The Pothole Gardener Creates Miniature Living Worlds in East London Potholes

<a href="http://thepotholegardener.com/">Steve Wheen</a> understands that nobody likes to pay a pile of taxes only to hit potholes on their way to work every day, so he started filling up the pesky cracks in East London with mini living worlds comprised of soil, plants, and adorable props. The <a href="http://inhabitat.com/guerrilla-gardening-mini-ecosystem-installations-on-the-streets-of-madrid-take-root/">guerrilla gardener</a> creates these mini (mostly domestic) scenes on quiet streets, dead end lanes, and foot paths, snaps photographs of his work, and then removes the props so that nobody gets a chair in their tire! When he's satisfied with his projects, he documents them over at <a href="http://thepotholegardener.com/">The Pothole Gardener</a>.

Steve Wheen fills potholes with plants, soil and mini props

The idea is to draw attention to East London's potholes

What started as an art project for University has turned into a continued labor of love

Wheen creates his mini worlds on quite streets, dead ends, and bike paths

He then photographs his work

He removes the props so that nobody gets a chair in their tire

And then goes home to blog about it

Wheen hopes that his little urban gardens will put a smile on passersby's faces

He certainly put one on ours!

The artist doesn't claim to be the first guerrilla gardener or even pothole gardening. The practice goes back about four years, Wheen says.