Urban Gardening: Indoor and Balcony Gardening Tips Posted on Nov 19, 2010 in DIY Projects , Emergency Preparedness & Survival , Urban Gardening, Farming & Homesteading It’s quite feasible to grow your own food even if you live in an urban space and have no outdoor room to garden. If you have just a bit of space on a balcony, patio or rooftop, you can grow even more. Gardening inside presents unique challenges. Supplies: where to find, how to have them shipped Space: small apartments aren’t conducive to traditional fruit-tree growing techniques Light: light levels are drastically reduced on the inside Crops: which will produce in shadier conditions Pollination: certain fruit crops require pollination (generally done by insects) in order to produce There are ways to get around all of these issues. The Internet has made getting supplies much easier. There are lots of things you can grow that are healthy, nutritious, and require relatively little space. Sprouting is one way to grow a lot of food in a little bit of space. Lettuce Peas Bush beans Kale
Extreme Urban Gardening: Straw Bale Gardens Here’s a very simple technique for gardening in tight spots and in places with no/terrible soil (from the arctic circle to the desert to an asphalt jungle). It’s also a great way to garden if you have limited mobility (in a wheel chair). What is Straw Bale Gardening? You simply plant your garden in straw bales. As you can see, the basic technique is actually quite simple. How to grow a Straw Bale Garden There are lots of techniques on how to grow a straw bale garden. Days 1 to 3: Water the bales thoroughly and keep them damp.Days 4 to 6: Sprinkle each bale with ½ cup urea (46-0-0) and water well into bales. Essentially, plant the seedlings like you would do in the ground. Remember, the bales (like most above ground gardening techniques) will need extra water and fertilizer during the early period. Plants Number Per Bale Tomatoes 2-3Peppers 4Cucumbers 4-6Squash 2-4Pumpkin 2Zucchini 2-3Lettuce Per package directionsStrawberries 3-4Beans Per package directions Resiliently yours,
Greening Medicinal Plants Climb Walls of Paris Pharmacy February 20, 2014 MaPharmacie is a Paris pharmacy of a greener kind. On the exterior, the standard green flashing cross which represents French pharmacies, belies what’s inside. Tinctures and capsules appear to float on living walls of medicinal plants, all reflected in mirrors … Read More… Rendezvous in Green: Botanical Tiled Vertical Garden February 19, 2014 Add this botanical tiled vertical garden space to the list of wonderful places to sneak off to for an afternoon rendezvous. Grow With the Glow: Mush-Lume Compostable Lamp Shade Grown From Mushrooms February 18, 2014 There is a creative fungus among us. Historical Roots: 6 Types of Hydroponic Gardening Systems and Countertop Planters January 14, 2014 When my kids were little, they enjoyed a family hydroponic gardening project conducted on the kitchen counter. New York City’s Intervale Green Rooftop Urban Farm Cultivates More Than Food January 10, 2014
3 Uses for Eggshells in the Garden and Beyond Photo Credit: Egg Shell Mulch by London Permaculture used under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter Eggshells are such a wonderful nature created invention. They provide the perfect protection for the raw egg material inside, which will become either human breakfast or a chicken. But did you know they can also benefit the garden. Well, they can and the tips below will help you maximize the use of these amazing little calcium-rich containers. 1. 2. 3. While eggshells in the garden may seem a little odd, they are free with ones breakfast and easy to use.