Inside Urban Green

Youth Run Urban Farm Opens In Newburgh

Questions?

• Is there any type of barrier at the bottom of these raised beds?
• Was a soil contamination test done on this lot? What were the results?

From the entire list of organizations listed at the bottom, is there even one person who has expertise on the subject of sub-irrigated planter systems (SIPs)?

Is there even one person who knows that the productivity of these beds could be doubled while using in the range of 90% less water by simply sub-irrigating? There will also be no water seepage into the ground.

There is trouble in river city my friends. When are we going to wake up from our Rip Van Winkle sleep?

Come to the introductory SIP seminar on Thursday and you will leave knowing more about modern methods of growing food and foliage in the city then the vast majority of our supposedly professional horticulturists.

via www.midhudsonnews.com

NEWBURGH, NEW YORK – It’s called la Vida Garden, a youth run urban farm at 59 Chambers Street in Newburgh.

The once garbage strewn lot has been transformed into an organic farm and cultural center by inner city youth. It now is filled with seven organically grown beds of tomatoes, eggplants, arugula, basil, mescaline mix, hot and sweet peppers, peaches and cherries, raspberries, grapes, flowers and herbs.

Who Says The Word Garden Is Synonymous With Dirt?

See the “41 million” statistic in the following article. To start with, it is bad form to quote statistics without the source. Most likely, the writer is quoting a National Gardening Association stat.

Are all of the 41 million vegetable gardens in the ground? Of course not! She implies as much though by writing, "are sure to coax even more people outdoors to dig in the dirt”.

If the statistic is from an NGA survey, did they ask respondents if they grew their food in the ground or in containers? If they did, it would be interesting to know the numbers.

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you probably know my rather low opinion of the professional knowledge of most garden writers and "hortitainers". It isn't much better for the NGA.

In my experience, the majority of this group lives in a prior century of dirt gardening rural America.

All they seem to know and believe is that "dirt is good" when the fact of the matter is that most of us now live in cities where "dirt" is not so good. The urban reality is that tillable land in the city is scare and often contaminated.

Brick City Lead Free Urban Farm

May 16, 2009 by Fatzzz on Flickr

May 16, 2009 by Fatzzz on Flickr

March 29, 2009 by Greenscaper 

Eat some lead free fresh lettuce from Brick City Urban Farms with no fear of contaminated soil. They learned that the condition of their native city soil simply doesn't matter when farming in sub-irrigated planters like these EarthBoxes. There was no need for the time, trouble and expense of soil remediation. 

Brick City Urban Farms is in downtown Newark, New Jersey. Farms and gardens like theirs could be producing fresh and safe food in the inner core of any city in the country. If sub-irrigated box, bed and bucket gardens aren't in your city, ask why. You might be surprised at some of the answers. 

I took the bottom photo on March 29 on a rainy, dreary day. The boxes weren't even planted then and I don't know when they were. In any case, the May 16 photos show that the garden has already flourished in less than a month and a half. 

Sub-irrigated planters (box, bed or buckets): grow fast, grow good, save water, save time, eat clean...go green. 

Prior posts about Brick City Urban Farms 

Brick City Urban Farms Starting Season Two 

Brick City Mayor Visits the Farm

An Urban Box Garden is Born 

SPIN Farming in the City