This is the garden at the end of my block. It is on the corner, in full sun most of the day and next to a big plane tree. It’s very dry and the soil is poor.

The house is rented and belongs to someone who lives round the corner. I asked if I could take it over because it was full of weeds that get chopped twice a year – and then empty til the weeds grow again.

I have planted it with a lot of leftovers and things that have seeded in my garden, including lots of wild flowers that I’d had in pots or from Patrick.

The first year it looked really fab. The salad burnet was awesome, there were sunflowers, 4 o’clock flowers that Maxine gave me and lots of tomatoes given to me by another lady down the road. They were lots of bees and butterflies and I think more worms too.

Lots of people – even random strangers – said how much they liked it. It was really fun to do because:

• It was always going to be better than it was
• It was just an experiment
• There was no pressure to make it fit together/ be a coherent “statement” garden, it was just a jumble
• It’s not the kind of space I’ve ever gardened before

This year, it feels like it should be better than last year – and I think already it will be.