Inside Urban Green

Portable Micro Gardens » Elevated Sub-Irrigated Salad Bar

via www.re-nest.com
source: Instructables

This is a great idea for a sub-irrigated (aka erroneously as “self-watering”) micro garden that can grow fresh food just about anywhere in the city.

While it will not fit on a fire escape like my salad bar, it will fit on a balcony, rooftop, driveway, row house paved patio or other paved surface. It would fit in most of the spaces shown in this neighborhood site survey I did here in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

Elevated portable micro gardens like this will not only produce a ton of fresh vegetables but you will not strain your back growing them.

An elevated planter like has a second major benefit. The valuable space under it is available for storage. Remember that the sub-irrigated planters above are self-contained. There is no drainage to damage what is under them and if located on a balcony annoy the neighbors below with dripping water.

I would not make the tote box planters as described from the Instructables directions. It is an outdated method. These photos show a much simpler DIY tote box SIP made with recycled plastics, in this case ½ gallon milk containers. You could also make the water/oxygen reservoirs using inverted recycled nursery trays, or other recycled plastic food containers. The fill tube is made from recycled water bottles nested to fit.

The partial amount of soil is there to demonstrate the wicking system. Fill the SIP to the top before planting. The soil mix surrounding the reservoirs creates the wicks. It is a good idea to tamp the soil down with your fingers to improve the capillarity of the wicks. You do not need any yoghurt containers, pond baskets, PVC pipes, etc.

If I made this table I would hide the tote box SIPs. Draw curtains would be a simple way to do it and at the same time allow easy access to items stored below. Incidentally, the green tote shown was a Christmas item from a local dollar store. I do not like looking at blue or gray plastic boxes. I know…picky, picky.

There is more about this tote box SIP in a prior post that is also a Google Doc.

Great Idea » Sub-irrigated Planters (SIPs) with Legs

Elevated sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) like these are a great idea for all adults but particularly for seniors and those dealing with physical handicaps at any age. We will see many more versions of this basic idea in the future.

The concept is already widely used around the world as taught by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). See this Flickr set. Most of the elevated planters are made from recycled wooden pallets.

Why isn't the USDA extension program promoting this highly productive and ecologically beneficial method of urban food production? It is a social injustice that they are not educating the public about these modern methods. Ask your political representatives at both the state and national levels why this is. You deserve an answer.

via www.instructables.com

Teens Doing Good Work In Ocean County, New Jersey

Residents at the Chambers Bridge Apartments affordable housing complex (from left) Marta Burns, Lorraine Conroy and Wertley Coward, visit gardens tended by teenagers through OCEAN Inc.'s Summer Youth Team Nutrition Community Gardens program.(STAFF PHOTO: TIM McCARTHY)

Note the benches that elevate the EarthBoxes that enable seniors and those with physical limitations to garden.

The students who made this garden didn't just learn to dig dirt. They built the benches and learned how modern sub-irrigated planter systems (SIPs) work. They learned some valuable skills that will lead some of them to new jobs in urban greenscaping.

We desperately need them to teach others how to do it. The greatest shortage we have is education about modern methods of growing food in the city. We appear to be stuck in the dirt of a bygone era. 

Gooding said the gardens were planted in "earth boxes," which contain special nutrients and are on above-ground benches built by the special-needs Vo-Tech students in Ocean County. He expected to harvest about 120,000 pounds of fresh produce.

via www.app.com

Despite the sweltering heat on a recent afternoon, dozens of Ocean County teenagers diligently tended to gardens, even though they will not even enjoy the fruits of their labors.

Sub-irrigated Planter Box Table Plans

This is an interesting design for an elevated sub-irrigated planter (SIP) enabled garden.

It doesn't look too difficult to make if you have reasonable carpentry skills. You can make it to fit either EarthBoxes or DIY tote box SIPs.

I'm wondering if the SIPs are too close together as shown. Obviously you could install fewer SIPs.

You can rotate the sketch in 3-D on the site. Have a look.

via sketchup.google.com

Wooden display table for eight 13.5"x29" Earthboxes, inspired by farmer's market tables. Originally constructed at Whole Foods Market in Tampa, Florida USA. Designed by Richard Peterika, 2009 Construction plans are available for free to intersted individuals or gardens, please contact: rpeterika@gmail.com

Rooftop Enabled Garden

No, it isn't really an enabled garden but it could be. It's the roof garden atop the Delta Beauséjour Hotel in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.

Note the raised beds on legs. They are not sub-irrigated but they could be if the hotel knew about the corrugated drain pipe SIP method. The planters would then produce in the range of 50% more vegetables while using only 10-20% of the water being used.

What is particularly significant here is that the planters are elevated on legs. This is what all senior living facilities should have in their gardens. I see traditional raised beds for seniors at grade level regularly in my daily research.

Bending and stooping becomes increasingly difficult as the human body ages. The simple solution is to elevate the planters, SIPs of course. It will make gardening much more pleasurable for our burgeoning boomer population.

via timestranscript.canadaeast.com

A new garden and beehive on the roof of the Delta Beauséjour Hotel is providing fresh herbs and honey for the chefs to help them add freshness and taste to food served in the restaurant.