Inside Urban Green

Keyhole Gardens » How to Make an African Style Raised Bed Garden

via www.youtube.com

This video is from Send a Cow, a U.K. philanthropic organization created by a group of British farmers. They work in Africa teaching some highly productive methods of gardening to provide food self-sufficiency and in many cases extra earnings for low-income African families. I admire both their work and the gardening methods they teach using indigenous materials.

The video in this prior post demonstrated sack gardening on a parking lot in Wisconsin. It is one of the two main methods taught by Send a Cow. These sack planters are a vertical gardening method that works well in small spaces, with no need for tillable land. Concrete or blacktop in the sun is fine. 

The other method taught by Send a Cow is an African version of a traditional raised bed called a keyhole garden. The keyhole shape provides access to the water, oxygen, and nutrition column in the center of the bed. Functionally it is a larger version of the sack planter.  

The basic principles of both the sack and keyhole gardens are good plant science and can be the basis for planters more suitable to the built environment in larger more industrialized cities.  

I have thought through several versions of these gardens that would be more durable and most likely be even more productive. All that is needed is some space and warmer Spring weather here in Brooklyn to test the ideas. Stay tuned.

 

Dear Mr. President

Update: As of 9:05 am ET January 29 there are 3,967 questions about marijuana and only 1 about what I posted about. There are obviously a lot of people who are well organized (and funded) around pot growing but don't get it about urban food growing.

Is marijuana our national priority over new job creation, hunger, better nutrition, obesity and childhood lead poisoning? If it is, we have bigger problems in this country than I realized.

 Many of you may know that the White House sent an email invitation to post a question to the president on YouTube. I did! This is a screenshot (no live links) of my question to President Obama in 250 characters and spaces or less.  Both the "watch video link" and the bit.ly link go to the logo video on TEDxManhattan.

To find the question scroll down to the Search box on the right and search on the word SIPs or sub-irrigated. Please do yourself and all the children you know a favor by giving it a thumbs up, Tweet it and do whatever else you can do in the great big wide world of social networking to share the question with others.

I truly regret not having my social networkng act together yet, but I will very soon! The Dear Mr President question is only the start of things to come. A new activist web site to get modern methods into the so-called Peoples Gardens including the White House Lawn garden is in the very near future.

With no demonstration of a dirt garden alternative like SIP beds and boxes they should be called the Some of the Peoples Gardens.

Thanks to the UN FAO organization, The Growing Connection, there are a few EarthBoxes in the USDA Peoples Garden in D.C. Other than this rather anemic demonstration that few Americans know about the rest of the gardens are all about top-watered dirt boxes.

These inaccurately named Peoples Gardens are certainly not gardens for all the people who live in concrete jungle cities, particularly inner city neighborhoods of color. 

Here are some very smart people who get it and deserve your recognition.

Rick Bayless, chef extrordinaire and a favorite of Barack and Michelle Obama grows vegetables on the roof of Frontera Grill in EarthBox SIPs. Smart chef! Smart Chicagoan!

Vikram Bhatt, Director of the McGill School of Architecture’s Minimum Cost Housing Group (MCHG) initiated the McGill Edible Campus. This award winning campus garden was created by students who made the SIP planters from recycled materials. The campus is a joy to behold. Smart educator, smart students! Smart Canadians!

The Rooftop Garden Project in Montreal is the grand daddy of rooftop gardens all over the world. It has been a proving ground for many different sub-irrigation and simple hydroponics methods for many years. The young people who staff this and other gardens provide fresh vegetables to the Santropol Roulant kitchen. Read their rooftop gardening guidebook. Watch a video about the project. Smart rooftop gardeners! Smart Canadians

Ken Waagner, unsung hero of modern urban gardening, managed to get EarthBox SIPs installed on the granite steps of the Museum of Science and Industry and the rooftop deck of the Smart Home. Smart business man! Smart Chicagoan! (smart museum CEO and smart architect too!)

Ron Wolford, Madiem Kawa, of the U of IL Extention Program and Cook County Master Gardners are the ones who create, manage and maintain the innovative gardens, including EarthBox SIPs on the grounds of the Museum of Science and Industry & Smart Home. Smart educators! Smart Chicagoans!

Johanne Daoust in Toronto discovered SIPs last year, converted her entire rooftop garden (including traditional raised beds) and heard the applause of all of her friends. Smart professor! Smart Canadian! Read a prior post here.

