Inside Urban Green

Smart Corn At The Smart Home

This is a view from the entrance to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. It is the site of the Smart Home, now in its third season. Think the corn is growing in the ground? Guess again.

It is probably difficult for most dirt gardeners to believe that this corn is growing in a sub-irrigated planter (SIP) called an EarthBox that is only 29" long, 13.5" wide and 11" high.

Incidentally, you can see more smart EarthBox SIPs on the roof-top deck of the Smart Home in the distance. They have the potential to help make all homes a lot smarter.

It has been a pleasant surprise to an ever growing community of dirt gardeners to discover that SIP's can out-produce in-ground gardening. It’s true and you can easily prove it to yourself, no green thumb required.

Baskets Of Fresh Food For Kids In The City

These Chicago school kids and a mom are going to enjoy a bounty of fresh greens from a city farm of an unusual kind.

Have a look at the photos below and see where it came from. EarthBoxes are growing fresh food on the cold granite steps of the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry entrance. Does this look like a farm? Well it is.

If our education system was working we would have many more sub-irrigated planter (SIP) farms and gardens like this in cities across the country.

In my view, the fact that we don't have them is a national disgrace. Part of the reason is here.

More photos follow.

Lack of Modern Urban Food Production Information: Extension Program Policy or Ignorance?

Why is this such an under publicized story?

This is definitely my favorite photo of the urban greenscaping movement. What a great shot. The backdrop of this wonderful outdoor urban theater includes the Smart Home and the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Are there any more important words for the future of America than smart, home, science and industry? Let's add two more critically important words that are also a part of this picture, education and youth.

The onstage performers are Cook County Illinois Master Gardeners. The audience sitting on entrance steps to the museum is composed of students. The steps are home to the "EarthBox Smart Garden”. 

What a complete story in only one photo. There's just one problem and it's a big one. We are not replicating this story across the country or even in Chicago. Someone should answer why this is. There are really just two possible answers, ignorance or unpublicized policy on the part of the Extension Program. Of course, neither of these is acceptable. 

It is significant to know at the outset that the UN donated the EarthBox sub-irrigated planters (SIPs). Why are we in need of UN aid to do the right thing?

What is even more disturbing is that the local extension program is essentially mute on the subject of these modern methods. Unbelievably they appear to be stuck in a bygone drain hole age. 

Following are links to recent Chicago Extension Program web sites on the subject of edible container gardening. A local extension program educator wrote each of them (one of them is heavily involved in the Smart Home EarthBox garden).

Each of them somehow manages to ignore the reality of the very successful Smart Home SIP garden. Read for yourself.

Tips For Great Looking Container Gardens  - University of Illinois Extension - There Is no mention of “self-watering” planters, sub-irrigation (SIPs) or EarthBoxes, only the usual and tired drainage admoniton.

Watch Your Garden Grow – University of Illinois Extension – There is an easy-to-overlook mention of the earthbox (lower case) that links nowhere. It's close to the "must have drainage" dumbness. Without explanatory information it might just as well not be there. Few readers would even notice. See if you can find it. I found it only by using a search feature. 

We all need to speak up about out-of-date horticultural information paid for by taxpayers. This is particularly true in light of the current campaign to fight obesity, improve nutrition, produce more local food and a perceived need for expensive in-ground school gardens. As is often said, “In a democracy, the people get the government they deserve." This one appears to be stuck in the dirt. 

The Smart Home Will Get a Smart Master Gardener Garage

According to a Ron Wolford Tweet, Brian Corsetti, aka Garage Mahal of the DIY Network is going to remodel the Smart Home garage into a Master Gardener work space. Very cool! They deserve it. When I get new knees, I'll be there!

From a drive-in movie theater complete with flat-screen TVs to a Vegas-style casino that descends from the ceiling, DIY Network's Garage Mahal takes tricking out your garage to a new level. With a little ingenuity, expert host Brian Corsetti transforms everyday garages into unusual, jaw-dropping spaces.

via www.diynetwork.com

Help Put a Dent in Diabetes: Start Here!

Thanks to Extension Program Educator Ron Wolford and a group of Chicago Master Gardeners, these kids from the Bret Harte school have just experienced the joy of harvesting their own fresh vegetables. 

