The Urban Orchard

Back in Shakespeare’s day much of the South Bank was covered by gardens and orchards. This month, Bankside will once more acquire an orchard – with a community garden in Union Street as part of the London Architecture Festival.

On the weekend 3-4 July there will be a plant adoption programme run by the charmingly named Wayward Plant Registry, and workshops on biodiversity and growing your own food.

Get up early on 4 July and you can take a guided walk to see Southwark’s bird life (it’s free, but you need to use the website to book your place). Other events that weekend include cooking workshops in Borough Market amd guerilla gardening projects. There are also modernist nest-boxes for birds on display – quite different from the usual twee log-with-a-hole or garden-cottage style nest boxes.

I’ve always been fascinated by wildlife in the city – I still remember the fox who sat in the middle of Gray’s Inn Road one winter night and stared at me as if I were the interloper there – and this looks like another intriguing project bringing together city people and natural life.

Once it’s all over, the Urban Orchard will be broken up and redistributed – with plants going to a selection of community gardens around London.

When: 19 June to 4 July

Where: 100 Union Street, SE1[map] and other sites on the South Bank

Picture by Selma 90 on flickr