Inside Urban Green

The Daily Drain Hole Report »The Big Deception Part 2

About the photo - Light from the windows made this shot more difficult to show details. The trees actually live on the rack in the window to the left. The objective is simply to show the quality of these coffee trees growing in a planter with no drainage. Click on the photo to view larger sizes on Flickr. Click on Actions for the menu that includes "View all sizes".

About the plants - These are a couple of coffee trees (probably Coffea arabica spp.) growing in a sub-irrigated planter (SIP) made from a storage box.

They were 4” pot size plants from Lowe’s purchased back in October 2006 that looked similar to the photo. They have never seen a drain hole since. No drainage!

They were combined into the current SIP on February 15, 2010. My how they have grown in just 5 years.  

About the growing method – The sub-irrigated planter (SIP) was made from a translucent storage box. The internal plumbing consists of a recycled juice bottle, inverted nursery flat and water bottle fill tube. No need for power tools.

Since it is an indoor plant, I did not include an overflow drain hole. A scale or a soil probe is the best way to measure soil moisture for indoor plants growing in subdued light. In this case it is also helpful that the planter is translucent. I can see the soil moisture at a glance.

More about the big deception – The vast majority of gardeners who read houseplant and gardening books would say, “You can’t do that, you need a drain hole!” They will also say that so-called “self-watering” planters are only for moisture loving plants or for when you go on vacation or a business trip.

Spend some time on houseplant forums such as GardenWeb and Dave’s Garden and you will soon find this to be true. I have done it, but not any more.

While many of the folks on garden forums may not have much formal science education, they are not stupid people. It is simply that our horticultural education system is broken.

As a long time industry insider, I know that much of the misinformation and disinformation is intentional and that bothers me greatly. It did not matter as much to me when it only involved decorative plants. Now it involves hunger, obesity, job creation, environmental concerns such as water wastage and the health threat from contaminated city soil and more.

I plan to escalate this issue to the highest levels of government. If you care about doing the right thing, please join in this effort. Even Tweeting helps. I may be speaking naively but I still believe there is power in public awareness.

A Misguided Vegetable Gardening Guide From the Extension Program

This following is just one example of a gardening guide with not one word about the possibility of urban soil contamination, the need for a toxic metal soil test or the safe and productive option of growing in portable micro gardens (aka sub-irrigated planters - SIPs).

It is a publication of the U. of Illinois extension program. There are hundreds of outdated vegetable gardening guides like this on the web. It is particularly deplorable when public funds are used to publish incomplete information like this.

via web.extension.illinois.edu

An Academic Greenscaping Opportunity

 

The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee is trying to make this new dorm the first LEED gold rated residence hall in the state. It evidently has, or is going to have, an edible garden on the roof that will supply the cafeteria. I suspect this is in the future because although the roof garden appears in the video there is no sign of vegetable gardening. In fact, it looks like there is a sedum green roof and a rather traditional lawn and patio garden.

Knowing what I know about our land grant institutions there is little or no chance that the edible garden will utilize any form of sub-irrigated planter system (SIPs). There are thousands of dorms across the country that present golden opportunities to teach young people about the many benefits of modern SIPs urban agriculture. Few, if any, are seizing the opportunity.

MIT is one example of urban gardening modernity in the U.S. that I have blogged about. They have a campus EarthBox garden. In my view, the McGill Edible Campus in Montreal is the finest example of modern campus gardening anywhere in the world. Do you know of any other dorms or campuses that have SIPs gardens? 

Green Dorm: UWM students move-in to new green dorm - WITI

WITI-TV, MILWAUKEE - Moving day has arrived at UW-Milwaukee, as students are about to start the new school year later this week. Some lucky students are moving in to what looks to be the state's most unique dormitory. Cambridge Commons is the university's newest dorm and designed to reduce the environmental impact of the building. The dorm has a rooftop garden and the food grown is used in the cafeteria. The dorm also has two classrooms where some professors will teach classes instead of having 50 or more students drive to campus. The university is trying to make it the first LEED gold certified residence hall in the state.