Long time penpal Heidi Hough who created the SIP acronym, has been growing in SIP buckets for years. Smart editor! Smart Chicagoan!

Helen Cameron, co-owner of Uncommon Ground restaurants in Chicago grows some of her rooftop vegetables in EarthBox SIPs and also created a sidewalk garden with them. Smart business woman! Smart Chicagoan!

Lorraine Gibbons of Garden State Urban Farms founded a socially responsible business serving the needs of New Jersey urbanites of all stripes, including Newark Mayor Cory Booker. She grows in many EarthBox SIPs as well as a hydroponic greenhouse. Smart business woman! Smart New Jersian! Smart Mayor!

Larry Hall invented a very creative way to use SIPs and rain gutters to make an auto-irrigated gardening system. This SIP system has enormous potential for urban food production, school and community gardens in particular. Larry has done this for social good. Smart inventor! Smart Minnesotan!   

There are many, many more smart SIP gardeners across the country and around the world. We just haven't organized yet, but we will!

 

 

Toronto » Rooftop SIP City

Johanne Daoust in Toronto has been most helpful in posting a series of photos with notes that show how she converted her rooftop garden planters into sub-irrigated planters (SIPs - known erroneously as "self-watering"). Her planters include a variety of round planters as well as traditional wooden raised beds one of which is shown here.

The raised bed is shallow (for growing lettuce and greens) so she made the water and oxygen reservoirs from 4" diameter perforated corrugated drain pipe cut in half lengthwise reducing the height to just 2". She used sheet plastic to make the bed watertight (it is black on one side and white on the other).

The photo below shows the all important overflow drain hole tube (lower left). This is the feature that is critical to keeping the system in balance and preventing overwatering.

 She covered the reservoir pipes with landscape fabric. This prevents soil from falling through either the perforations or the open ends of the pipe.

This is a good idea and one that I will use in the future. Note that she folded back the landscape fabric in the photo (upper right) so that you can see the construction.

Here you can also see planter mix added to create the soil wicks (spaces between the pipes).

The next step is to fill the planter to the rim with planter mix before sowing seeds or setting starter plants.

See her Flickr photo set for views of how she converted other planters including ceramic with a drain hole into SIPs using methods very similar to what you see in the planter bed photos.

SIP Reservoirs Made With Perforated Corrugated Drain Pipe

Some of the sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) shown on this blog (raised beds, mortar box, windowbox SIPs Flickr photo set) were made using perforated corrugated drainpipe. The pipe(s) form the water/oxygen reservoir.

Most of the pipes shown in the SIP photos came from a Lowe’s store here in Brooklyn last summer (2010). Little did I know that it was seasonal and not a standard store item. The perforated pipe was rigid in a 10-foot length and cost about $5.50.

It is possible the source of this perforated corrugated drainpipe is Hancor, Inc. I will inquire in the coming week. Inquire on your own if you have an immediate need. They are not likely to sell directly to you as a consumer but they can say where the pipe might be available at retail.

Bottom line, it now appears that the type of pipe I bought is not widely available at retail in the U.S.  An alternative is the FLEX-Drain shown above (available in 12' & 25' lengths). Their website indicates that Lowe’s, Menard’s and Ace Hardware among others are retail sources. I do not know how widely available it is. Your feedback will be helpful to other readers.

If I were making sub-irrigated raised bed or box planters at this time, I would use inverted nursery trays to form the reservoir system. The good news is that they are free. You will need to do some scouting at your local garden centers and landscape contractors. There are tons of them out there. You just need to take the time to search.

There are many other types of recycled food containers that would work equally as well. It depends on what you eat and what is available to you.

Well Designed Rooftop Garden Planters

This is one of the better rooftop garden designs that I have seen in my travels around the web. The one missing ingredient however is sub-irrigation.

There are raised bed planters of various designs all over the world but very few of them are sub-irrigated. Because of urban soil contamination and other reasons, they may be the most popular form of urban gardening other than traditional in-ground growing.

Regrettably, there is very little information about how to construct them along with the news about the major benefits they offer. Sub-irrigated planters including raised beds will produce more food per square foot than even drip irrigated plantings. At the same time, they save up to 90% of the water. Further, there is no runoff into the surrounding environment.

One source of information about sub-irrigated beds is Australia. A search on the term “wicking beds” will lead to some valuable information about people growing food under difficult climatic conditions. 

