Have you left your plants unattended since a few days out of sheer laziness (blame it on the quarantine), or has your interest in plants waned because there haven’t been any flowers blossoming? Chances are, the sun, water, and a little effort on your part might still revive them. Plants are hardier than we think, and there is a special joy in seeing wilting plants...
When Timothy Hammond decided to document his gardening adventures on Instagram, he thought he might attract a few like-minded people who shared his passion for growing food. Over the past two years, the urban gardener has gradually established a loyal fan base that’s exceeded his expectations for what he considered a hobby account. But it wasn’t until the pandemic...
The city and the countryside haven’t always seen eye to eye. In fact, the world’s greatest cities define themselves as everything rural areas can’t – vibrant, dynamic, bursting with energy and forward-thinking. But now, millions of urbanites are reconsidering. Greening the city has become an obsession for planners and apartment dwellers alike. But what does...
Urban gardening is nothing new in Mexico. Lack of space and a growing population led to the invention of chinampas, artificial islands in the lake waters of ancient Mexico City. Today, some of the islands still exist as productive farmland. The modern concept of reclaiming urban space for agriculture has become popular in Mexico for many of the same reasons as other...
NEWARK, NJ — For the past 15 years, Lot 50 on Grafton Avenue in the city’s North Ward has been a wasteland of syringes and garbage, bringing down the community’s morale. Those days are coming to an end, according to Bilal and Breonna Walker, two educators who are transforming the lot into a community project unlike any other in Newark. Dubbed Jannah on Grafton,...
In Costello Park, the lonely farmer works his fields under the sun. Thomas Paulsen, of Andover, holds the rototiller’s wide handlebars and plows the dark earth at the urban farm, the largest in a network of community gardens operated by Groundwork Lawrence. Paulsen then rakes the beds, mounding rows for vegetable seedlings that will become food for Lawrence...
Diatomaceous earth is a naturally occurring, soft sedimentary rock that is crumbled into a fine white powder. Wondering how you can use DE in your garden? Well, as a natural method of pest control! DE works at killing insects because the microscopic particles are very sharp and as an insect crawls over it, it gets cut. DE also can stick to the insect causing...
NOTE FOR 2020 READERS: This is the eleventh in a series of open letters to the next century, now just 80 years away. The series asks: What will the world look like at the other end of our kids’ lives? Dear 22nd Century, For all the pain, grief and economic hardship the 2020 coronavirus pandemic has sown, a handful of green shoots seem to have taken root in its...
On March 13, Gov. Ralph Northam ordered schools closed in the interest of public safety. With the schoolhouse shuttered, many high school seniors are saying goodbye to their public school legacy without many commemorations. But one Norfolk Collegiate senior got to end the abrupt school year by celebrating pollinators and the native plants that support them. Just...
In recent weeks, public health experts have warned that the coronavirus pandemic could have a devastating effect on mental health. In the United States, rates of anxiety and depression are rising. Dread and confusion pervade everyday life. From a mental health standpoint, strict lockdown rules mean that many of the activities we derive joy and purpose from —...
There’s nothing like eating veggies you grew in your own garden. But gardening is a big investment: there’s the daily watering, the careful pest control, and the delicate process of keeping the soil chemistry just right. The internet is full of ways you can make gardening easier and cheaper, but some methods are too good to be true. No matter what the...
When restaurants closed their dining rooms because of the coronavirus outbreak, Good Life Growing was left with a glut of vegetables. It also had bills that couldn’t be paid if the produce was left to rot in the fields. Restaurants represented 90% of sales for the urban farming enterprise, which grows vegetables outdoors in St. Louis and East St. Louis and in...
Natural disasters, economic crises and viral outbreaks have greatly impacted our cities in the past. Today, we witness this effect with the COVID-19 viral outbreak. It has heavily impacted food, accommodation, livelihoods, public transport, economy, and other public amenities available to cities globally. While we struggle with the containment, it is important to...
Agrihood–it sounds like a trendy buzzword from the coffee bars of New York or San Francisco. In fact, that is where it’s from. The term ‘agrihood’ was copyrighted by Rancho Mission Viejo, a Southern California real estate brand. While their agrihood, and others like it are for the super-rich, there’s a new game in town. In 2016, the Michigan Urban Farming...
In 1972, when Elizabeth Scholtz became director of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the splendid 52-acre urban garden founded in 1910, she was not only the first female director of a major botanic garden in the United States; she was also one of the few women in charge of a large New York City cultural institution. This made for some awkward collisions. At the...
If you’re fortunate enough to have your own yard or garden area, you may want to start spending more time in it. New research from the United Kingdom has found that having access to — and using — a personal patch of greenery is associated with better physical and psychological well-being. In fact, the increased health benefits from spending time gardening are...
For New Yorkers looking to plant spring flowers, shrubs, or vegetable seedlings, figuring out which garden centers and nurseries are open — let alone what’s in stock — can be a chore. So to help you navigate the complicated task of buying seeds, plants, pots, soil, and compost in the middle of the coronavirus lockdown, we talked to five NYC plant experts about...
Spring is here and, after spending a great deal of time indoors over the past few months, it’s the perfect time to (safely) get outside, unplug from technology, and interact with the earth. And what better way to do this than by gardening? Whether you live in an apartment with limited outdoor access or have a spacious yard to work in, there are plenty of options...
Since we’re all stuck at home trying to improve our health and immune system, it is important to keep the air in our homes clean. There are several ways to purify the air at home, but one option that is both natural and affordable is to use air-purifying plants to keep your house clear of the pollutants that we’re always exposed to. Whether it’s cleaning agents,...
The war gardens of WWI (1914-1918) and victory gardens of WWII (1941-1945) were government initiatives requesting civilians to become “soldiers of the soil” and grow their own fruits and vegetables. European and American farmers were enlisted in the military leaving a void in homeland food production labor. Also transport of food supply across the country or...
