Posts Tagged ‘urban gardening’

Welcome to the newest GitC contributor, Kim Hodgson.  You can read more of Kim’s work at Cultivating Sustainability. In 2005, I started my very first garden in a fabulously sized plot in the shared yard of our apartment in Blacksburg, VA. I learned quite a bit that first spring (e.g. there’s a reason why you should space seedlings a certain distance apart from one another, so as not to create a jungle garden). The next season (same plot) I felt quite experienced and confident in my gardening skills, but quickly realized that each season is different and brings with it different challenges (weather, pests, etc.). Apartment Garden Plot | Blacksburg, VA My husband and I then moved to Alexandria, VA, where I was exceptionally lucky to discover that the Chinquapin Park Community Garden was expanding and had some extra, unclaimed plots. My friend, Sara, and I were able to take over

This is part 3 of a 4 part “Grown in Louisiana” series on urban gardening initiatives in the state of Louisiana. Part 1: Grown in Louisiana: Donaldsonville, LA freedom garden teaches kids about their roots Part 2: Grown in Louisiana: What’s Growing in the Freedom Garden? In the previous two parts, I explored the history and mission of the freedom garden in Donaldsonville.  What you didn’t see much of is the impressive signage that serves to educate visitors as to the meaning behind the garden.  The placards tell this history, the tradition, and the culture behind the items grown in the freedom garden. There are many lessons to be learned from the freedom garden. In the next post, I will try to discuss some of the most pertinent.

Last year, I built what I thought was the Most Indestructible Trellis Ever (MITE). Made with electrical conduit pipe and trellis netting, it happily accommodated all the peas, beans, and cucumbers I could grow in my community plot and I spent less than $20 on it, total. It worked great, looked nice, was cheap, and I could disassemble it easily for the winter. My only complaint: The netting I used had only 1″ holes, so I couldn’t reach my hand through it  to prune or pick vegetables on the other side. Here’s what it looked like, early in the season: This year, I scrapped the community plot because I didn’t have enough time to water—which is almost everyday in arid Denver—but I was eager to resurrect my Trellis. With upgrades, of course. Introducing the Most Indestructible Trellis Ever 2.0, which is so strong, I’m confident I could grow watermelons and

Several readers have asked me questions about how my garden is doing, and what’s growing in it.  Well, it’s been about 10 weeks, and I have some photos to show you! I started the plants from seed in late February, sowing some in seed starters and some directly in their self watering yogurt-cup planters.  The herbs have remained in their self-watering planters, though I had to thin them as they germinated.  I hate doing that, as the soft side of me likes to give every seedling a chance to grow. By mid-March, they were ready for bigger and better things.  I transplanted some of the hardier varieties, such as zuchinni and peas, to small pots to give the roots more room to grow.  The others I left in their seed starters.  This gave me the opportunity to move them outside during the day, and back inside during the cool nights.  The

George Ballser writes an article about how a new Binghamton, New York non-profit is turning two vacant lots into urban farms, and selling shares in a Community Supported Agriculture project.  The article in itself is promising, but it was a comment that really got me thinking: Commenter realjournalism wrote: OMG! You have got to be kidding me. Don’t these people know that just outside the city limits, about 5 minutes away, there is thousands of acres available for farming.. why would anyone take city property to grow a garden? I sure hope this isn’t some non-profit group and they better be collecting and paying sales tax on those tomatoes!! Initially, I didn’t really know how to react to this statement.  Perhaps the commenter had some good points – there IS land outside the city boundaries that could probably be used for farming.  And what about the sales tax question?  Urban

This photo of Greensgrow farms comes from Flickr user David Barrie. I heard much about this farm in graduate school, but I didn’t get the opportunity to visit. I hope to check it out on my next trip to Philly. David writes: Experimental urban farm in Kensington, Philadelphia: intended to be a prototype of urban agriculture that can be replicated by others. A combination of straight urban farming and community-supported agriculture (CSA). Check out David’s photostream for more great photos.

At some point, most people have the idea of opening a small business – perhaps a little B&B with fresh baked scones every morning; or a neighborhood bar that serves microbrews you craft yourself; or maybe even a small bake shop.  Tara Kolla, a resident of Silver Lake in Los Angeles, decided to sell bouquets of organic flowers, cut from the garden on her 21,000 square foot lot. That’s when the neighbors got involved. In graduate school, we learned about the NIMBY (envision a curmudgeonly old man or woman at a community meeting who cries “Not in my back yard!”)  In Tara’s case, the neighbors decided they didn’t want her business in the front yard. “They’re trying to grow it into something bigger than what should be in a small neighborhood,” said Frank San Juan, who lives across the street from Kolla. “When she started having these gardening workshops without