Posts filed under ‘Home Gardens’
Vertical Garden With Recycled PET Bottles
Interesting Brazillian design that recycles, decorates and provides food.
PERMABLITZ- Restoring Hawaii’s Food Security
7:30 p.m.–9:00 p.m.
January 9, 2012
Pukalani Community Center’s Poolroom.
Matthew Lynch will introduce PERMABLITZ– a grassroots movement restoring Hawaii’s food security, one backyard at a time – to Maui residents.
Matt is a local boy who has spent the last two years wandering the planet in search of people, places, and projects making a positive contribution to our world. His work in Sustainability, Regenerative Agriculture, and Regenerative Enterprise has taken him (so far) to Australia, New Zealand, Mongolia, Germany, and now to Maui.
Permablitz was recently featured on Hawaii News Now, and Matt recently shared the stage at TEDxHonolulu with some of Hawaii’s leading innovators.
Come and learn more about how the simple act of helping each other grow our own food can help build resilience, enrich lives, and move us beyond sustainability towards building communities which restore and enhance the world around us.
The event will be held at the Pukalani Community Center’s Poolroom (across from Foodland, connected to the swimming pool complex). It is free and open to the public. Questions, call Melanie at 573-9260
Indoor Electric Composter
Click image for History Channel video report.
You can add food scraps every day. Takes 2 weeks to make a basketful of ready-to-go compost. Very low electric usage.
The American Meadow Garden
In his new well-illustrated book, The American Meadow Garden, John Greenlee has targeted the Great American Lawn – that notorious sink of fossil fuels, water, chemicals and spare time – for destruction. “The revolution is clearly on,” he says, adding: “It’s a one-garden-at-a-time revolution.” Greenlee describes one of the most exciting new directions in horticulture and design, yards made of combinations of grasses and compatible accent plants for different kinds of meadows. One chapter catalogs grasses and grasslike plants now available in the horticultural trade; another showcases outstanding domestic meadows, including some of Greenlee’s own designs.
Vegetable gardens crop up in Seattle parking strips
Seattle Times Newspaper, July 25, 2009, By Maureen O’Hagan
The Seattle City Council is working to increase availability of affordable, locally grown food. One approach: allowing folks to grow vegetable gardens in parking strips — the no man’s land between sidewalk and curb.. (see full article)
Ecology Action
Ecology Action is a Santa Cruz, CA nonprofit environmental consultancy delivering cutting edge education services, technical assistance, and program implementation for initiatives that assist individuals, business and government to maximize environmental quality and community well being.
Since 1970 Ecology Action has combined municipal, foundation, and private funding to establish cutting-edge conservation programs, prove their effectiveness financially and operationally, and establish each program as a permanent community resource.
They seek innovative ways to instill environmental awareness, promote pragmatic change, and create opportunities for individuals, businesses, and community agencies to save money, create jobs, and contribute to a sustainable local economy.
Browse some of their current programs:
A Way to Control Nut Grass
This information on getting rid of nut grass (Purple nutsedge or Cyperus rotundus) comes from a C/T/H/A/R (College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources—University of Hawai’i Manoa) publication.
This is from removing from ornamental areas but seems appropriate for organic veggie gardens too—if you have 2-4 months.
Weed cloth, or woven black polypropylene weed mat, can be effective in suppressing purple nutsedge when used properly. It is porous to air and water and can be an effective tool for reducing underground tubers without the use of chemicals or tedious hand-weeding. It is a very durable material that can be re-used many times if handled carefully to avoid making holes by tearing. Using weed cloth against purple nutsedge requires that the garden area be fallow (not planted or tilled) for a period of 2–4 months. After the last crop is harvested, remove all plant residues by mowing or rototilling, and cover the planting area with the weed cloth. The method of securing the cloth to the soil is crucial in preventing purple nutsedge penetration through the weed cloth. The preferred securing method is to use long (10–12 inch) spikes fitted with a large flat washer. These spikes secure the weed mat to the ground but should not be used to pull the weed mat too tight. There should be enough slack to allow some air space between the soil and the weed mat. The worst way to secure the weed mat is to use rocks, soil, or other heavy objects. When the weed mat is held tightly to the ground, purple nutsedge shoots can push through the fabric.
With the weed mat properly in place, purple nutsedge is induced to sprout by generous and frequent watering. A new weed mat tends to repel water, but after a 2–3-week exposure to full sunlight, shrinkage occurs and water can pass through the material. As the purple nutsedge germinates, it pushes the weed mat upward, as if it was inflating it. The purple nutsedge grows so fast that when the pointed tip of the leaf blade gets caught in the weave of fabric, the rapidly elongating leaf blade starts to crinkle up behind it, and penetration of the cloth is thus prevented.
The weed mat must remain in place long enough for weeds to germinate below it and die from lack of sunlight. After several cycles of weed growth and die-back during the 2–4-month period, the weed mat can be removed and the garden replanted. Most of the weed propagules (including purple nutsedge tubers) will have tried to emerge and died.
When the plastic is removed, it is important not to disturb the soil unnecessarily. Cultivation brings up lower layers of soil that will likely contain viable weed seeds and purple nutsedge tubers. Mulching the soil surface after removing the weed cloth will help to suppress any weed seeds remaining in the soil and slow nutsedge germination by preventing increases in soil temperature.
Victory Gardens
What is a Victory Garden?
During World War I and World War II, the United States government asked its citizens to plant gardens in order to support the war effort. Millions of people planted gardens. Emphasis was placed on making gardening a family or community effort — not a drudgery, but a pastime, and a national duty.
Why plant a victory garden?
Today our food travels an average of 1500 miles from farm to table. The process of planting, fertilizing, processing, packaging, and transporting our food uses a great deal of energy and contributes to the cause of global warming.
Planting a Victory Garden to fight global warming would reduce the amount of pollution your food contibutes to global warming. Instead of traveling many miles from farm to table, your food would travel from your own garden to your table.
How can my actions make a difference? I’m only one person.
Each one of us may only be one person. However, we each have an impact on the environment and can make changes to reduce our impact.
I have no backyard, what can I do?
You can combine vegetable plants with flowers in your frontyard. You can plant in containers on your porch, patio, or balcony and can grow sprouts indoors. You can also choose to purchase foods which are grown close to home by visiting your local farmer’s market. If local foods are not available to you, choose foods which use fewer chemical pesticides – such as organics, are in season, or have minimal packaging.
Do I need to use a lot of pesticides to increase yield?
Organic soil building with compost pays for itself with increased plant productivity.
What do I do with the food that I grow?
Eat what you can and then share or preserve the rest.
Wondering how to get started?
Contact your local County Extension office for information on gardening in your area.
Community
Growing food with family, friends, and neighbors can be a community building experience. Trade produce and share tools with neighbors. Visiting the farmer’s market can bring you into direct contact with the people who are growing food.
Look for more information at:
Revive the Victory Garden website
Future FarmersVictory Gardens 2007+ website
Focus Maui Nui—Victory Gardens
Revive the Victory Garden website
Future FarmersVictory Gardens 2007+ website
South Maui Sustainability 