One of my goals in the next six months is to find a restaurant that would like to grow their own food on their walls and roof. Here is a restaurant in Chicago which has recently made this happen. This type of build-up is a traditional sytle raised garden bed but highlights how easily it can be done. I would like to set up a rooftop garden on a larger scale with rows of vegetables and bee hives. If you happen to know anyone who owns a restaurant and is forward thinking then please ask them to get in touch with Junglefy.
My cucumbers have come to the end of their life after a very productive two months. This was by far the most successful cucumber crop I have ever grown. I think the fact that the plants were raised off the ground prevented mildews from taking hold. Pollination by bees and other insects was much higher that I had had previously. The brocolli are still going strong and I expect them to start flowering in the coming weeks.
I am going to remove the coconut fibre from the green roof and replace with two different green roof mixes. One will be a specially designed with in-organic slow release fertilisers and the other will be similar but with organic nutrients. It is likely that the inorganic mix will work best initially but I believe the organic one will begin to catch up as the flora and fauna develop in the mix.
Have a look at this link to vertical farming which takes urban farming to the next level. I believe this is the way of the future but like the author indicates there is a fair amount of learning to be done first. Rather than growing food on a large scale like this it would make more sense for people (or robots??) to grow their own food on their own building or balconies.
I will post some photos of my vegetable garden in the coming days. Everthing is growing very well with the warm weather and rain.
If you would like to follow a quarterly article I write for The Food Coach. Please click on this link. There are lots of great recepies on this website to try out.
Happy gardening!!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
More pictures of my garden
I thought I would share some additional photos of my house and garden and highlight some of the sustainable features that have been incorporated into the design. The paving and edging throughout the garden uses recycled brick. These bricks have been pulled up from jobs that we have worked on through our sustainable landscaping company Green Rooms.
Buried beneath the paving is a 5,000L rainwater tank which is used to water the garden, green walls and the green roof. I am surprised at how quickly this amount of water is used up. The majority goes to watering the vegetables and fruit trees. I am currently looking into a suitable grey water system but am mindful that in a small garden a system that goes straight from the washing machine to the garden can cause problems over time with buildups of salts and other pathogens in the soil. To minimise this problem the grey water system needs to have a diverter on it so that different zones can be watered during different weeks. Remember though that grey water can not be used in the vegetable garden or on herbs.
In the top corner you can see a pizza oven that I have built. It is a fantastic addition to any backyard and if you have the room I highly recommend one. The wood that I use in the oven consists of cypress and Australian hardwood timber offcuts as well as hardwood timber that I source from a local tree maintenance company. My aim is to one day eat a pizza that is entirely made from produce grown in the garden. The toppings will be easy but growing and grinding the wheat for the flour will be the biggest challenge.
This is one of my two raised vegetable garden beds. This bed is built using naturally termite resistant Australian cypress. Having a raised bed is great for my son Fynn as it is at a perfect height for him to pull out all the little seedlings which unfortunately in his eyes look very similar to the weeds that I am pulling out.
The corn out the front is almost ready and the cucumbers are still producing on the chook house roof. I have some brocolli, lettuce and silver beet ready to plant out this weekend.
Buried beneath the paving is a 5,000L rainwater tank which is used to water the garden, green walls and the green roof. I am surprised at how quickly this amount of water is used up. The majority goes to watering the vegetables and fruit trees. I am currently looking into a suitable grey water system but am mindful that in a small garden a system that goes straight from the washing machine to the garden can cause problems over time with buildups of salts and other pathogens in the soil. To minimise this problem the grey water system needs to have a diverter on it so that different zones can be watered during different weeks. Remember though that grey water can not be used in the vegetable garden or on herbs.
In the top corner you can see a pizza oven that I have built. It is a fantastic addition to any backyard and if you have the room I highly recommend one. The wood that I use in the oven consists of cypress and Australian hardwood timber offcuts as well as hardwood timber that I source from a local tree maintenance company. My aim is to one day eat a pizza that is entirely made from produce grown in the garden. The toppings will be easy but growing and grinding the wheat for the flour will be the biggest challenge.
This is one of my two raised vegetable garden beds. This bed is built using naturally termite resistant Australian cypress. Having a raised bed is great for my son Fynn as it is at a perfect height for him to pull out all the little seedlings which unfortunately in his eyes look very similar to the weeds that I am pulling out. The corn out the front is almost ready and the cucumbers are still producing on the chook house roof. I have some brocolli, lettuce and silver beet ready to plant out this weekend.
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