Inside Urban Green

Welcome to Inside Urban Green!

 Click. 

You have found the home of InsideUrbanGreen.org, successor to InsidePlantsLive.org and Greenscaper.net started in 2004. 

There is a wealth of information about the maintenance and growing of indoor plants (aka houseplants) in the archives of IPL.org. It is equivalent to what you would expect to find in a book on the subject. Moving forward, I will gradually transfer the most valuable information to this new blog.  

The use of modern, scientific methods of container plant maintenance will continue to be the main theme. However, the content is broadened to include personal, or family food production. This is often called “urban agriculture”. 

I believe the ultimate locovore grows at home, be it a rooftop, balcony or paved surface. You will find here that turned earth is not necessary. 

Read on and return. This blog now includes current information about vegetable growing as well as the maintenance of decorative foliage and flowering indoor plants (commonly referred to as “houseplants”).

The Center for Urban Greenscaping 

The center was recently founded to meet an unfilled need. There is no institution that I know of here in New York City teaching box, bed and bucket container gardening using modern methods of sub-irrigation and hydroculture. 

Both manual overhead watering and drip irrigation are less effective for watering plants growing in containers. When sub-irrigated planters are used properly, they produce healthier plants and more vegetables using less water and personal time. 

Box, bed and bucket planters are flexible and portable. If you rent, they move with you. If your community garden needs to relocate, rent a moving truck and away you go to the new location. 

This is a functional map of the Center for Urban Greenscaping. Primary objectives are green job creation and improving education about urban food production using modern sub-irrigation methods. 

Some Upcoming Green Events in Brooklyn 

Come and see a demonstration of how to make sub-irrigation (aka self-watering) planters from recycled 2 & 3 liter pop/soda bottles. There will also be a demonstration of box and bucket planters that save water while producing in the range of 50% more vegetables with no need for tilling the earth. Using these planters you can grow fresh vegetables anywhere there is enough sunlight on a balcony, rooftop, driveway or other paved surface.  

Thursday, April 30, 2009 - 5:30 p.m.- 8:00 p.m. ECO FEST - PS 102, 211 72nd Street, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, NY - Auditorium and Gym

Saturday, May 2, 2009 - 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Brooklyn Food Conference, John Jay High School, 237 7th Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY

Saturday, May 9, 2009 - 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. - Environmental Awareness Fair, New Utrecht Reformed Church, 1828 83^rd Street Brooklyn, NY More information (.doc)

Sunday, June 14, 2009 - Second Annual Greening the Ridge Festival, Veteran's Memorial Pier at 69th Street in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, NY 

Tomato Late Blight, Phythophora, Water Mold Anyone!

Photo and text - Missouri Botanical Garden 

A strain of the fungus, Phytophthora infestans, causes late blight in tomatoes. As the common name implies, Phytophthora is prevalent on tomato hosts in late summer, after the plants have bloomed. Late blight is more common in north central and northeastern states, but is observed in the Midwest when the humidity is high and temperatures are around 68 degrees F late in the growing season. Watch for the disease when cool, moist nights are followed by warm, humid days.

There are many reports of "late blight" or Phythophora hitting tomato plants in the northeast. Phythophora is a water mold that we occasionally dealt with back in my days in the interior plantscaping business. It was almost always associated with a watering problem, as in too much. If you're in the northeast you know what a wet and cloudy spring we have had. Phythophora is no surprise to me. 

Has anyone been hit with this problem? Please share your experience. 

Good EarthBox Progress Report

From her Flickr slideshow set

See an excellent series of photographs and read about the progress of Graciela's EarthBox (prior posts) garden here. Nice work! 

Source: EarthBox website

Bucolic Brooklyn: Rooftop Update

Photo by Bucolic Bushwick blog

Check out the lush vegetable plants in Bucolic Bushwick's rooftop garden. I look at a lot of vegetables growing in containers every day. I hardly ever see top watered plants in drain hole pots that look this healthy. 

Feeding water by capillary action in sub-irrigated (aka self-watering) planters makes a major difference. Forget about that drain hole stuff. It's simply an urban legend...urban mythology. No need to take anyone's word for it. You can easily prove it to yourself.  

Fresh Food in the City: The Bucket Brigade

Thanks to Green Roof Growers Heidi and Bruce, there is a new small space vegetable garden in an illogical location in Chicago. This sub-irrigated (aka self-watering) bucket garden is along the side of the Avalon Community Church. That is Rev. Paul Robeson Ford standing in the background. He and his congregation deserve much credit for their open mindedness to new ideas. Check out this slideshow. Perhaps we will see some photos later this summer of the tomatoes climbing the fence trellis to the right.

Sub-irrigated bucket gardens like this could be “greening” food deserts all over the United States, all over the world. All it will take is education of the type supplied by Heidi and Bruce. 

Back in the old days before pumps, we put out fires with buckets. That's where the term "bucket brigade" originated. Rather than all the nostalgia about dirt based Victory Gardens from WWII, we need to revive this memory of the past but in modern form. 

Sub-irrigated planters, or SIPs as many call them, represent a modern, 21st century “bucket brigade” method of growing food in the city. If the lack of fresh food is a "fire" in the city, this is one way to put it out. 

I can see on the web that modernity is slowly taking hold. It should have happened long ago if not for the rather retrogressive mindset of our horticultural institutions. They appear to be stuck in a drain hole. 

