Down On The Urban Farm

My friend Jenn and I met a few years back in an organic gardening class at ASU. It was August in Phoenix 115° and she and I were the only two that were willing to double dig the garden. We became fast friends. Since then she has Graduated with a masters degree in hydroponics, been to the government site in Antarctica to run their food production, did a stint in Anguila (tiny island somewhere) to set up food production for a resort and...now this.

A year ago she was hired to develop The Science Barge. http://www.nysunworks.com. The grand opening is tomorrow (Friday May 4) and I am in NYC for the festivities. I received a quick tour today and will be heading down, video camera in hand, to get the whole story. If you are in NYC and want to join us it opens at 9:30 am.

Here is what I know so far besides it's a really cool project. When you look at the picture the six grey panels on the left are Photovoltaics (solar panels that make electricity), you can also see above the lime green office some wind turbines, and to top it off on the energy front they have a back up generator if they run out of solar.

They are pulling rainwater from the roofs of the two greenhouses and using that for the the hydroponics. On their rainwater catchment system they even have a first flush system that flushes the first 50 gallons so that any undesirable stuff is not collected.

I was in the greenhouse today and there were cucumbers with leaves the size of dinner plates, tomatoes, peppers and salad greens. Plus when I arrived they were setting up the tilapia pond and interestingly enough needed some help. I spend much of my 20's designing and building small scale aquaculture systems.

So early in the morning I will be off to Hello World (http://www.hwc.tv/) the video camera rental house to pick up and get trained on the use of the camera. Never done this before. With any luck in the next week or two I'll post a video blog with Jenn telling us all about it. Just told a friend that I am a bit nervous. It will be fun though, as those of you that know me know that I am willing to jump in and learn something new at the drop of a hat...more tomorrow.

Greg

PS. As an added bonus I am staying with a friend and when I look out the window one direction I see Washington Park and look the other way I see the Blue Note Jazz Club. Always great to have good friends in wonderful places. Thanks Michael.

I am often asked how I make such great soil at the Urban Farm, and how come I literally don't have to till the soil any more. And as you get to know me you will learn that I love to tell stories and this is how I explain this one.

I start by asking if they have a notion of what permaculture is. Usually they say know and I explain that it is the (my defenition as there are so many) art and science of working with nature. At this point I usually recieve a very puzzeled look. So this is how the story goes....

In the city what happens to the leaves that fall on our yards? Usually (not all of us) they are raked up and sent along to the landfill along with all the nutrients that they carry. Then we come back later and add fertilizer to make our plants grow.

Then I ask in the forest what happens to the leaves that fall? There is no one to rake em up. The deer, birds and other animals dig and leave their deposits and over time the nutients bound up in the leves are released and the soil is that much healthier. See my post on 5 components of healthy soil.

So here is where the extended understandable explanation of permaculture comes in. The creators of permaculture looked at the forest soil building process and said we can design something that works just as well and sheet mulching was born (also known in some circles as lasagna gardening.) AND this is the soilution to my healthy soil problem in my garden. AND my chickens pay a big part in providing the fertilizer for this process. AND, AND, AND.

Sheet mulching in a nutshell.

Collect all your and your neighbors dried leaves, add some alfalfa hey (nitrogen rich) and fluff it in a layer about 6 inches thick. Add to the top of that a smattering of composted steer manure, chicken manure or something similar in the maure department. Then another layer of hay/leaves and then more manure, going as thick as you like. Usually my sheet mulch projects are 2 feet thick.

Then the next part (one of the most important) is to leave it alone and let nature takes its course. And after 6 months or so you will have a couple of inches of great mulch where all your living things can florish, including your plants.

Its that simple...

Couple of ideas and a couple of caveats:

If you want to plant out some plants right after you do the sheet mulching excersize, burrow out a small area and add several cups of good would and plant your seeds or seedlings into that. As the pile shrings your plants just move down with it.

Be careful about the manure that you use. If you are using cow or horse manure make sure it is composted to kill the weed seeds.

Make sure that you are aware of the type of hay that you are using. Here in Phoenix they sell a Bermuda hay, full of seeds. That would be just like planting a grass lawn in my garden.

My permaculture teacher Tim Murphy told us that we could sheet mulch right on top of concrete and grow great goodies.

Most of all be patient and you will end up with some great results.

The beginnings of the orchard at Lyn's.

My goal is to have some kind of fresh fruit to eat each month. I’m doing pretty good with: fresh stone fruit (peaches, plums, apricots and nectarines) from April to July; apples and pears from June to September; pomegranates and figs in September and October; six different kinds of citrus from November to March. This takes some planning, and I am not yet getting fruit during the whole year but as the trees mature over the next few years the fruiting year will fill out.

One of the things that I do is plant trees in hedgerows – three or four kinds of the same kind of trees in a row. This gives me a the opportunity to have several different kinds of the same fruit planted where the fruit ripens at different times.

In the front yard I have a hedgerow of citrus – 17 trees long. 13 navels, 1 lemon, 1 limequat, 1 lime, and 1 trovita orange. These trees are 4 feet apart.

Also there is an apple tree hedge with four different kinds of apples: Anna, Dorset, Einsheimer, and Pettingill. They are planted three feet apart and I am working on pleaching the branches together. Pleaching is a natural process that naturally has the branches grow together, making the hedgerow stronger.

This first picture was when the apple tree hedge was planted in 2003.

And this is the trees this year. I suspect that I will harvest 100 pounds of apples from this hedge, this year.

More Later...Greg

Hi all,

Have you ever thought about growing your own fruit trees but the prospect just seemed to daunting? With a new concept called “Backyard Orchard Culture,” planting and managing a large orchard of small trees is a piece of cake. Here at the Urban Farm in just under 1/3 of an acre we have over 60 fruit trees. The key to such high density plantings is to keep the trees small; most of the trees here at the Urban Farm are not over 10 feet tall.

The concept of Backyard Orchard Culture allows for fresh fruit to be harvested throughout the entire growing season. The varieties I selected were for their ability to produce fruit at particular times of year, with the intent that I have fresh fruit each month of the year.

We have a plethora of information on our website including a great document from Dave Wilson Nursery call Backyard Orchard Culture, I have begun posting pictures and content about fruit trees on my blog plus we have a great article on the subject at http://www.smartspacestv.net/learn/

Join the fruit tree conversation at my blog - http://www.smartspacestv.net/TheUrbanFarm/

Plus we have a great book on growing your own fruit trees and it is even signed by the author. http://www.smartspacestv.net/books/reviews.php?pd_id2=3&cat_id2=11

We also have specials on some other products at http://www.smartspacestv.net/shop.php

We look forward to your comments, interactions and feedback.

Greg Peterson
Editor
SmartSpacesTV.com
Greg@SmartSpacesTV.com

PS. Got a great tip you want to share? Visit http://www.smartspacestv.net/connect/ and share it.