Urban Gardening

Urban Gardening

“Plants are not optional… we can’t live without them!” This is a statement by Douglas Tallamy, entomologist, wildlife ecologist, and author of Bringing Nature Home (44). In the book, Tallamy makes an urgent call for action, for gardeners to “step up and take their place…in preserving precious, life-sustaining biodiversity” (12). Every breathe we take is dependent upon the oxygen produced by plants. Plants reduce the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere and produce oxygen through photosynthesis. Plants are the foundation of our food-web, plants, insects, birds, fish, mammals, and eventually humans.

I can live a more sustainable life by practicing urban gardening, reducing my carbon footprint on a personal level. Additionally, subsidizing my diet with homegrown fruits and vegetables will reduce the carbon emissions emitted from the transportation, production, and packaging of commercial foods. According to How Far Does Your Food Travel, the Center for Urban Education about sustainable Agriculture estimates “that we currently put almost 10 kcal of fossil fuel energy into our food system for every 1 kcal of energy we get as food.” This means we are spending more energy to get the food than we are getting from eating the food. I can benefit from urban gardening on a personal level. Gardening is a nice calming activity, and my mother and I could do together. I will feel a level of satisfaction from lessening my carbon footprint, producing my food and saving money, while beautifying my home. The methods I will examine include gardening with planter pots, hanging planters, window boxes, indoor hydroponics, and explore ways I can make growing plants more environmentally friendly and economical using rain barrels and composting.

Free standing containers are versatile, can be reused, made from recycled materials, moved to various locations, and can host a wide variety of plants. The location of the planters would be dependent on the plants’ sunlight requirements. My deck receives full sun and part sunlight. I would plant a dwarf lime tree on the deck, a cucumber vine that grows along the side of the house, and pumpkins. I would definitely plant lavender, because it is my favorite plant, and I love the smell. It will be planted in a container that has plenty of drainage, and placed on the deck in full sun. Lavender loves the sun and is a xeriphitic (dry-loving plant). In the March/April 2008 issue of Washington Gardener, Steve Gable, a horticulturist at the Merrifield Garden Center, says “Xeriphitic plants are the new hot item, given the droughts we have had in the DC-area recently.” The magazine calls him a “real crystal-ball researcher when it comes to perennials.” I believe that the Merrifield Garden Center is the best nursery in the area. This is one of the locations where I will look for supplies for my garden.

Planter containers can