Sub-irrigation: Good For Farmers But Not For Home Gardeners?

“We build the days around agronomy tours that
look at herbicide plots and tillage comparisons.

This year we have a sub-irrigation tile irrigation study that should be very informative,” he adds.

The article refers to a sub-irrigation system that probably uses principles very similar to these using perforated corrugated drain pipe. There are a couple of interesting points about this event.

If sub-irrigation is a good system for commercial growers, why isn't it a good system for home gardeners? Notice also that they don’t refer to sub-irrigation by the inaccurate and highly misleading term "self-watering".

I'm finding many articles in the current news about urban farming. It is a minor media rage. Just about all of what I read is about dirt farming in the city.

Due to the dumbing down of our education system regarding the use of modern technology, journalists, politicians and foodie activists know only about digging in the dirt. That was appropriate to the time we were a rural economy in prior centuries. We no longer are and it’s time to recognize that. Victory Gardens and community dirt gardens are WWII and yesterday.

Of course there's a place for in-ground growing in the city but to rely on it exclusively in the built environment is sheer folly. There is a major role for sub-irrigation planter systems (SIPs), micro-gardening, simplified hydroponics, aeroponics and aquaponics. Our education system, however, only teaches consumers about tilling dirt, a throwback to a bygone time when we were a rural society.

Search The Cooperative Extension Program Nationwide With One Click

Here is an easy way to monitor what the Cooperative Extension Program is delivering on the subject of modern methods of urban food production. The custom Google search engine currently searches 954 Extension Program sites.

My opinions about the low quality of information delivered by the Extension program are not subjective. They are based on observable information and here is how anyone can check it out and form their own opinion.

via www.extension.org

Following are some of the search strings that I use regularity in my blog research. Simply copy/paste them into the search box and you will be reading the same information I frequently read. If you have any search strings on the subject that you have found particularly useful please post a comment for the benefit of all of us.

I also use the same search strings for site searches. I can tell in a few minutes if a particular website or blog publishes information about modern food growing methods or is stuck in the dirt so to speak. 

My first search is usually one to establish whether the site publishes information about the broad subject of "garden OR gardening". Once I know that they are writing about the subject I search further to determine where they are coming from regarding the use of modern technology.

"self-watering" OR "sub-irrigation"

earthbox OR earthboxes OR "earth box" OR "earth boxes" 

hydroponics OR hydroculture OR aeroponics OR aquaponics

"container garden" OR "container gardening"

"raised bed" OR "raised beds"

houseplant OR houseplants OR "house plant" OR "house plants" OR "indoor plant" OR "indoor plants"

Sub-irrigateed Planters (SIPs): A Backyard Tomato Garden Or Business

Here is a look at our tomatoes in EarthBoxes this spring, well, almost summer

via www.facebook.com

It would be interesting to know the fresh vegetable production (and street value) of this back yard garden, excuse me farm. What we see here could well be a family small business selling both vegetables and ready-to-grow sub-irrigated planter (SIP) gardens. Read about someone already doing it. 

Think about all the unemployed teenagers and college students we have in America who could produce some significant fresh food and income over a summer if they knew how. 

The key is education about modern methods of urban food production that does not require tilling scarce and often-contaminated land. Currently this information is not available and that is a national disgrace. Third world countries get better information (micro gardening for example) from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) than we do.

The USDA is not funded or mandated to teach you as an urban or suburban citizen how to grow your own food using the most modern productive methods. It is funded by tax dollars and supported by lobbyists whose sole interest is in promoting corporate agriculture. That does not include you.

Instead of modern up to date consumer information, the USDA through its Extension and Master Gardener programs spreads outdated information about dirt and drain hole gardening. Sadly, urban foodie and dirt hugger bloggers and writers drink their cool-aid and spit it out all over the Internet. The blind end up leading the blind.

Almost every day I see photos like this one about job training. Well intentioned perhaps but dumb and dumber. Working in a MacDonald's or Starbuck's is probably a better job than this. The expression "dirt cheap" isn't just about the dirt; it's also about dirt-cheap jobs that lead nowhere. 

