Inside Urban Green

An EarthBox PONG in New Jersey

Screen capture from an NBC40 news video

There is a new EarthBox farm in Bridgeton, New Jersey. They don't call it a PONG but that is the model. It is a community based project with outreach to local citizens. There are currently 300 EarthBoxes producing an array of fresh vegetables with 300 more to come. This will be a very positive use of federal stimulus money that can both help feed urbanites and create new jobs. 

Why aren't we doing this in New York City and elsewhere? 

See the NBC40 video here. (click on the red type button)

BRIDGETON--Organizers of an urban farming project in Bridgeton are hoping to grow a change in how local residents look at food. The Mill Creek Urban Farm has only been up and running for a month, but it's already producing amazing results.

Here in Bridgeton, "these are little cherry tomatoes here," this group is redefining what it means to be the Garden State. "We want to be a full service farm here," said Albert Kelly, President and CEO of Tri-County Community Action Partnership, the group running the project, "three-and-a-half cares, you can grow a lot of vegetables." 

And they sure are at the Mill Creek Urban Farm, thanks to the 300 "earth boxes" which are providing the perfect growing conditions for lots of produce. From tomatoes, to peppers, fresh herbs and watermelon, there's an amazing variety of local produce being grown. 

Looking at the rows of healthy plants, it's hard to believe the lot used to be the site of a housing project. It's all about making use of the land and teaching residents important skills. "In this economic time, this dire time, it's important that we try to teach people how to be self-sufficient," said Kelly.

The overall goal of the program is to take the lessons learned at the farm and share them with the rest of the community. Organizers hope to open a kitchen downtown where classes will be held on how to grow and cook your own food. They also hope to begin selling the produce grown to local restaurants and school lunch programs. "We're going to the farmer's market, we're feeding soup kitchens, all different things," said Delilie Carrington, who's coordinating the growing, "and we're going to educate."

Besides growing fresh produce, organizers hope the project instills a sense of pride for those involved, who can truly enjoy the fruits of their labor. "People can rally around this and make it a central part of the community and make this a successful project," said Kelly.

Organizers will be using federal stimulus money to buy 300 more earth boxes that will be given out to residents.

Soil Sub-irrigated Buckets Compared to Hydroponic Buckets

Chris Tsinger has done us all a public service by uploading his series of organic container gardening videos to YouTube. Part 1 shows his sub-irrigated (aka self-watering) bucket planters (SIPs) made from recycled pickle buckets. Part 2 is also about SIP's and Part 3 is about his experiences with hydroponic buckets. 

For those in the New York metropolitan area all of these container systems are now on public view on the Waterpod. I installed six heirloom tomato plants intstalled in SIPs yesterday. They are immature plants at this time but if the PONG at PS 102 is a guide they will soon be on their way reaching for the sky. 

Today we will move the PS 102 heirloom tomato plants next to the tall fence surrounding the garden. When they are attached to the fence, it will be their stairway to the stars. Stay tuned for photos. In the meantime, plant a PONG at your school or in your neighborhood. 

The Waterpod is docked on the Hudson River at 125th Street until next Tuesday when it will be towed to Brooklyn Bridge Park for two weeks. After that, it's on its way to Staten Island for a two week stay. Be sure to visit! 

School groups are welcome by appointment. I demonstrated making pop/soda bottle planters to two of them yesterday. 

Before you go in person you can visit the Waterpod on the web and check out the event schedule. 

On the Waterpod Today With School Children

Giancarli for News

The Daily News had an interesting article about some of the unexpected reality of life aboard the Waterpod. I'll find out some of it first hand when I'm on board today to participate in the visit of first to fourth grade school children from Broadway Housing Communities. 

They will each have a pop/soda bottle planter when they leave. With their teacher's guidance they can grow some plants in their classrooms and in the process learn something about plant science including capillary action. 

Artist and Waterpod founder Mary Mattingly and her team have created a wonderful summer classroom on the New York waterfront. 

It obviously took a lot of hard work, ingenuity and perseverance on all of their parts to make this project happen. I am privileged to participate and support the project in any way I can. 

The Waterpod is moored at 125th Street in Harlem until next Tuesday when it will travel to the Brooklyn Bridge Park for two weeks. After that it will berth in Staten Island for two weeks. Don't miss it! 

Click the photo above for instructions on how to make pop/soda bottle planters. 

Visit the Waterpod site and check out the event schedule. New events are added regularly. 

EarthBoxes at PS 107 in Park Slope, Brooklyn

PS 107 custodian Peter Foti and school garden coordinator Michele Israel examine remaining plants in pots in the schoolyard. 

The story in todays Daily News led by this photo of EarthBoxes isn't about them. It's about a stolen planter. Wouldn't it have been good if this was a more positive story instead about a new PONG like the one at PS 102? 

