The Three Things Necessary

“To the Establishment of a proper and pretty Garden, three things are wanted, that is: Ability, Will and Science. The Ability: that is, whoever wants to build a Garden, should have enough Fortune and Wealth to cultivate and decorate and maintain it without his own Detriment. Will: that he should have a liking for it, should not get bored of it, should be prompt and ready in all time to all kind of its Cultivation; because if he acts reluctantly and compelled, his Garden will be soon occupied by Dan Desert, Nat Nettle, Ben Bur and Will Weed. The Science is necessary so that the Gardener and his Administrator would know what at which time must be done in the Garden. Because the Intelligence and Science is just as important to the arrangement of a garden as to the remey of the Human Body, as it is clearly proven by Xenophon, saying that the Master, the Gardener and the Physician have one and the same office: to complete everything in due time…”
(János Lippay: Posoni kert (A Garden in Pozsony/Bratislava), 1664-67)

The Ability will not be wanting, it seems, as we have submitted a successful application to the local government so that we could contribute with our little work to their efforts of caring the green spaces of the district. (I will soon write in detail about the application we have won.) We also have as much Science as required to this Work, and where it is wanting, we will make it up from the on- and offline literature; what is more, we are not ashamed to ask for advice either. Our weak point is the Will, that is, a more even distribution of the works, because we are still very few, and the most difficult task is to meet the requirement of completing everything in due time besides our own jobs. We do need interested and collaborative companions.

To everyone

many thanks for the enthusiastic applications by letter and word after the last gardening post. I promise that next time we are going to work I will signal it in advance both here and on Facebook, for this is the original purpose of the whole project, the blog and the garden development: to bring together interested people, and to create opportunity to take part in something good.
There were also volunteers for the setting in order of the Jewish cemetery in Csömör, I also would like to say thanks for it.
Soon about further plans!

Who remembers it?

I became interested in the tin car business just fifteen to twenty years after this photo was taken, and those of our generation were not like these but rather Moskvich-like, which has apparently a whole fan base and even a serious “fan page”. Where we lived, there was also a traffic park, in the first time with functioning little traffic lights, later only with traffic signs, and now perhaps even they are not there any more.

But these photos were taken here, in Angyalföld, does anybody recognize the place?

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The Jewish cemetery in Csömör set in order by civilians: would you help?

Next Sunday, that is on 17 June, volunteers will set in order the weed-grown Jewish cemetery in Csömör, which has been closed for decades. The maintenance of the cemetery is the task of the local government, who have been mowing twice a year, and who will now contribute with extraordinary waste delivery and by providing building materials to the new fence. The volunteers coming from Budapest and the local residents welcome any enthusiastic helpers to the few hours long work. It is practical to come in leisure suit; they can give tools and gloves to all. For more details check the site Csömör News!

The site of the Civil Association of Csömör already published some reviews commemorating the destroyed local Jewish community, here and here.

children’s graves in the cemetery of Csömör

Early summer works in Máglya Lane and Tahi Street

Last Sunday, the third of June we worked a good deal again. Szilvi willingly offered to come to help if we also do a little order in the neglected front-yard of their staircase. Around mid-morning Gábor also recovered after the long Saturday night work, and the work we realized in three was already pretty impressive.
The houses in Tahi street are characterized by the front-yards which are getting more and more beautiful at a fast pace – a post with many photos on this is in preparation –, but just this house shows a very mixed image. There is a winter-killed hedgerow, spindled bushes, planted-out and dried-up and later for some reason amputated Christmas tree, but there is also an amazing cypress, many old rose bushes and all sorts of other wildly rampant plants. And of course, in most places the heaps of butts thrown out of the windows. Let us see the pictures.

The badly unstuck Christmas tree is a very sad sight, I have already taken a photo of it. It looked a bit like a tortured woodoo puppet. We have left it for now, it fell outside of our area of today.

Here there was a huge fig bush for decades (planted by the grandfather of one of the actual residents), until one of the neighbors suddenly and unexpectedly cut it out without an explanation. A lot of young shoots grow on its place. I will take one or two to Máglya Lane.


Next to the fig, the soil is densely covered by the sprawling lily of the valley.



I am still surprised to discover how much work can be given by a few square meters of green area. We have raked together several large sacks of garbage, we have cut back the overblown irises, took out the weeds, pruned here and there, but only very few now, past May. The former structure was gradually emerging, together with the about one meter long stone border built by someone for a couple of flower groups.


As we cut out the all-engulfing overgrown shrubs, bearbinds and and small wild nut sprouts, we found some striking plants. The hostae grew upon the sempervivia, a real odd couple. We have looked for a bit sunnier place for the latter.