PS 102 SIPs Are Home For The Summer Recess

Bob Patterson of The Growing Connection (TGC) conducting an EarthBox workshop for parents and teachers of PS102.

Thanks to The Growing Connection (TGC) (part of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization - FAO) and the Center for Urban Greenscaping (CuGreen) there are 25 sub-irrigated planters (EarthBoxes and utility bucket SIPs) helping to grow some fresh food for local Brooklynites this summer. In the process, they are demonstrating the superior productivity, ease of use and water conserving benefits of SIPs.

The SIPs home base is the PS 102 garden but due to limited access over the summer recess, it is not the best place to be. That is why the SIPs are growing fresh vegetables at the homes of parents and teachers over the summer.

Children who live at these homes will know more about modern urban gardening methods by the end of summer than most adults. The sad commentary is that there is no New York educational institution teaching about the subject. In my view, there are people who should be reprimanded or even lose jobs over this social injustice.

As any reader of this blog can easily discover, sub-irrigated planter systems are a successful reality of urban food production across the country. Our educational system seems to be either not tuned in or there are people who are practicing obstructionism for some reason known only to them

The Brooklyn Eagle published an article about the PS 102 garden recently.

via www.brooklyneagle.com

Help From ‘CuGreen’ Founder

Local neighborhood resident and gardening landscaper (edit urban greenscaper) Bob Hyland has been immensely helpful, said Sheri. “The Center for Urban Greenscaping (CuGreen) that I founded last year was instrumental in helping make this a modern garden with the donation of a sub-irrigated planters (SIP) system and significant pro-bono consulting help,” explained Hyland.

Going to School for Landscaping

The following is a link from my Google News page. I'm going to make an educated guess based on some scanning of the information that not one of these landscaping training schools teaches anything about modern sub-irrigated planter (SIP) systems.

Check it out. If I'm wrong I will surely blog about it. In my view this list is likely yet another reflective mirror on the quality and progressiveness of our horticultural education.

via newyorknewsbreak.com

Landscaping training schools are designed to prepare the students for a career in construction and design in landscaping. For those who want to design a botanical garden and other embellished pathways, a landscape training school would serve that purpose.

What are the best landscaping design schools? Here are some of the most outstanding institutes and reasons why one should enroll there.

EarthBox Day In The Big Apple: There Should Have Been An Encore Performance

Did you know that there was an International EarthBox Day in New York City three years ago? It was sponsored by The Growing Connection, a U.N. organization. What would we do without help from the U.N.? Is that ever a sad commentary on the quality of our horticultural resources.

It's questionable how many NYC horticultural educators attended this event about urban gardening modernity. For example, it's hard to believe that the folks at Brooklyn Botanic Garden and New York Botanical Garden still haven't heard about sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) like the popular EarthBox. Tomato Success Kit, Garden Patch Grow Box and all kinds of home made versions but it's true. It is rumored that the string connecting their tin cans is broken.

There is nadda, zilch about them in local botanic land. They are still playing in the dirt.

We should have an encore remedial event for them. Incidentally, the mayor was spotted at this International EarthBox event sleeping on a park bench hugging a watering can.

Trust Trey! He Knows!

Trey Buckman knows something that most New York City gardeners don't know about because of a retrogressive education system that teaches only about digging dirt and drain holes.

Read what Trey had to say in an interview with the Sarasota Observer. Michelle Obama would do well to recruit him for her anti-obesity initiative.

Even better, let's groom him to be a future Secretary of Agriculture. Now that I've read his stump speech, I trust him. How about you?

Do you have advice for someone who is new to EarthBox?

“It’s going to be weird. You’re going to think, ‘Why is there a box?’ You’re going to think it’s ridiculous. But trust me, and trust the box.”

via www.yourobserver.com

Third-graders at Gulf Gate Elementary have spent the past two seasons planting, fertilizing and harvesting everything from cabbage to strawberries inside EarthBoxes. On April 20, they talked gardening with The Sarasota Observer.

Trey Buckman

What’s the best thing about growing an EarthBox?