to find out more

What has rooftop gardening taught you?
There is always more to learn, but now I reckon I can tell you a lot more about urban veg growing than many of the books. For example, only this year I’ve discovered the magical combination of pansies and lettuces. The deep, velvet colour of the purple pansies looks amazing against the spring-fresh lettuces. Like every good combination there’s a practical advantage. I’ve discovered that pansies keep the slugs from eating the greens. Pansy flowers are good to eat in salads. And the slugs obviously agree.

Are there any drawbacks to gardening where you do?
I live right in the heart of central London, surrounded by air conditioning extracts and ventilation systems. There is so much pollution here from traffic, we have to dust every day. Leave a white shelf for half an hour and it will get grimy. That dust is mainly caused by particulate matter from diesel engine exhausts. I’m surrounded by supermarkets selling produce from Chile, Morocco and South Africa. If I want to buy local it is very difficult.

And how about the advantages?
My flat roof is one of thousands around here. If a few more people did as I do, then we could really cut down on the food miles that cast unnecessary CO² into the atmosphere. If people stopped air conditioning their offices, and planted something – anything – on the roof, we could make a fundamental difference to what is termed the urban heat-island effect. That is the overheating that comes from too much energy use and too much concrete. My records show that temperatures up here are about 5° warmer than those in the greenbelt, just a few miles away.

When the rain falls on my roof, the flow of water is interrupted by the plants, which absorb it to make our food. When the sun shines the temperature is moderated by plants that absorb light energy and carbon dioxide and pump out oxygen. My rooftopvegplot is not just a micro-farm producing delicious food for our table, it is a wonderful moderator of climate and pollution that, if replicated across London, could radically improve the city’s environment. And when I need fresh veg I have no need to get into a car and steam off to a supermarket. I can just saunter up to the roof to pick my own.

Why did you join Chelsea Fringe?
I can’t change the world, but I can show how small personal actions, replicated hundreds of times, by hundreds of different people, could make a massive difference.  That’s why I’m opening the garden for the Chelsea Fringe this year.

Rooftopvegplot is open on 5, 6 and 7 June from 1pm to 6pm. Wendy Shillam writes a blog about her garden at rooftopvegplot.com

The Chelsea Fringe is now over for 2014. The alternative gardening festival has been a resounding success – the sun (mostly) shone on around 250 unique events in four countries. The Fringe is run by hardworking volunteers – many thanks to everyone involved.

The Chelsea Fringe 2015 will take place from 16 May to 7 June. If you’d like to put on a project, become a volunteer or sponsor the Fringe, please get in touch at info@chelseafringe.com.

Or why not become a Friend of the Fringe? You’ll enjoy advance information on events, insider trails and more – plus the satisfaction of supporting a grass-roots festival that’s bringing plants and gardening to unexpected corners of towns and cities around the globe.