Those familiar with the EarthBoxes (excuse me, "pots") recognize them immediately. That doesn't include the reporter. There is no mention of them until the last two paragraphs. 

Israel worried that thieves could make off with other plants from the garden because they are in "earth boxes" - trays of dirt and fertilizer on tables - on wheels, making them easy to steal. 

"In my heart, I just hope no one could be so callous to steal our earth boxes full of basil," Israel said. "I'll give them seeds."

There are many other EarthBoxes in school gardens. I wonder how many. Please tell us if you know of any school gardens in your community using sub-irrigated planters (SIPs). It will take time but there is no question that SIPs are the wave of the future in urban edible gardening. 

A Green PONG in Remembrance!

The belated United Methodist Church in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn

Me walking by on Saturday, July 25 with 6 bags of container mix. Let's get going! Incidentally, the container mix will be on the Waterpod later this week. Stay tuned! 

This could be this. - Just like Brick City Urban Farms, Newark, N.J. 

EarthBox farm at Brick City Urban Farms, Newark, N.J. 

This is about the site of the demolished United Methodist Church in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. It was known locally as the “green church”. It was a cherished building in the community but unfortunately; it could not be preserved and will be the site of a future public school. 

Councilman Vincent Gentile deserves much credit for his efforts to save the church and short of that, getting it approved as a future school site rather than condominiums or apartments. 

While the land is sitting idle, it could be the site for a very significant sized Portable Outreach Neighborhood Garden or PONG. A highly productive green vegetable garden would be a fitting memory of the belated green church. 

It would also symbolize rebirth when part of the PONG could remain as a garden for the new school much like the one at PS 102. Come the fall reopening the PS 102 students will know a lot more about local food production than most adults in New York City. We desperately need a rebirth of our antiquated horticultural education. PONGs are one way to do that. 

This is an idea that is worth exploring. It could become a major asset to the Bay Ridge community rather then a sad reminder of what once was. 

Where Was Everyone Going Last Sunday Morning?

 

 
Click to enlarge.

They made it! They're on the Waterpod berthed at Governor's Island with a whole lot of other people including me. I'll be on it again later this week demonstrating how to make food producing sub-irrigation planters out of recycled materials. It moved up the Hudson to 125th Street in Harlem during the week. Stay tuned! 

USDA Sub-irrigates in Wading Pool Planters

This is information I find from academic searching. It never makes it into mainstream readership. Instead, we get false and out of date information about the need for drain holes and dirt. When we do get information about sub-irrigation it's almost always referred to by the inaccurate and misleading term "self-watering". 

Most professionals understand the many benefits of sub-irrigating plants in containers. Why doesn't the public? The hard truth is that our horticultural education system is antiquated at best. Are you okay with that? I'm not! 

From the USDA

A simple, inexpensive sub irrigation system can be made using children’s plastic swimming pools. This system supplies irrigation water more evenly to large deciduous plants in containers than do overhead methods, and it can be combined with a typical injector so that plants can be fertigated.

For those of us who grow broad-leaved plants in containers, we know that it is difficult to thoroughly, and evenly, distribute water because the foliage deflects irrigation applied from above. A hand-wand can be used to manually water such species, but this method requires time and personnel, and it is still difficult to obtain uniform water distribution. Sub irrigation can solve this problem (Dumroese USDA NRCS (2007) and others 2006); however, many sub-irrigation units are quite costly.

Read on (PDF)...

EarthBoxes: Safe From Critters in the Woods

Photo by Debbie - Picasa web album

As Debbie has demonstrated in her photo set, EarthBoxes (prior posts) work in the woods too. I suspect there are a few critters around here that would make short work of her veggies if they weren't in a fenced in space like this. 

What a nice house and deck! 

Resources: EarthBox 

This Could be a Jackie Robinson Remembrance PONG

This playground is adjacent to the school building housing MS 352 Ebbets Field Middle School and PS 375 Jackie Robinson School. Along with the McDonalds across the street there are two other fast food restaurants only a block away. Incidentally, that huge apartment complex used to be the beloved Ebbets Field, home of the Brooklyn Dodgers (aka "Boys of Summer" and "dem bums"). 

With a relatively small investment of time and money, this could become a Portable Outreach Neighborhood Garden (PONG) like the one recently installed at PS 102 Bay View School in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. A PONG in this space would certainly do much to improve the streetscape and the neighborhood diet. 

Rooftop Bucket Garden in Montreal

Rodolphe is a neighbor of and (as I am) a fan of the Rooftop Garden Project in Montreal. He sent this link to an extensive photo series of his rooftop garden. 

The planters are recycled buckets made into sub-irrigated (aka self-watering) planters. He was lucky to find such attractive green pickle buckets. 

Note that he has distributed the planters around the roof to mitigate the weight load. This is a good idea for any roof but a particularly good idea for snowy rooftops in the winter. 

Thanks Rodolphe!