Gainsborough school, Hackney, and Buckland Brewer school, Devon are some of the latest schools to take deliveries of PlantLocks for their school bikeparking.  And ‘Ecoteachers of the Year’ from Summerhill & Cardinal Newman schools in Brighton & Hove’s Young Environmentalist of the Year Awards were presented with PlantLocks by Oliver Heath (interior designer & TV presenter).   

In a world where domestic and civic design all too often delivers little more than idle affectation, the Front Yard Company’s PlantLock is a joy.  

A mind-bogglingly undercomplicated invention, it simultaneously safeguards your bike, provides greenery and unclutters the house. Moreover, it encourages the use of that great British waste of space known as the front garden.  

If embraced by urban planners, as it must surely be, the double whammy of parking and perking-up the locale can only encourage more people to ditch the infernal combustion engine. 

Security, biodiversity, community and total-feng-shui rolled into one – who knew boron steel could be so brilliant?  

Bugger bringing the Olympics to Britain. £3 billion would buy enough pre-seeded PlantLocks for 50 million bikes. Now that would be a properly meaningful contribution to the health of the nation. 

International design collections must already be making space among the Eames and the Ives. The rest of us just need to move the wheelie bins. 

Oh, those Front Yard people can help there too…

 ”A fantastic, innovative product sure to put a smile on the face of cyclists and gardeners alike. Ideal for London pavements and gardens.” by Erin Gill. The conclusion of a good review of PlantLock in London Cyclist, magazine of the London Cycling Campaign.

‘Low maintenance, drought-tolerant’ 

‘Rainfall-only planting’

‘Varied planting’

‘For biodiversity’ 

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‘Low maintenance, drought-tolerant’  

For all year planting, we use Hebes, a delicate-looking but robust shrub with a dwarf habit. These are in leaf all year round, flowering at different times. Hebe pinguifolia ‘Pagei’, Hebe ‘Pascal’ with reddish leaves in winter, & Hebe ‘Carl Teschner’ with more sprawling growth. 

Until established, all plants need watering during dry spells. 

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‘Varied planting’ 

For varied planting, that requires occasional care through the year, PlantLocks have been planted with things as varied as strawberries, flowering crab apple trees, lavender, & herbs.

Autumn is the time for planting bulbs such as crocus, grape hyacinth, & snowdrops, to  come through in the early new year. 

Spring & summer months can be any variety of annual flowers & perennials, & kitchen herbs such as thyme, marjoram, & tarragon.  

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‘Rainfall-only planting’ (requiring the lowest levels of attention) 

Sedums are hardy evergreen plants, with succulent, water-storing leaves. Often used for green roofs, sedums prefer poor, free draining soil. Plants are available as small seedling plugs or grown seedling mats. The following varieties are some that are suitable for PlantLock & the UK climate.

Sedum acre, album, album ‘Athoum’ & ‘coral carpet’, spurium ‘tricolour’, ‘fuldaglut’, & ‘green mantle’, sarmentosum, sexangulare, and ewersii.These varieties are often available as a ‘greenroof sedum mix’ (Blackdown Horticultural, 01460 234582).

A mix of compost, sharp sand and crushed aggregate or gravel will drain well. ‘Extensive growing substrate’ is a formulated growing medium supplied in quantity (Shire Minerals, 01924 258509).

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‘For biodiversity’ 

Nearly all plants in flower will provide nectar for insects. But to really encourage and enjoy seeing butterflies, hoverflies, and bees, native flowers gives a food source and habitat uncommon in urban areas. A wildflower mix of seeds such as birds foot trefoil, fox and cubs, yellow horned poppy, small scabios, greater knapweed, & cornflowers. (Emorsgate Seeds, 01553 829028)

Plants such as these may need watering through dry spells, and as annuals will die back in autumn.

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Until established, all plants need watering during dry spells.

Brill, the coffee, cake & record shop on Exmouth Market, has PlantLock for its cycling customers.  

Here’s an unusual bike on a PlantLock in Hackney, East London.