Urban physicians

I went to the Urban Physic Garden the other day. It's a follow up to last summer's Urban Orchard project at 100 Union Street, SE1. Using recyled wood, donated plants and other temporary structures, including the mossy cross below, a roving Rambulance Cafe, and all the plants grouped into medicinal wards to demonstrate which can be used to treat various ailments, it's more than just a whimisical play on the idea of a plant hospital. This corner of southeast London has a history of medicinal treatment and, of course, it's a bit of a hommage to the Chelsea Physic Garden, just a mile or so downriver. Of course, it's also a very nice spot to grab a bite to eat, and just sit for a moment amongst some unexpected greenery. If you're inclined, there's a load of fun events and talks going on  and you can read up on all the plant uses too.

I love the idea of a pop up garden, using temporary space and temporary growing techniques, especially in an area that has precious little green space. Congratulations to the talented Heather Ring and Co. for pulling it off a second year in a row, with tight funding. They have a great vision for city gardening - making use of unwanted space and finding homes for unwanted plants. I think it just might catch on, but visit before August 15, when it shuts up shop for this summer.

City fruit and veg

After a wander round Borough Market, I can highly recommend popping into the Union Street Urban Orchard which is empty of tourists and full of fruit trees, flowers and birds.

Borough Market is great for sampling food treats - cheeses, salamis, sauces and marvelling at beautiful, pile-em-high vegetable displays. But the price tags are exorbitant: can you imagine paying £2 for a single tomato? Well, I did, (surely the world's most expensive?) - my excuse is that I was seduced by childhood memories of Italian markets and misshapen ripe pommodori that tasted of sunshine. This one, sadly didn't live up to my expectations. But it did make me want to rush out and order my seeds for next year.

So it was good to see some real food growing in the Orchard, a temporary community garden nestling alongside some railway arches. The high walls make a perfect sheltered garden and it's a welcome pocket of greenery in a very built up area. In assorted containers - pallets, hessian sacks, stacks of truck tyres - there are peaches ripening, apples, a cider shed awaiting the harvest, courgettes flourishing and summer bright geraniums, and pansies recycled from the Pansy Project garden at Hampton Court.  It's a great use of an otherwise empty site, built as part of the London Festival of Architecture just for this summer. And after September, all the plants are going to be redistributed around community gardens and plots in the area, by the wonderfully named Wayward Plants project.