The Pothole Gardener project is all about creating unexpected moments of happiness. My little gardens are a respite from the greyness of London. People read all sorts of things into my gardens when they try and rationalise them - something I'm fascinated with, and I've made various films about that.
I don't generally garden on the road, only on the footpaths (I'm not completely mad) and apart from keeping safe, the only rule of pothole gardening is I don't ever use figures in my gardens. I use a lot of miniatures as part of the project, and as a big part of my work is inspiring peoples imaginations and I find leaving scenes helps provoke the audience.
The project all started as part of my Masters in Design at Central Saint Martins and my first book, The Little Book of Little Gardens, was published by Dokument Press late in 2012. I've had a lot written about my work and I've put together a little press page here.
People from all around the world have created pothole gardens, and I post them on the blog. I've now had so many submissions, I've started a dedicated page with some of my favourite submitted gardens.
You can find more of my work at www.stevewheen.com - I'm also the Master Distiller at The Distillery - www.thedistillery.tv where I produce social video content.
If you want to get in touch, drop me a mail: thepotholegardener@yahoo.com
I was recently commissioned to create a new little garden for confused.com. I was over the moon, albeit a little intimidated by the brief - to create a little pothole garden with a road running through it with a little street sign warning of the potholes in the road! This is by far my most ambitious garden yet.
On my recent outing with Stephanie, we created this little bundle of colour outside A and B Tyres, much to the amusement of the owner.
Yesterday I posted some snaps of my Wimbledon garden - as promised here is a short video that Tom and I put together featuring a squirrel and pigeon who were very interested in what we were doing!
Wimbledon kicks off tomorrow. Happy memories of queuing, eating strawberries and sipping champagne spring to mind. As a big Wimbledon fan myself (I spent a day in queue a few years back) I decided to create a wee garden to celebrate the start of this fantastic tournament.
A while back I experimented with my first "wall garden". Here's my second attempt (pictures just in, thanks to Stephanie Wolff). A colourful array of Pansies have brightened up this little hole which has made the perfect pot. I think it works really well with the graffiti on the wall.
Growing up in Australia, my childhood memories are chock full of adventures at the clothes line. On my recent outing with Stephanie Wolff, I created this little clothes line garden complete with pegs, clothes basket, a fork and a spade.
