Over the coming weeks I'll be showing and and writing about some of the exciting basketry you can make from and for your garden - however small a plot you might have.
Don't worry if you don't have a garden of your own. For many years I didn't either. I lived in a tiny, fouth floor flat in central London without even so much as a balcony, but that didn't stop me foraging for materials in the urban hedgerow (see my other blog urban-hedgerow-basketry.blogspot.com), begging materials from friends' and neighbours' gardens and allotments or growing basketry plants in pots on my window sills.
Now I've got a small garden of my own in sunny Catford in south-east London and I've packed it with grow-your-own basketry materials that I can harvest at different times of year. There's barely a week goes by that I can't step outside and find something to keep my itchy basketmaking fingers busy. Pruning, trimming and tidying the garden becomes a joy not a chore as I think of all I can make from what others might see as green waste.
Here's a taster of some of the basketry I've made from and for my garden or for green-fingered friends over the years. Why not take a look at 'Practical Basketry Techniques' when it comes out for step-by-step instructions on how to make similar projects. It's creative, cheap and fun. Do keep me posted on what you've grown or made, I'd love to hear about you and your basketry garden.
A suspended willow ball makes a decorative feature in a seaside garden in Brighton. It serves a practical purpose too. Friends Mark and Anna are keen bird-watchers and they've noticed how small birds take food from bird-feeders into the ball to enjoy a leisurely snack safe from predators.
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