Our Purpose
is to inform decision makers of the significant environmental, health, business productivity and aesthetic benefits of including live plants in our indoor environments
The
early Spring is normally our busy show season and between the Go
Green Expo NYC
and GRSC
in Baltimore, it is great to be back home. Beside the busy
spring show season it is also time to garden! Personally, my gardens
have become my time to relax, and even better an opportunity to
involve my family. The kids help plant and my wife makes jam
and pickles from what we harvest.
Since 3,000 BC families
produced crops for their own consumption and some marginal barter.
In 1840, 69% of the labor force was farming, in 1930 it was 21% and
in 1990 only 2.6% of the labor force is farming
(www.agclassroom.org/gan/timeline/index.htm).
There has been an obvious decline in farming in North America since
the 1800’s. Before we talk about green walls I want to review
some key points in history about American agriculture.
Planting
a Victory Garden for the cause was patriotic and sustainable.
From 1939 to 1945 the world
was at war, and Americans were asked to divert materials and efforts
to the war effort. At the time this was a call for
self-reliance, recycling, and conservation of raw materials.
Sounds like another definition of Sustainability … Compare the
circa 2008 vs. the 1940 definition of self-reliance, amazing how
history repeats itself. The public was encouraged to plant
“Victory Gardens” in all shapes and sizes. “Nearly 20
million Americans answered the call. They planted gardens in
backyards, empty lots and even city rooftops,”
(http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org).
A
small spot will do.
According to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture an estimated 20 million victory gardens
were planted. Fruit and vegetables harvested in these home and
community plots were estimated to weigh 9-10 million tons, an amount
equal to all commercial production of fresh produce. The
program made a difference except after the war, the promotion of
gardens stopped and the commercial agriculture industry was not
prepared for the demand, creating a shortage of fruits and
vegetables. During these times of urban gardens there was also
a significant decrease in transportation going to and from the
market.
As I write it makes me realize
that either my wife or I are at the grocery store at least 4-5 times
a week for bread, milk or some type of produce. What if we
would simply grow all of our own produce and eliminate 3 trips to the
store? As the farming labor force decreased and the urban farms
changed so did agricultural technology, including the introduction to
pesticides, machinery, seed altering genetics and growing methods.
Let’s go back to basics; you
don’t need a plot of land to maintain your own crop-producing
gardens. With evolution and urban development, the removal of
fertile land was replaced with concrete and buildings and there arose
alternative ways to produce crops - you guessed it, green walls for
crop production. As per my last article it’s not all about
the “Outer
Beauty…..it’s also the Inner Function.”
My
wife is a traditionalist and we prefer not to purchase pickles, jams
and jellies; we do our own canning when possible. In fact, we grow
our own strawberries for strawberry jam, harvest our own salad and
spinach and even grow thumbnail carrots, squash, cucumbers and more.
Re-visit “Green Wall” (Green
Walls Part I)
as a global term used to reference a variety of vegetated wall
surfaces. Within the term “Green Wall” we have two specific
categories, Green
Facades and Living Walls.
•
‘Green
Facade’ or
facade greening features a training structure that support vines or
climbing plants growing upward from the ground away from the building
(GW101, 2008).
Green Facade can now be dissected into two
additional categories of product applications:
• A
multidimensional, welded wire trellising system;
• A variety of
stainless steel cable and mesh systems.
Both systems support a
variety of climbing plant material, can be customized, and some are
available in a variety of colors.
• ‘Living
Wall’ is
part of a building envelope system, comprising pre-vegetated or
planted on site panels containing plants, growing medium or liquid
nutrient installed in or on a frame, secured to a structural wall, or
it can be free standing (GW101, 2008).
Living Walls can also
be migrated into two distinct categories:
• Hydroponics wall
which uses recirculation water to deliver nutrients directly to the
roots of the plant material;
• Soil or growing media based
walls. T hese walls are made up of a variety of modules that retain
growth media to support plant material.
