A Beckenham man who planted a community garden only to see it destroyed by vandals has vowed to continue working on it after an outpouring of support from the local community.
Kiran Vaidya, 37, decided to create a Guerrilla Garden – a spot of unloved public land which has been transformed into a garden – by the entrance to Waitrose following the success of his first Guerrilla Garden which is located on The Avenue.
Kiran, a Beckenham resident of 15 years, told News in Beckenham: “I pass by Waitrose almost every day and thought it would look nice if it was full of plants and colour. I decided to create these two gardens not only to add colour to the neighbourhood but also, and more importantly, to help the bees and other pollinators.”
Unfortunately, the plants at Waitrose have since been vandalised on various occasions. Kiran was considering giving up on the site entirely as a result but after receiving an amazingly positive response online from other locals he decided to keep going with it.
Kiran added: “I had a really amazing response from everyone after I created the first Guerrilla garden, and after a short while I had inquiries to see if I could come and do something similar for local residents in their own back gardens and transform an unloved patch into something beautiful. After a few months, solely through word of mouth and recommendations, I had enough clients to turn it into an actual business.”