An urban farm o urban garden, is a great way to grow your own vegetables if you live in the city. Urban gardens began to popularize in the Second World War, were used in the cities of the United States to produce 40% of food.
The culture of urban gardens has been extended over the years, both in developed countries thanks to ecological movements, and in developing countries of necessity. Growing our own vegetables knowing that and how we consume, is something that today is highly valued.
Nowadays they have become a sustainable alternative for the production of fresh vegetables, an exciting and educational hobby for the little ones. They have been fundamental and are fundamental during difficult times when food is scarce. In fact, the UN Conference on Trade and Development, made clear that the way to move towards the eradication of hunger in the world is to move from an industrial agriculture to a model based on rural development and the role of organic farming and local.
An urban garden is comparable to an orchard in the garden, it is about spaces covered or not for the cultivation of vegetables and fruits on a domestic scale. The quality of the products can be the same as in any other type of crop.
These urban gardens are grown on containers with suitable substrates and can even be carried out on cultivation tables specially built for this purpose. Note that you can also use the technique of hydroponics.
Benefits of urban gardens.
The benefits and advantages of an urban garden are many and varied, we can talk about:
- Encourage healthier eating habits, improve your health and that of yours.
- Satisfaction for consuming our own crops.
- We save money. The cost of producing our own vegetables is much lower than the market price.
- We feed a culture that in some cities had been lost.
- It makes us understand, value and respect nature.
- We increase the green areas in the cities, so necessary in most of them.
- We reduce our carbon footprint because the products are local, so local that we do not have to move from home to obtain them.
How to start with your urban garden.
To have a garden at home, to cultivate in small spaces, the first thing we must take into account is the organization, making the most of our space, each hole will be very useful. Any small space can be adapted to cultivate. But keep in mind in this first planning phase that "Without sun there is no garden".
If space limits you, you can opt for the option of vertical cultivation or you also have the option of cultivating on your roof, a project based on the doctoral thesis of Carolina Forero, of the Javeriana University, was made to alleviate the solution of one of the neighborhoods of the fourth commune of the municipality of Soacha, in Colombia, but that can be used by anyone. There are even small orchards for the windows.
But if there is a fantastic urban garden design for limited spaces, it is this one square yard garden:
There are cities that have turned to develop orchards in their municipality, the case of the Swiss city of Les Avanchets, where each neighbor has its own garden to grow their own food, authentic food sovereignty.
With just over 15,000 inhabitants, Todmordem does not let size influence their dreams. The objective of the city is very ambitious. They want to be a city capable of in 2018 absolutely all the food needed to feed their population be produced locally. So for any of the streets you go through, you will have a small vegetable garden to produce food locally.
Another example is that of Ron Finley with his project known as L.A. Green Grounds. Its objective is to cultivate in public spaces, abandoned, from the poorest neighborhoods of Los Angeles. He wants to fill abandoned spaces with organic food and offer healthy alternatives to the most disadvantaged.
In the town of Andernach, in Germany, they have not wanted to go that far, but they have decided to replace their landscaped green areas with gardens for the neighbors, whose fruits can be taken for free.
In Tokyo they have transformed the roofs of train stations into urban gardens for their neighbors. And if Tokyo is original, let's say London, which has transformed underground shelters of the 2nd World War into urban gardens for restaurants in the city.
But Paris has wanted to go much further, and now allows by law anyone to have an urban garden.
The case of the Brazilian jail Professor Jacy de Asís, located in the city of Uberlândia, is very curious, where the prisoners grow their own food while maintaining a garden within the walls.
In project we also find very interesting designs, like this Dutch ecovillage where your own food is grown, your own electricity is generated and your own garbage is recycled. A clear example of sustainable architecture that I hope will become popular in a short time.
And as a curiosity, we also have secret associations like the "Guerrilla Grafters" that turn the trees of the cities into fruit trees.
Reasons to turn your back yard, terrace or garden into an urban garden: