For the first time since the creation of the Balham in Bloom competition in June
2020, Beautify Balham hosted a half-day festival featuring remarkable participants:
The Thoughtful Fruiter, Friends of Wandsworth Common, Climate Action Group,
Sprout Up and Jefferson’s Ice-Cream, to name a few. The event was a hive of
activities for all ages and the salsa dancing performed by the talented ‘SASalsa‘
group, and the accomplished musicians of the band ‘Swing Driven Thing‘, made
the whole event truly spectacular.
At 2pm the prizes were distributed to the brilliant winners and runners up for the
Balham in Bloom competition. The categories were:
- Best residential front garden
- Best residential communal garden
- Best window box / hanging basket / terrace
- Best business frontage
We had some fantastic entries, and our three judges applauded their efforts to green
up Balham.
The Balham in Bloom Festival seeks to highlight the urgent need to green gardens in
our city at a time when urban heat is on the increase and paved gardens exacerbate
run off and flooding. Just adding a few pots on paved areas will help to mitigate
these issues and also add to the dire need for more biodiversity in our streets.
There are plenty of incredibly useful websites and books to help find easy and cheap was to green your garden. Please see a collection of resources below – (so many inspirational stories and tips to make Balham and London greener!):
Websites:
- https://www.kew.org/read-and-watch/how-to-make-your-garden-more-biodiverse
- https://www.rhs.org.uk/science/conservation-biodiversity/wildlife/encourage-wildlife-to-your-garden
- https://ngs.org.uk/how-to-increase-biodiversity-in-your-garden/
- https://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/how-to-rewild/rewilding-advice/12-steps-to-rewilding
- https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/may/12/more-birds-and-bees-please-12-easy-expert-ways-to-rewild-your-garden
- https://nationalparkcity.london/
Books:
We would also like to take the opportunity to thank the local businesses who kindly
donated the prizes.
If you want to help Beautify Balham on one of our litter picks or other events, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at hello@beautifybalham.org.
