Hello from London, UK 🇬🇧

Hello lovely people,
Discovered by chance permies site yesterday, registered today and stopping by to say Hi
My name is Denka (SWF/54). I live in London,  UK.
From what I  read so far it seems this is a great place to learn a lot, connect with like-minded people and hopefully make new friends. I am living in the city at the moment but yearning for a different lifestyle: close to nature and self-sufficiency.
I can hear the call of the wild.

Take care and keep safe.

Welcome!  

Kew Gardens is a great place to go and start learning. I haven’t been there for a bit over 20 years now, but I doubt if it has abandoned its growing practices. They use to have all sorts of growing demonstrations, such as container gardening, trellises, glass houses, companion planting, etc. When I lived near London I use to go to Kew Gardens frequently. I had many lovely conversations with a number of the keepers and learned a lot. Also bought some nifty seeds there.

Glad to have you join our group here. Feel free to ask and discuss permaculture-ish stuff.

Hello  Su Ba,

Thank you for your message.

Kew Gardens is still a wonderful place to visit and wonder around.  One feels the peace and beauty for sure, an absolute contrast to central London. Reading your message I guess you have probably left UK some time ago.

I have been reading quite  a bit here on this site about things that are of interest to me. However, I get the notion that the more I read the more I understand how little I know.  
Long learning curve ahead of me...

Take care.
D.

Hi Denka! Welcome to Permies!
If you don't have land to grow plants, depending where in London you are, you may have allotments (areas of land owned by the council and divided up for food-growing gardens) nearby and be able to rent one for a low cost and start gardening. Sometimes there's a waiting list. When I lived in London I had a wonderful allotment a short walk from our apartment. Some have very strict rules, others are relaxed. This was a relaxed one and a lovely friendly place! I was so sad to leave it behind when I moved away.

Hello Jane,

Thank you for your message and friendly advice 😊.  I appreciate it.  I had a couple of colleagues who were able to get allotments through the local council and both found gardening to be enjoyable and rewarding experience. I'm in West London and from what I hear once one is on the waiting list could take a few years before actually obtaining a plot. With the pandemic in toe I am noticing more and more people moving to the country side looking for space and nature. I'm trying to get on that train too, so to speak.  
Are you still in UK or exploring pastures new abroad?
Have a nice day.

Hello Denka and welcome! We moved from the West Midlands to Skye about 14 years ago and have not looked back, so it is possible to move from an urban area and make it work. There is much permaculture possible in urban areas too and we have a forum just for that here. I've found lots of advice on decision making on Permies, but feel free to ask a new question too, the main rule is be nice.

Hi Denka - welcome to Permies. I signed up for an allotment when I lived in the UK. The predicted waiting list was four years but one came up much sooner. With people leaving the cities for the country, the lists might move quicker. Anyhow, worth putting your name down anyway.

Hello Nancy,
Thanks for your message and link provided.  Lots of interesting stuff there ... and of course being nice is a given  
Wishing you a lovely day.  

Hi Edward,
You are probably right that with so many people moving away from the city waiting time might be shorter.  
If don't mind me asking where did you relocate to?
Take care

Denka Kirova wrote:
I have been reading quite  a bit here on this site about things that are of interest to me. However, I get the notion that the more I read the more I understand how little I know.  
Long learning curve ahead of me...

Welcome to permies!

You have found a few rabbit holes? One fun thing to do is check the similar threads listed at the bottom of a topic.

There is so much information hosted on these forums it's quite mind boggling. Being a Gardener here, like me, means sorting through a lot of it and trying to make it easier to find what you're looking for. Kind of like a librarian.

Anyway if you have any particular topics of interest and are having trouble finding information don't hesitate to ask! We'll try to point you in the right direction.

Thank you L. Johnson. Helpful suggestion to look under the topic for similar ones. I'm still trying to find my way around.
It is a huge library as you put it
Happy gardening...

Welcome!

I spent a year living in London and found plenty of very knowledgeable, enthusiastic and helpful permies there. Cecil Sharp House near Camden has an annual Permaculture Day which is a good place to start, as would be the London Permaculture Network. There are also lots of fascinating, smaller-scale projects littered around the city. I did a few days volunteering with a Permablitz crew: we would turn up, en masse, and work on a garden or community site together (with optional cake and sometimes beer).

I can only really speak for the north of the city but Walthamstow Wetlands and Hackney Marshes are beautiful, wild spots that are easily accessible from the city. There is also excellent cycling to them up the river Lea. There are some good hedgewitchery and foraging projects going on nearby too. A little further afield and you have Epping Forest.

Once more, welcome to the forum and I look forward to seeing what you post.

Denka, I'm actually Australian, but still in the UK.  My London days were back in the 90s when I first moved to the UK. Now I live with my husband in a small house with a tiny garden on the outskirts of a town.  He didn't have a clue when he bought the place, so it's west facing with a north facing garden! I've been able to establish a food hedge, but it's not as good as it good be. Unfortunately my husband inherited bare earth gardening ideas from his mother so keeps weeding out any understory plants I put in! His mother was so proud of her garden - all annuals carefully spaced in rows with bare earth in between, ripped out every autumn and replanted with newly purchased plants in spring, with all the fertility bought in via bags of compost from the garden centre.
I tried the allotments here, but they were very strict about keeping things annuals only, no fruits trees or shrubs allowed, the soil is solid clay, it's windswept and bleak, plus the council keep threatening to take it back and sell it to property developers! So I gave that up after one season.
I am also in the process of purchasing an old village house in Bulgaria on 2 decares. We've visited Bulgaria numerous times and talked about moving, but Brexit is an unwanted complication impacting both getting a visa and our finances. Also, though my husband might talk about emigrating, I doubt he ever will. In the meantime, I will visit the village house a couple of times a year to keep the roof intact and plant trees there, and it is my retirement/ widowhood/ mad old Englishwoman project!

Hi Luke,

Thank you for the interesting and informative message.  I appreciate it.
Prior to the pandemic I attended a Permaculture Day (Cecile Sharp house). They had an interesting programme and I remember it was very well attended event.  
Not sure though if it still runs.
I have not been to the other places/projects you mentioned in your message. Will check them out.
Hope all is well at your end.
Take care

Hello Jane,
What a lovely message and a story you shared with me.  Thank you 😊
There is a good energy about you.
Regarding your Bulgarian project  ... please send me a PM here on the site as I might be able to share useful info about it.
Looking forward to chatting further with you.  
Have a nice evening.