Several people were interested in our work.
It was a real recreation that the passers-by did not say that we should leave it because it has no sense – as they usually say in Máglya Lane –, but that next time they would happily come to help. Cry over spilled milk, but Szilvi has made a label, counting for the next occasions:


Dear fellow residents!
Sunday morning, on 3 June we worked a bit in the fore-yard, we have raked it together, weeded out, made a bit of an order.
To make the garden really cared, further works are needed.
Not knowing the garden-caring traditions of the house, nevertheless we think it would be good to catch up with those who would willingly take part in them.
Please indicate if you have such intent.
We can do a lot for the garden also by caring about the upkeep of its tidiness.


I like it when people, even if they do not take a rake in their hands, stop by for some friendly words. It is interesting why the are more open in Tahi street, and much more unfriendly, even aggressive around Máglya Lane. It would be strange if the subtle difference in the size or quality of the flats, and the social gap arousing from it were the reason. I hope it is not so, but it is funny, anyway.
In Máglya Lane we were much more tired. There I took no photos, but we dragged the bags with the green waste on their places, we watered the place, dug a small catchment ditch for the hedgerow planted in the last year, we have fenced the more vulnerable little bushes with stakes (the pomegranate feels well!), and then we went, as István was already waiting us with fried catfish for the late afternoon lunch.

In the shadow of the big block

Near the historic center of Kassa/Košice, where at the beginning of the twentieth century still little houses, built along the street front, lined up in a village-like settlement structure, now we find prefabricated house blocks, built in the last third of the century and by now matured with suburban calmness. The narrow strip of garden runs here, just a few meters in width.

Click for larger map

As if a forest path started between the long house block built along Tatranská and Štítová streets and the garage row built on the top of the adjacent slope: everywhere flowers, shrubs, trees lean towards the grassy road. We do not know whether this beautiful little garden, found by chance, was created in a common effort, or it is planned and maintained by a few dedicated and competent locals, but the very cleverly chosen plants and plant associations suggest that it is the work of skilled hands. The hard-to-plant-on, shady and steep slope is decorated and fixed by ground covers, while on the flat parts there luxuriate the flowers of May. The uniqueness and variety of the garden shows that it is not maintained by municipal managers, but developed on the basis of much more personal plans.
It would be good to do something like this. This is what we try to do.

Our little performances

I like it when also other people show up who not only would like to do something, but also do something instead of the usual lipservice.

Kükü, for example, washed off the anti-Semitic abuses in Pozsonyi street! I confess that although I bike several times a week along this sand-and-gravel pyramid composition on a decorative brick frame placed on an amorphous gravel base when I come home to Angyalföld from Újlipótváros, but it never occurred to my mind that it could be the monument to whatever, and it has never tempted me to stop and look at it. If you had asked me, I think I would have guessed that it is some land survey object. Or perhaps a smart use of some construction residue? Anyway, next week I’ll take a closer look at it.

The photo was taken from the Fent és Lent (Top and Bottom) blog, where Kükü gives a detailed report on the documented action (in Hungarian).

Small place

apparently only very loosely connected to our central themes, but in fact, this video is a hit: how to conceive our very narrow limits as possibilities and inspiration to make the best out of a given situation. (Well, it is never a bad idea to have a large terrace and a pleasant climate at that.)

…
Man in love (with ermine) in the second half of the seventies… One could think the little flat was not narrow because he and Anna lived well, and in fact, they lived almost without bitterness, with great hopes; when the woman now thinks back at those times, she saw themselves there, at the turn of their thirties, they are strong, this calm, good feeling, they have plans, they work a lot, every day has its glow, many people go to them, no “cool” people, but real friends, almost every night came someone, half-strangers “jumped up”, and somehow everyone expected something from everyone else, that he or she would also do something good in the world, Anna cooked delicious dishes, young men and women were swaying in the summer night. They almost saw how their lives is taking off, and they were full of cheering.
The flat was thus a home, and the home was spacious – this is how we like to think. It is, however, useful, if we have a so-called panoramic window, if one wall is, so to say, of glass, and thus the box marked by the walls expands infinitely, pouring onto the sky, has no end, and he who is sitting inside is the inhabitant of the cosmos; in the flat, the crescent of the moon and the non-packed pile of books are thus equal partners. “I think whoever came to us could feel this unexpected breath, this chance.”
(Péter Esterházy: Hrabal’s book)

A hen delegation in arrival

at the seat in Lőportár utca of the Motor Transport Company of the Hungarian Railways (MÁVAUT) in the 30s. In the background, a N-2 Mávag Mercedes autobus.

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Margit street nine seems not to open for a while

It looks like the opening of the market and community open space is lingering. I have just received the following letter:

Dear Present and Future Friends Who Wish To Sell, Feature And Buy!

Unfortunately, due to all sorts of technical, bureaucratic and other reasons we cannot open the gates of our Market At Margit Street Nine on this weekend… As soon as things are settled and it will be clear when we can open, when we can have the market and the Opening Ceremony, WE WILL IMMEDIATELY GIVE NEWS!

Until then, we ask you to preserve your patience, interest and enthusiasm! Thanking you and hoping your understanding,

Szakál Andi and the Market Stuff