The vegetables were grown in EarthBox sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) on the steps of the Museum of Science and Industry, site of the Smart Home.

Why aren't we doing this all over the country to help fight our national problem of obesity and diabetes? The problem isn't money. It is an educational problem pure and simple.

Source:Cook County Master Gardeners at Museum of Science

Modern Age Urban Gardening: These Kids, Parents And Teachers Get It!

Thanks to Extension Program Educator Ron Wolford and a group of Chicago Master Gardeners, kids from the Bret Harte School learned that there is more to urban food production than pulling a hoe or stepping on a spade.

And The EarthBoxes Are Settled Down For A Long Winter's Nap

TweetPhotos courtesy of Ron Wolford, U of IL Cooperative Extension

The EarthBoxes in winter storage at the Museum of Science and Industry Smart Home in Chicago may be asleep but these brains are wide awake and alert planning the 2010 garden. Go Smart Home green team!

EarthBoxes on the Smart Home Upper Deck

Photos by Ron Wolford

Thanks again to University of Illinois cooperative extension educator Ron Wolford we have more photos of the EarthBoxes installed at the Smart Home on the grounds of the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

It is significant to note that the EarthBoxes used in this leading edge project were donated by The Growing Connection, a unit of the UN Food And Agriculture (FAO) organization. This wouldn't have happened without the help of the UN, an interesting commentary about the state of urban horticulture in America.

Look down from the deck and see corn and tomatoes growing in EarthBoxes on the entrance steps to the museum.

Smart Home: EarthBoxes on Rooftop Deck

EarthBoxes on rooftop deck, (May 22, 2009) originally uploaded by Cook County Master Gardeners at Museum of Science and Industry.

EarthBoxes on Rooftop Deck, (May 22, 2009) originally uploaded by Cook County Master Gardeners at Museum of Science and Industry.

These photos of EarthBoxes at the Smart Home on the grounds of the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago are from early May this year. These are immature plants only starting their life of abundance and productivity.



I will soon post photos that are more recent. They will clearly demonstrate the robust growth of the EarthBox plants and the bounty of fresh vegetables they produce with so little effort. Do not attribute these extraordinary benefits to the EarthBox alone. They are generic benefits of sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) including those that are home made.

Even those of low income can access the benefits of SIPs. All it takes is education, which is currently in short supply. We desperately need competent educators in the field of modern urban greenscaping.

We can thank The Growing Connection (a UN FAO organization) for donating the EarthBoxes, the Cook County Master Gardeners and the leadership of University of Illinois cooperative extension agent Ron Wolford for these valuable photographs. While Chicago has a long way to go, it is clearly on the right path. It is arguably the urban greenscaping leader of the United States. 

I will not stop asking the question of why this same type of modern urban greenscaping is not taught to people of all ages, all across the country. It is particularly disturbing that horticultural institutions in my home city of New York are essentially mute on the subject.

In my professional view, it is malpractice of high order. Unfortunately, there is little or no peer review within the system. On the surface, it appears to be a cabal of mediocrity if not incompetence. 

The Future is Now and it is About Education

This is a favorite photo because it tells a story far better than my rhetoric in just one frame. It represents what should be happening all across America. It represents enlightenment and open mindedness in a field far too prone to the opposite.

At the right is the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, to the left is the forward looking Smart Home, at the center are master gardeners, on the steps are young students and in the foreground are sub-irrigated EarthBoxes (prior posts).

These students will know more about growing edible plants in the city than most garden writers and horticulturists I read in my daily research. They are the urban greenscapers of the future and we need them badly. More importantly, they are the future teachers we need to staff community college certificate programs in all of our cities.  

Chicago should thank a forward looking extension program agent named Ron Wolford for encouraging the use of sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) and teaching young people about them. He is one of very few USDA extension program agents who get it. I know of no other one like him.

Ron not only gets it about modern greenscaping methods, he gets it to the point of having a Facebook page and Tweets regularly. Ron is obviously in tune with the modern world. I can learn from him. Like many of us, I have a Facebook and Twitter membership but have not done anything with them. Stay tuned. They are definitely on the agenda along with convincing a New York City community college to start an Urban Greenscaping certificate program. Maybe we can get Ron Wolford to help.