Inside Urban Green

Garden Patch Grow Box in the City

Thanks to the collection of customer supplied photos on the Garden Patch Grow Box website we have this one taken in Cincinnati, Ohio. How many children ever have the experience of eating a fresh tomato like this in a chain link fence and concrete world? This photo speaks to the realities of urban life. There is no dirt here and if there was you probably would not want to grow in it.

We live in a brownstone in the heart of Downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. There is very little space to plant tomatoes in our back lot and even less sun to do it in. I have struggled for years to get anything to consistently grow back there. This year I decided to try the Garden Patch planter. It allowed me to place the plants directly in our little patch of sun. As you can see they are doing very well.

-Erik & Max B. Cincinnati, OH

When I saw the photo, it immediately reminded me of the PS 102 PONG across the street. If the heirloom tomato plants had been planted on time, they too would be covering the chain link fence like this and already producing juicy heirloom tomatoes. Patience, it will happen! Stay tuned!

There is another very important message in this photo. It speaks more loudly than my words. Look at the difference in plant health and robustness between the Garden Patch Grow Box (prior posts) and the top watered drain hole planters. I see this every day in my travels around the web.

Top watering in drain hole planters is the leading cause of weak, spindly and generally unhealthy plants whether edible or decorative. It is clearly an erratic method of container plant irrigation.

Sub-irrigation does make a difference despite all the doubters in the rather dogmatic drain hole community. It is clearly time for our horticultural and botanical institutions to move into the 21st century from whatever prior century they live in.

Portable Garden Abundance

The photos below are from Nelson's Picasa Web Album. He grows in both Garden Patch Grow Boxes and EarthBoxes. As you can see, his tomato plants are portable. Gardens like these can be moved anywhere at any time. Follow the sun or to your next home.

I rarely see lush and full sweet pepper plants (lower photo) like these growing in the ground or in drip irrigated raised beds for that matter.

This garden is obviously in a suburban or rural setting but these plants could be growing anywhere there is enough sun in the inner city. There is no need for tillable land or heavy labor. It is a safe and sensible way to garden.

There is no reason for so-called "food deserts" in the city other than a lack of information. Our horticultural and botanical institutions need to do a much better job than they are doing at this time. They seem to be stuck in a prior century when land based victory gardens were the vogue. That was a long time ago. We obviously now have far more productive ways to grow food in the city.

Really Raised Beds for New Knees

Rick in Virginia is getting two new knees. That means an arduous period of rehabilitation with no physical activities such as gardening. He and his wife, however, came up with a creative solution. 

He now has six Garden Patch Grow Boxes on tables as you can see. You might think of these as the ultimate raised beds. Unlike in-the-ground raised beds, Rick can have his vegetable garden at any height he chooses. For city gardeners it's also lead free gardening. 

This of course isn't just a solution for knee surgery recovery. Think of all the infirm and physically disabled people there are across the country who could benefit from user-friendly elevated sub-irrigated box planters. 

Social service organizations and community gardens should be implementing elevated box gardening outreach programs that would help serve an ever-growing segment of our aging population. 

Incidentally, I can relate to Rick's situation because there are two new knees in my future as well.  

Source: Garden Patch Grow Box

A Tomato Comment Worth Reading

               Sliced tomato photo from the good folks at Green Roof Growers

These are real tomatoes. No they don't bounce very well and you can't use them for hockey pucks, but they sure taste good. 

There are several heirloom seed packs on the way and I'm looking forward to eating fresh tomatoes like these this coming summer. The two tomatoes above cost about 6 dollars last fall and I'd much rather grow my own. 

If you're interested in growing some of these on your balcony, deck, rooftop or driveway this coming growing season, read this comment posted today. 

There are comments similar to this one on forums and blogs all over the web. I see them all the time when doing my blogging research. 

Many of them are posted on gardening blogs where the blogger for whatever reason (ignorance or bias) posts nothing about sub-irrigated (self-watering) planters. 

Try it. It's the easy, smart...and delicious thing to do!  

Green and Open Minded Opinions

It might help make the world a better, greener place to live if the "backward farmer" read some endorsements and reviews of the EarthBox and others like it. I sometimes wonder if extension agents have Internet connections. 

I have no connection to the EarthBox company whatsoever and my positive endorsement is generic to include many other sub-irrigated grow boxes such as the Tomato Success Kit, the Garden Patch Grow Box  and home made versions. 

This is from the Jetson Green blog

Jetson Green is a daily updated web magazine that's obsessed with green building, sustainable architecture, good design, clean technology in the built environment, and eco-friendly development.  We like stunning buildings and market innovation.  

We also like educated, open-minded, demanding, and entrepreneurial readers and contributors.  The magazine is published to inspire and engage all sorts of players in the green building revolution, whether a builder, designer, entrepreneur, innovator, developer, lawyer, architect, engineer, lender, contractor, owner, or environmentalist.

Movable Tomato Plants

Need to adjust for available sunlight? Big storm coming? Having a patio party?

Try moving your tomato plants around like this when they're growing in the flat earth or raised beds. See the full set on Flickr.

Sunset No Self-watering

An email newsletter from Sunset magazine led me to do a site search on "self-watering". It produced zero hits. I thought there would be at least a few.

How can the publisher of the renowned Western Garden Book omit a subject as important as sub-irrigation (aka "self-watering") planters, particularly in the water scarce west? It seems their editorial staff has grown roots on their feet.

No-Fuss Tomato Planters

Learn2Grow.com published a significant endorsement of sub-irrigation (aka "self-watering") tomato planters.

Sound too good to be true? Think again. The fact is, these containers work! And the overriding advantage of all of these tomato-growing products is that they can produce great crops in minimal space with minimum water loss! The only downside is that they do come at a cost (after all, there’s not much cheaper than planting in the ground). And, even though these containers make growing tomatoes easier, the plants still, of course, require upkeep – someone needs to monitor for pests, check the water level and pick the fruit when it’s ready! Read more...

The Garden Patch Grow Boxes

Another EarthBox type planter is the Grow Box from The Garden Patch. There is an extensive collection of customer photos and testimonials on their website. They speak volumes about the validity and value of sub-irrigated (aka "self-watering) planter boxes.

How can a gardening publication or organization consider itself objective when it completely ignores a subject that is obviously this significant in the marketplace?

How can a garden writer compose a lengthy article on container gardening, omit any reference to the proven concept of sub-irrigation and expect recognition as an objective journalist?

These sources are either ignorant or biased. If, in fact, they're expressing a biased opinion they should say so and explain why they do.