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From the EarthBox Grow Like a Champion photo contest.
Secrets to tomato success:
EarthBox or DIY SIPs - Check
Auto-irrigation - Check
Rebar staking - Check
Lots of sun - Check
Just a little hands on help - Check
Anyone, anywhere can do this. All you need is some space in the sun.
The ground breaking for this impressive new urban food production project by Plantagon was last Thursday, February 9 in Linkoping, Sweden.
Reading about it made me think back to the days when I first entered the interior plantscaping business in the mid 1970's.
Sub-irrigation (prior posts), as a plant growing method, was relatively unknown in the U.S. at that time. Many of us in the interior plantscaping business, however, knew about it because of another Swedish company named MONA.
The MONA system (prior post) was an expandable, unitized “plumbing” system that could be adapted to any size planter or growing bed. We used MONA tanks along with Planter Technology planters to convert our entire company to sub-irrigation.
Now we are using the same basic principles of hydroponics to grow food in the city. This Plantagon project would have been beyond our imaginations back in those days. I’m grateful to be alive to see dreams like this happen.
Make no mistake about it, Plantagon is a serious business. This is not a dream. Companies like Plantagon and Valcent (prior posts) among others will most likely be the pace setters for the future of urban food production in cities around the world.
At this time, dirt gardens on rooftops get some rather over-the-top publicity here in the U.S. (particularly in NYC) but this out-dated approach will soon fade into history. Evidence of this is that we have many new hydroponics and aquaponics startup companies popping up all over the country.
Sad to say, however, that we currently have no significant and well-funded corporate ventures. When are we going to wake up to the realities of urban food production and modernize our antiquated horticultural education system? There are new businesses and new jobs to be had in this field and we are not yet in the game. We have no horse in the race.
via www.youtube.com
Read more about the Plantagon project:
via www.mynewsdesk.com
Seedstock.com has also done their usual fine job of reporting on this project.
A professional colleague attended the talk below and said that the audience was rather shocked by what they heard. The talk by soil scientist Thomas Rathier included information about toxic metals soil contamination.
There is no recording of the meeting but there is a PDF report authored by Mr. Rathier and others entitled Lead and Other Heavy Metals in Community Gardening Soils in Connecticut . Anyone who is growing or contemplates growing edible plants in urban dirt should read this document.
I applaud the Connecticut Horticultural Society for sponsoring this meeting. Perhaps they will now be more open to educating their members and other gardeners about the very serious health treat that accompanies growing edible plants in city soils.
At this time, site searches reveal that there is no information on their website about soil contamination. There is no warning to gardeners that they should have a toxic metals soil test before growing any plants in the ground.
There is also no information about sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) that are one of the best ways to eliminate exposure to toxic metals soil contamination. Thanks to a lack of educational leadership, the benefits of growing edible plants in sub-irrigated raised beds is largely unknown by the public.
The situation regarding toxic metals soil contamination is a very serious issue in the greater New York Metro region and at the present time is highly under publicized. My ever-growing database of information about urban soil contamination is now far larger than I ever anticipated. Stay tuned for more information to come.
If you haven't watched Frieda Lim's TEDxManhattan video How to Cultivate a Logo, she talks about urban soil contamination. As the mother of a small child she is particulalry concerned about this health hazard.
The Secrets of Soil: Talk hosted by the Connecticut Horticultural Society Thursday, January 19, at 7:30 p.m., Thomas Rathier, a soil scientist in Windsor, explains how to handle soil in ways that best protect your health and enhance your garden's health. Talk sponsored by the Connecticut Horticultural Society, held at Emanuel Synagogue, 160 Mohegan Drive, West Hartford, $10 (CHS members and full-time students with ID free). For more information, call 860-529-8713 or visit online.
Watch the progress of an "instant rooftop garden" at the Harold Washington college, one of the seven City Colleges of Chicago. Using sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) like these EarthBoxes it took a minimal amount of time and effort to create a highly productive and portable edible garden for the benefit of the students and faculty.
What you see here is only the initial test garden installed last summer. The plan is to expand the project throughout the City Colleges of Chicago system in the future.
The EarthBoxes were donated by the E.A.T. organization in Chicago. They deserve much credit for what they have done. Read more about the project on the Harold Washington college blog.
We would surely benefit from an E.A.T. type organization here in NYC where we seem to be stuck in the dirt. This too shall pass. The light of modernity is slowly dawning and it will happen before too long.
via eat-chicago.org
It was pleasure to find this TEDx video about some very smart young business heads from the Haas School of Business at Berkeley, California. It is particularly refreshing in that we have a plethora of rather noisy Berkeley foodies and Alice Waters Edible Schoolyard (all dirt) acolytes here in the Big Apple.
This is the story of a very clever entrepreneurial idea that literally mushroomed into a local urban agriculture, urban food and consumer product business success.
When we are more successful in getting the attention of other entrepreneurial minds we will most likely witness an explosion of new businesses, jobs and urban food production products in the U.S. It should mean many new businesses and jobs that currently do not exist.
We just need to get past the often anti-business hippie mentality that currently dominates the conversation, particularly here in NYC. Based on daily research, there is no doubt that this too shall pass. It will just take some time.
It is encouraging to see that many progressive business ideas have already emerged with many new aquaponics, hydroponics and other innovative urban agriculture businesses popping up across the country. Stay tuned for many more new blog posts about them.
Note the bright red TEDx logo in the video. If you have not seen it, check out Frieda Lim's How to Cultivate a (TEDx) Logo video. Her very green version of the logo has a surprising secondary function.
Their website: BacktotheRoots.com
Read more about Nikhil and Alejandro
Continue reading "TEDxTalks » Two Smart Berkeley Business Heads Score Success with Mushrooms" »
If your interest is entrepreneurial urban agriculture, there is a do-not-miss event coming up at the UCLA Anderson School of Management on Wednesday, March 7, 2012 from 6 to 9 pm .
If I were still living in Southern California, I would be there in a heartbeat. There are people on the panel who are in the forefront of modern method urban food production. I would love to hear and meet them.
Here is the lineup:
Colin and Karen Archipley, founders of Archi’s Acres and the Veterans Sustainable Agriculture Training (VSAT) program. They are located in San Diego North County and include hydroponics in their production and training. Among other locations, they sell produce at the Hillcrest Farmers Market in my old San Diego neighborhood. That brings back good memories.
David Rosenstein: Founder of EVO Farm, an urban farming organization in Los Angeles. EVO Farm operates the only commercial aquaponics farm in L.A. David is Chair of the Aquaponics Association – Western Region. He also serves on the Los Angeles Food Policy Council.
Pierre Sleiman: Founder and CEO of Go Green Agriculture, located in Encinitas, San Diego. Go Green Agriculture is a Southern California leader in hydroponics and the integration of information systems technology with greenhouse automation.
Jesse DuBois and Dan Allen: Founders of Farmscape Gardens, a Los Feliz, Los Angeles based gardening business that provides organic garden installation and maintenance throughout Southern California. They provide a variety of modern looking raised beds and planters. It does not appear, however, that they are sub-irrigated.
tickets via seedstockandersonevent.eventbrite.co