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Questions and Answers
We live on 1/10th of an acre in a downtown urban area, with very little space for a beautiful urban garden, but I would LOVE to be able to grow more than I currently can in containers. Most of our yard is taken up by a concrete car pad; we plan to remove it eventually, but until then, how can we build raised gardens that drain well? Should we fill the bottom of our boxes with gravel? I really want to grow pumpkins. The space I have is roughly 30 x 30 ft. I'd also like to raise chickens…the area is fenced, would they be okay on a paved area with raised garden boxes? I've checked and it IS legal to keep chickens on our property.
Use 2X6 board (Never pressure treated for a garden) Just plain unfinished board.
Nail the edges together.
For drainage:
Line the bottom of the boxes you build with 1" plastic pipe drilled with1/2 inch holes 1 foot apart Making sure the pipes exit through 1" holes you'll need to drill out of the bottom of the 2X6.
After you frame and lay the piping Fill it with sifted Organic Garden Soil,
unless you want to take a chance on pesticide or other contamination.
You could line it with gravel but you need at least 4-6 inches for the root systems of most plants.
Pumpkins you plant in a mound so pile the soil up in a 2'X2' mound and plant 3 plants per mound spaced evenly apart in a triangle pattern.
Being that you're working with a confined space on top of a concrete pad you may want to purchase a small hand held water gauge to make sure you're watering sufficiently and not excessively.
One costs under 10 dollars.
Heck you can just dump a load of soil on top of the pad, level it out and plant if you don't want to get too technical, but one good rainstorm could potentially wash away all your hard work.
It won't be cheap, so you may consider just getting rid of the pad or being content with container gardening until you do.
I need help for homework.
Sorta what it sounds like – a garden, in an urban area. Or a garden in a city.
Food prices are rising recently on the back of inflated oil prices as a result of our over reliance on a centralized industrial food production system. Many people wonder when the government will do something about it. But is the real solution perhaps right in our own backyards? Could this current price increase be the catalyst for a move towards a more decentralized and environmentally sustainable way of keeping everyones table full of healthy foods?
Http://wcbstv.com/video/?id=112347@wcbs….
Permaculture! See this video which shows how a couple used their tiny maisonette garden just outside London. The garden is very small but it is enormously productive.
Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpOoLYXKF…
Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtyLzD60D…
Quoted from site below Benefits of Community Gardens:
* Improves the quality of life for people in the garden
* Provides a catalyst for neighborhood and community development
* Stimulates Social Interaction
* Encourages Self-Reliance
* Beautifies Neighborhoods
* Produces Nutritious Food
* Reduces Family Food Budgets
* Conserves Resources
* Creates opportunity for recreation, exercise, therapy, and education
* Reduces Crime
* Preserves Green Space
* Creates income opportunities and economic development
* Reduces city heat from streets and parking lots
* Provides opportunities for intergenerational and cross-cultural connections
Take a look at my profile for a link to my Youtube account to watch more permaculture videos.
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