Guerilla Gardening For Free

I type this blog post with earth under my fingernails and muddy patches on the knees of my jeans.  Yes, you've guessed it, I've been gardening!  Non-gardeners, don't groan and role your eyes in despair, this blog post is actually about random acts of kindness, so read on!

As regular readers will know, in my new thrifty life I have set myself the challenge of maintaining and improving my garden using as little cash as possible, and for zero spondoolucks whenever I can.  So far I have been propagating seeds and rescuing plants from skips! But this latest garden adventure really takes the biscuit.

Before; Weedy Mess!

You see, beside my house there is a little thin strip of land which is always covered in weeds and litter.  It is no bigger than 5 metres by 1 metre, but it is in a sunny position and has potential to be so much more than the current weedy eyesore that it is.

I decided to pick up the litter (baby's nappies and all!) and clear off the weeds from this patch of ground.  The weeds were mainly Ivy, so there wasn't even any bee or butterfly fodder.  My intention was to plant up some lupins that I had grown from seed (I had collected them at the end of last summer from my own lupin plant, pretty good huh). I knew the lupins alone weren't going to be enough to fill the whole area, but I thought it was as well to make a start and then over time, I could gradually fill the space with more and more nectar producing plants.

Anyway, as I was working away, a man walked past and said "hello" and I said "hi there" back with my best neighbourly smile.  The man kept on walking for a step or two and then changed his mind and turned back around.   He said to me, "would you like some plants?"  I thought I heard what he said, but I was a bit taken aback; was that an offer of free plants from a person I had never even seen before?  You know what? It was just that!!!

The next morning, I found myself, dividing up and picking out some plants from a neighbour's garden a few streets away (along with my sister KitKat, just in case it was some elaborate honey trap, plant style, plan! It so wasn't by the way, I met his partner 'Jim'). I got some crocosmia, geraniums, pretty pink frondy things and two different types of grasses!  All for a bottle of wine to say 'thank you!'

Gardening Complete; now they just need to grow!

How kind is that?  I took away a boxful, with more than enough plants to create my own little nature reserve from the scrub land plot.  I tell you, it made my day; my week even.  Who would think that a stranger would be so kind? I just hope my neighbour takes as much pleasure from seeing the plants grow up as I will.

I think that has to be the best random act of kindness I have ever experienced.  What about you?  What's the best thing a stranger has ever done for you?