This update is a day late and I was also late in watering this very hot week here in Brooklyn. You can see two symptoms. One there are some wilted leaves that could not recover from desiccation; two the greens are bolting or flowering/turning to seed. The first symptom is avoidable the second is not. These greens are not a hot weather crop. I will probably plant a new crop to grow a fall salad bar. There is still fresh food here however.
July 8, 2011 (below) - Fire escape "farming" archive
It's going to be a cloudy day here in Brooklyn and a respite from the heat, however brief, will be most welcome for the fire escape salad bar. If these greens were growing in traditional drain hole planters instead of sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) I would need to be here all day, every day. That is why we have wilted plants all over the city. Other than retirees, who has time to be a plant nanny?
July 1, 2011 (below) - Fire escape "farming" archive
No, my mother who rests in peace did not write the following. Who knows, maybe she whispered in Louise McReady's ear.
Rock star I am not, but rock (or bomb) thrower is probably accurate. Fortunately or more accurately unfortunately, there is an over abundance of targets here in NYC.
You also do not need to be an urban farmer to grow some of your own food in the city. This portable sub-irrigated micro farm is just a little over two square feet on my fire escape. It is supplying me with an abundance of delicious and nutritious salad greens over the summer. I just need to lift the window screen and snip, snip.
Anyone can do this. So why aren’t we all doing it? I hear the answer in my ear; maybe it’s my mother. “It’s our education stupid”!
by Louise McReady
BEST ACRONYM
Bob Hyland is living proof that you don’t need to be a tattooed 20-something to be an urban farming rock star. The 77-year-old Bay Ridge resident has become a city sensation for spreading the gospel of sub-irrigated planter systems, or SIPs.
“SIPs are not rocket science,” says Hyland, who studied at Cal Poly Graduate School of Environmental Design and ran an inte- rior “plantscaping” company in Los Angeles. “The self-watering containers are more of a plumbing system.”
The sun is shining in Brooklyn. The fire escape salad bar greens are growing. The question du jour once again is why doesn't every person in every city know about sub-irrigated micro gardens like these? They produce healthy fast food, are food safe and kid simple!
In my view they would help solve nutrition and obesity problems much more effectively than a dirt garden on the White House lawn. It appears to be an attempt to solve today's problems with yesterday's solutions.
July 01, 2011 - From the street 5 floors down (photo below)
My salad runneth over.
June 24, 2011 (below) - Fire escape "farming" archive
Thanks to the GrowBarrel folks in Minneapolis this DIY information is now online as a Google Doc.
You do not need power tools and PVC to make these sub-irrigated planters (SIPs)
Do your friends a favor and pass the word.
Systems like the Valcent VertiCrop are the servers and mainframes of urban food production. Just as in the digital world, we also need distributed food production power brought to the people on a personal level.
Sub-irrigated (sub-aerated) planters (SIPs) like this one are the PCs and laptops of personal urban food production. You might also think of them as the iPads and iPhones of food.
There is no need to plug them into tillable earth. They are portable. All that is needed is a small space with sufficient sunlight, be it on a rooftop, balcony, driveway, paved patio or even a fire escape. They will produce more food per square foot than in-ground gardening while conserving water and valuable time. This is safe food production with no exposure to contaminated city soil.
Continue reading "Google Docs » A Personal Urban Food Production System " »
It is a cloudy, rainy Friday here in Brooklyn. I have not picked any leaves yet but will soon. There are many salads soon to come out of these planters.
What if everyone had at least one sub-irrigated planter (SIP) salad bar like this? While urban farms and community gardens have a purpose, we do not need them to teach all city dwellers about food production on a very personal level.
This is about self-sufficiency. Growing fresh food like this is an easy to learn skill that everyone should have. It is easier to learn than using an iPhone or iPad.
Why are our horticultural institutions mute on this important urban food production technology? They have a public responsibility and are failing to live up to it. Call them out about it!
June 17, 2011 below - Fire escape "farming" archive
Click on photo to enlarge
My fire escape salad bar has two sub-irrigated "serving trays". The one on the left is a City Pickers sub-irrigated planter (SIP) from Home Depot. The small window box is a conventional drain hole planter converted to sub-irrigation. I haven't picked any leaves yet but we're getting there.
Incidentally, because of end-stage osteoarthritis in both knees (to be replaced), I cannot power walk daily as I used to. As a result, my weight slowly climbed up to 220 pounds. I finally realized the strain these extra pounds were putting on my knees, along with the negative aspects regarding my overall health.
As a result of a "calorie reduction" program (as in not eating so much) and eliminating ice cream, chips and pretzel snacking I have lost 40 pounds since last November. I eat only two meals a day, oatmeal and fruit in the a.m. and stir-fry or salad for dinner, no junk food.
My meals never tasted so good. The two meals a day method is probably not what a dietitian would recommend but it is working for me. Now the trick is to avoid gaining it all back. I’m looking forward to salads made from assorted fresh picked fire escape salad greens.
This is the City Pickers sub-irrigated planter (SIP) I bought online from Home Depot. It is now planted with an assortment of 12 different kinds of salad greens grown from seeds.
Though it is not legal, it will secretly serve fresh salad greens over the coming months. Wouldn't a sub-irrigated micro garden like this enjoy a much more appropriate home on the deck next door. Why there are not portable micro gardens on this deck and in the adjacent yards is a story for other posts. It is not a positive story by any definition.
You can start with obstruction of valuable mainstream consumer information here in New York City. It is the “urban aggie” epicenter of counter-culturists and neo-hippie dirt huggers who are averse to any and all “plastic technology”. Never mind that so much of the native soil here in the city is contaminated with toxic metals that are particularly harmful to children.
Following are photos of the process I followed from seed propagation to SIP salad bar.
Continue reading "City Pickers SIP » Fire Escape Salad Bar " »
Click on the photo and it will take you to Flickr. Click on "All Sizes" on the menu above the photo. Select "Original" (the largest view). Scan the photo carefully and you will see many peppers on these plants.
These are not heirloom seeded plants or anything special. They are simply a collection of cell-pack pepper plants from a local nursery. I could have done a better job of identifying them but didn't. My interest was in the growing of them as a test of various homemade sub-irrigated planters. It will be a surprise to see (and taste) the results.
The peppers are not easy to see because they are currently all green and blend in with the leaves. I am going to let them all grow to full maturity and turn color for visibility. Stay tuned.
Note the healthy condition of these plants with no chlorosis of the type you will see in the following photos. Note also that this is a flash photo with resultant yellow light reflection. The peppers are very hard to see without flash.
Continue reading "See the Fire Escape Peppers on August 15, 2008" »