Although it may seem so due to buzz about the EarthBox and DIY versions, sub-irrigated agriculture is certainly not new. Search Google Books and you will find information about sub-irrigation from more than 100 years ago. The current lack of consumer information is a sad commentary on our horticultural education system.

Our horticultural and botanic institutions ignore their obligation to the public to present options rather than dictate only one method. There are many modern options of producing food other than growing in often-contaminated urban soil.

via www.theecologist.org

They used to sleep beneath London's Queen Elizabeth Hall. Now a pioneering collaboration between the Southbank Centre and a housing association is giving a group of ex-homeless a chance to create a rooftop garden

Cucumber Trellis » Need One? Store Bought or DIY?

 

 

Do you need a trellis for your cucumber vines? Should it be store bought or can you make one yourself?

Incidentally, it's best to sub-irrigate your raised beds whether you use a trellis or not. You will produce more and better cukes along with whatever else you are growing while saving water and time.

Share your experience and opinion with a comment below.

via www.gardeners.com

Trellis Keeps Cucumbers Straight and Blemish-Free

Portable Micro Gardens (SIPs) From Recyclables

Here is a portable micro garden (aka sub-irrigated planter - SIP) made from recycled plastics installed in a mortar box.

The same method works in any watertight container including a traditional raised bed lined with sheet plastic. It is a universal method. 

This is one sure way to avoid the hazard of often-contaminated city soil. The bonus is increased productivity in the range of 50% more vegetables per square foot vs. in-ground growing while saving up to 90% of the water.

The recycled plastic containers create water and oxygen reservoirs. The front row is an inverted nursery flat, the second is a row of strawberry containers and the third (blue containers) held mushrooms. Note that there are aeration holes drilled (or use a hot poker) in the tops of the reservoirs.

The fill tube (upper left) is a water bottle with the bottom cut off. Note that there is no need for connection pipes between the reservoirs. The bottom of the planter acts as the connection "pipe". Water will flow and fill each reservoir.

The soil in the spaces between the recycled containers forms a wicking system. The photo shows the planter only partially filled for demonstration purposes. It is now ready for filling to the top with soil mix and planting of either seeds or starter plants.

Australia » Wicking Beds Also Known as Sub-irrigated Raised Beds

These planters in Australia not only look good they are highly productive and most importantly they conserve precious water. In cities, they provide vital protection against toxic metal soil contamination.

We call them sub-irrigated planters (SIPs). The Aussies call them wicking beds. Fair enough. Note that they do not call them self-watering beds.

Following is an instructable that shows you how to make these beds as sub-irrigated planters (read the comments too). It is really quite simple. Line the planter with sheet plastic and install a water/oxygen reservoir (in this case perforated ag pipe). I favor recycled nursery flats or other recycled food containers that are relatively flat or low profile.

Why are there not wicking beds/sub-irrigated raised beds all over New York City, all over America? To paraphrase James Carville, it's our education stupid.

via www.instructables.com

"The wicking worm bed is a highly productive growing system which not only produces more food from limited water, but also recycles waste organic material to provide plant nutrient and capture carbon. The essence is to form an underground reservoir of water or pond contained by a waterproof container or liner below the surface of the soil. Plants are productive because they have a continuous supply of water and nutrients." Colin Austin

Sub-irrigated Raised Beds » Ready Made Kits to Convert

This is an interesting collection of raised bed gardening kits. Any and all of them could be sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) with some simple modifications.

The results would be in the range of 50% more fresh produce with a water saving in the range of 90%.

The key design components:

1. Water tight container. Line with plastic sheeting if necessary.

2. Water & oxygen reservoir(s) - corrugated perforated drain pipe, or inverted nursery flats or recycled plastic food container with holes punched in the tops and bottoms.

3. Overflow drain hole(s) when used outdoors.

Of course if you are a woodworker you can make your own but these kits are handy for time-short people who can afford them.

Here is a Flickr photo set showing very simple methods to make sub-irrigated raised beds and other types of sub-irrigated planters (SIPs).

Sub-irrigated Raised Bed Liners

 

 

 

Gardener's Supply has some on target products but this isn't one of them. The best way to line a raised bed is with impervious plastic sheeting, rather than one that allows water to drain.

This product assumes top watering when clearly the best way to irrigate a raised bed is by sub-irrigation.

Have a look at this Flickr photo set to see sub-irrigated raised beds and other types of SIPs. 

via www.gardeners.com

Use a Raised Bed Anywhere with Grow Bed Liners