You want to have a
vertical garden, what system do you use? The question is for
you to question or talk with one of the manufacturers mentioned.
When I lecture about green walls I make it clear each system has
their limitation; each has pros and cons. Many features include
plastic vs. recycled metals, powder coating, growing media depths,
drainage, watering systems, mounting, maintenance and more. The
common point is that when vegetation survivability issues arise, the
system itself is not to blame for plant failure.
Look at the
system just as you would a terracotta pot. If you plant the
correct plant in relation to the pot, allow for proper lighting,
nutrients and care for your plant, it will thrive. If the basic
needs of the plant are not met or the plant is not right for the pot
and the plant dies, do you blame the pot? The same hold true to
the green wall systems. You need to choose plants that are
conducive to the environment and care you apply in relationship to
the systems limitations.
The cable and wire mesh systems
(Greenscreen, Jakob, CarlStahl) would be more then adequate for
climbing grapes, beans and supporting tomatoes, but require an area
below to support the root structure. Without a planter or space
requirements these systems are limited for vertical crop production,
unless the plant is a climber. Some of the living wall systems
have more limitations then others.
The standard ELT living wall
panel has a 2.25” depth and would be best suited for fast growing
leafy greens and some shallow rooted herbs that can be harvested
during the early season. The Green Living™ Wall by Green
Living™ Technologies offers a wide range of planting depths from 3”
to 6” and has shown long term success with everything from
tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, eggplant, strawberries,
peppers and even watermelon. Both systems can produce edible
foods with the use of growing media supported on a vertical surface
or free standing.
Making a choice of systems for
your garden may be dictated by the area you have to work with, and
most of the systems are very flexible from a design perspective.
Greenscreen will customize the project to specification; Jakob and
CarlStahl are very flexible since they are cable systems and can be
assembled with average carpentry skills to meet any dimension.
The ELT system consists of a single plastic 20”x 20” panel that
can be cut horizontally. Measure carefully because cutting the
structure vertically will remove one of the side walls and irrigation
will flow outside the structure, so try to keep your measurements of
the ELT panel even in order to prevent cutting them vertically.
The Green Living™ Wall has very flexible dimensions and has
standard stock in 1 foot increments and they can customize any other
measurement or curve you request including planting depths from 3”,
4” and 6”.
Other options for growing
vertical or at least elevated crops can be demonstrated here using an
old cat litter container with a hole drilled in the bottom and
painted green. The owner also planted Basil in the top.
Special thanks to www.marshalllee.net
for sharing.
Here are some examples of some
of year's Irwin family's crops including watermelon in the lower left
hand side of the picture on the left. In the past we found that
the following can also hold themselves on the wall without any
problems or soil loss: tomatoes, peppers, leafy greens, strawberries,
herbs, thumbnail carrots, and dandelion.
In addition to the above
examples, the following is showing a 100% success rate with the help
of a rack system under the panels to support the fruits which
include: watermelon, zucchini, cucumbers and squash.
How about growing your own
wheat grass? In my travels I found energy shots of wheat grass
selling for as high as $9.00 per shot. The truth is, you can
grow your own for pennies. The picture at left is a juice bar that
has panels of wheat grass growing out back while the one below is in
the store is cut for use in a variety of energy drinks and smoothies.
If
you grow it, you know it!
How does your garden grow?
I hope you enjoyed these gardening ideas, agriculture history and the
rejuvenation of what I like to call the “Sustainable Garden”
instead of the Victory Garden.
Remember that each
system has various limitations, space consumption, potential mounting
possibilities, and applications as some units can be indoors.
Even the material it is manufactured from can play a role in a
successful vertical garden. It's not rocket science if we can
grow our own produce, especially during the geographic growing
seasons, and if we could we eliminate trips to grocery store, what
would the residual results be? How much in gas could we save?
How much carbon can we offset? And the issue of food security
would rest with us at home.
Go out and garden - the worst
thing that can happen is you end up with great organically grown
tomatoes and you spend time with your family doing it.
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