We could end starvation on this planet if people learned how to plant beans! Do you know how easy it is to plant beans? 2″ apart, 2″ deep.It’s up to the people! (Jimmy Keyes, The Bronx)
Remember this old maxim, KISS? Keep It Simple Stupid? Well, Jimmy Keyes understands how critical it is in moving out of hunger if you k.i.s.s. I’ve never met Jimmy Keyes but I like him. And I found myself in love with most of the folks he knows.
Jimmy Keyes is one of the gardeners introduced to us in the “filmic journey” by Meryl Joseph entitled City Farmers, a deeply moving portrayal of what takes place in gardens of the inner city of New York. K.I.S.S. are the words I prefer to live by, parent by, garden by, landscape by and promote here on this website. Not because people are inherently stupid (certain Presidents excepted) but because we, in this more technologically advanced society, tend to gravitate towards ideas or concepts or actions that are more complex, costly and difficult to attain. (Did I just define capitalism?) We believe that more is better–even if it isn’t. Which explains to me why so few organizations purporting to be humanitarian and at the same accruing millions of dollars to deal with the growing worldwide hunger issues, haven’t really been able to accomplish long-term changes. It is that frustrating observation that put me into this website. And which keeps me researching and falling in love all over again with videos like City Farmers and the contributions of folks like Dr. Job Ebenezer, former director of Environmental Stewardship at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in downtown Chicago back in the 1990′s. Dr. Ebenezer set out to prove how to utilize otherwise wasted rooftop space to increase available food production with recycled children’s wading pools. Add to that the growing interest in community gardening and urban sustainability and well, you had a winner from the get go.
According to the article about community gardening on the arts4all website which promotes the ELCA project: “The demonstration garden has proved to be highly successful. In 1997, gardeners harvested 984 pounds of vegetables from 38 pools in an area measuring 1,625 square feet. One pool alone yielded an average of 22.5 pounds of tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, zucchini and a variety of greens. This is equivalent to about 26,800 pounds. per acre, which far exceeds that of commercial yields in the state of Wisconsin and even the national 1996 average yields.” Pretty amazing for a piece of cheap molded plastic with holes in it and some compost and topsoil. Now why can’t this happen in other places?
So this is my request for Thanksgiving: if you know a church organization, non-profit, homeless shelter, humanitarian aid organization in your community or on your email list, send them to this website and especially to this link. Today I focused on one of the cheapest, easiest to construct and maintain and richly abundant above-ground garden designs. It can work well in almost any climate and it’s created from a nearly ubiquitous and abundant material. It’s not difficult. It takes just minutes to construct. There are plenty of folks on the ground from Dr. Ebenezer to Urban Gardening to E.C.H.O. who have been in the forefront of training and utilizing these systems for a couple of decades now. So send this KISS to folks who can make a difference. And then try one for yourself!
- How do you spell the simplest, unrefined garden system that can be located nearly anywhere in the world? I bring you the “jeep” of gardens: TIRES! (Or TYRES for those who write in funny English.)
You see them everywhere: along the road, piled next to garages, dumped in ravines, and some are even finding uses as walls for houses, outbuilding or fences. What else can you do with used tires? How about building ponds, compost bins or a GARDEN!
DID YOU KNOW? Over 300 MILLION tires are thrown away each year and the United States accounts for nearly three-fourths of them. Even South Africa throws out a minimum of 129,600,000 kg annually (according to South Africa Trends) of the vulcanized circles and the pile just keeps growing according to the North American Recycled Tire Association. Approximately 33% of used tires are recycled or utilized in some form of energy recovery system. However, that still leaves a whopping 67% going to landfills—or worse.
Tires are one of the cheapest, most durable, long-lived, least costly garden containers around. Construction is fast and the growing results are phenomenal. They are portable and can be moved to track the sunlight or shade. Or easily moved from the path of marauding animals, thieves or vandals. According to Purdue University and Washington State University there is very little concern for growing food in tires. However, the addition of a plastic trash bags or another thin plastic liner between the soil and the tire not only provides stability to the planting medium but also acts as an additional barrier to any microscopic elements such as metal shards, that might be absorbed. Construction is super fast. No tools are required—except for cutting the top open. Planting can take place immediately. This is the diagram supplied by Dr. Ebenezer:
Easy enough. You can also use other tires for compost bins (stack them as you add organic materials; pull off the tires one at a time; place it next to the first pile and toss the stuff from the first tire pile into the second and you’ve turned your compost.)
Author with tire gardens Sept.08
Many people swear by potato tires. Place your seed potatoes in your compost and growing medium in the first tire. As the potato seedlings grow add another tire above the first and more dirt. Repeat as needed (usually three tires is enough) and when you’re ready to harvest simply take down the tires one by one till you collect all the new potatoes. They may not be pretty but they certainly are effective and SIMPLE.
[Next time: Dr. Job Ebenezer's "Wading Pool" gardens!]
Rooftop gardens in Havana, Cuba
Photo below is courtesy of Cuban Organic Support Group