Through the power of individuals working together, we can overcome this. Institutions will follow “we the people”. Please join the parade. Blog, text, Twitter and talk about what you’re doing. We will all benefit. 

A note about utility bucket esthetics: The primary mission here is to grow fresh food in the city rather than to paint pretty pictures. The utilitarian look of these planters can easily be upgraded with some type of decorative facade. Bright color spray paint would do the job for kids gardens. My background includes both landscape architecture and interior plantscaping. The routine practices of both these professional disciplines would convert this garden to a pretty picture garden in short order. They do it every day. Think recycled lumber for starters. 

Sub-irrigation: Buckets are Big

Photo from Apartment Therapy - Chicago

It was good to see one of the bloggers at Apartment Therapy posting about her mom's sub-irrigated (aka self-watering) bucket planter. That's progress!  

There are some DIY details left out. If you want to fill them in, head on over to Green Roof Growers in Chicago. Heidi and Art are the mavens of SIP (Sub-irrigated Planter) buckets. Start here. You'll also find much more of value. Read about Bruce's tote-box planters and Russ's rooftop EarthBoxes. These folks are the real deal and are doing much good work. We need many more like them on the web. 

Via: Apartment Therapy - Chicago

The Armadillo Wears Pop Bottle Planters

I am not the inventor of the recycled pop bottle planters but am arguably the web's leading booster. Anyone who regularly follows this blog knows that I'm a big supporter of sub-irrigation (aka self-watering) and pop bottle planters (prior posts). Sub-irrigation has proven to be the best way to water plants in containers, be they box, bed, bucket or other type of water tight planters. 

I've called them the "rosetta stone" of sub-irrigation. Click on the photo and it will take you to my Flickr (Greenscaper) account. The set of instruction have been viewed over 12,000 times. It was gratifying to discover recently that a group of MIT students used planters like these to create a vertical garden on the side of a former FEMA trailer now named the Armadillo. 

The Armadillo was formerly a FEMA trailer used in New Orleans. MIT students converted it into a rolling community garden. Sub-irrigated (aka self-watering) recycled pop bottle planters line the side walls as you can see in the diagram above. This trailer was then offered in a competition won by the Side Street Projects in Pasadena, California. What a great idea.

EarthBox Tomatoes: Oh Susanna!

Photo with permission. Click to enlarge

Check out these tomatoes in Susanna's Earthbox. It's great that she uploaded photos to Flickr. 

This sub-irrigated (aka self-watering) planter could be anywhere in the country on a balcony, small patio, rooftop or any other paved surface with six or more hours of direct sun. No tilled earth necessary. 

EarthBox prior posts. 

An Interesting Way to Plant Tomato Seedlings

This is a cool idea from Boel Stoddard's Blog. The objective is to create a more sturdy root system. Roots will grow from the buried stem. Incidentally, she is also an enthusiastic EarthBox grower. Check out these magnificent strawberries along with other veggies. 

Fresh Tomatoes on Wheels

Photos from the blog The Fisher Farm

The Tomato Success Kit from Gardener's Supply is a sub-irrigated grow box very similar to the more well known EarthBox. This is a testimonial from the blog The Fisher Farm in New England. 

I just cannot believe how much these plants have grown in a month’s time.  As you can see, each branch is supporting the most impressive amount of tomatoes! 

Not everyone has a yard, time or physical ability to access a community garden. A sub-irrigated (aka self-watering) grow box on wheels similar to this one could be on every sun-filled balcony across America. You can even make your own. 

All it takes is education that is currently in short supply from our gardening institutions. Please tell your friends. 

Tomato Success Kit - prior posts

Tomato Success Kit - user reviews

Brick City Urban Farms Outreach

Students plant their own vegetables in Newark

It was good to see this outreach by Brick City Urban Farms (prior posts). The beneficiaries in this case are the young students (and their families) of St. Benedict's Preparatory School in Newark, New Jersey. 

The potential for portable planter farms like Brick City Urban Farms (blog) is enormous. Even bigger is the potential for outreach projects like this school garden. 

These portable gardens can and should expand exponentially through all of our cities. The only thing holding us back is ignorance. 

Where we are today is a testimony to free enterprise and the power of individual citizens to create change. Thank god for blogs, garden forums, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and the Internet. 

Think about what could happen if our horticultural institutions woke up from their deep sleep. Think about what could happen if you became an activist in support of this concept in your city. Among other good things, food deserts would disappear and our national health would improve. 

Students at St. Benedict's Preparatory School in Newark are tending to seeds and seedlings they planted this spring, a small group of them continuing their watering and staking duties even now -- during their summer break -- to ensure good harvests later this summer and into the fall.

Their duties at the school's new container garden are just one element of a farming and nutrition project begun this spring by journalism teacher Noreen Connolly and Tony Carnahan, the school's director of college guidance. The goal is to get students to think differently about what they eat.

Done in partnership with Brick City Urban Farms, Newark's two-year-old city gardening initiative, the project encourages picky eating on a somewhat higher order than the usual "I hate broccoli" sentiment shared by countless youngsters. Through readings, film screenings, field trips and the gardening, Connolly and Carnahan put fast food under a harsh spotlight and encourage healthier eating.

Read more...