We've written about aquaponics before on Smartplanet as a small-scale garden not a scaled-up citywide industry.
Next an urban farm architect designs a custom plan for the garden. Finally, the beds are installed
and a Farmscape farmer visits the garden once a week to plant, tend to pests
Much to her surprise, Farmscape has built gardens for single mothers, preschool teachers, and institutions and businesses offering gardens as an employee perk.
The company maintains 150 urban farms weekly and have installed over 300 farms throughout Los angeles. Could this model spark a shift in how we think about farming practices and the use of urban space?
Alliance, Johnson picked up several awards at the recent International Melbourne Garden and Flower Show (MGFS) for his visionary exploration of water recycle uses.
'which enable the garden to survive, making it less dependent on drinking water. In this second design the stormwater is harvested into a billabong reservoir and streams into the single backyard.
while the water and garden corridors help to filter out the pollutants. Adopting a natural system,
Water can seep into the lawn and garden, improving soil moisture, rather than run into a drain.
Building a rain garden to help filter stormwater before it enters our waterways. Installing a rainwater tank to capture water for the garden,
washing machine and toilet flushing. Diverting tank overflow if the garden needs a little extra water.
Creating a billabong or natural pool to store and reuse water run off in the backyard.
and rain gardens can help to increase neighborhood self-sufficiency--highlighting the networking possibilities for a community.
when she was unable to find a localized garden database. Her site is based on'real-life'planting information from local gardeners
and tons of research--Victoria Bergsagel from Architects of Achievement covered them last week at the What Matters and What Counts in Education breakfast at the Denver Botanic Gardens:
Fifth-graders can participate in the school's garden to cafe program, growing tomatoes, zucchini, squash,
Paris boasts over 1, 300 acres of green space in 480 parks and gardens of all sizes
where residents are asking the City council to amend laws allowing people to establish community gardens and produce markets.
The plan calls for building green infrastructure like stormwater tree trenches, vegetated bumpouts, porous asphalt, rain gardens,
and asphalt) served by its combined sewer system into greened acres Â--spaces that use green infrastructure like roadside planting strips, rain gardens,
For community gardens, the city was also silent on the legality of selling produce, but now it's now legal to sell produce on-site once gardens go through a variance process.
But not everyone is happy with the new regulations. City council President Darlene Harris called the regulations confusing and, possibly, too burdensome.
Pollution fighting vertical gardens rise in Mexico Citythree air-cleaning vertical gardens have sprouted up throughout Mexico city.
These vertical gardens may not be able to continue to improve Mexico city's air quality all by themselves,
Push for greener, leafier spaces on Parisian roofsparis A new biodiversity initiative seeks to convert over 17 acres of Parisian rooftops to thriving gardens by 2020.
the hope is to create pockets of biodiversity across the city through innovative new rooftop gardens.
the gardens also act as insulation. Â During the winter they keep in heat while in the summer they have a cooling effect,
 Structural considerations are important to ensure that gardens won t collapse roofs and proper drainage is needed to avoid water damage.
Current rooftop gardens feature plants that are adapted well to temperature extremes and dryness, but according to Marc Barra, business and biodiversity administrator for Natureparif, there is work left to do.
and advise on biodiversity issues in the Ile-de-france region The french region that includes Paris. Barra said that existing gardens don t adequately promote diversity,
 Today, we don t have many examples of rooftop gardens as we d like to see them,
 Some of the more surprising projects in the region include rooftop gardens with meter-deep soil for growing vegetables,
a hanging garden wall by the PÃ Â re Lachaise cemetery in Paris, and a 16-story building in the 13th arrondissement that will be wrapped with a vegetal envelope to promote spontaneous seeding.
Natureparif will publish a 200-page architectural industry guide with an entire chapter devoted to helping architects better understand how to construct rooftop gardens Photo:
Finally, another project currently underway is a study on zoning code  changes  to make it easier to operate farmers'markets in the  city,  use vacant land community gardens
Another aspect of the study is to  work on a standard lease agreement that can be used by various city departments with vacant land to make it easier to lease those spaces for community gardens.
It is not topiary she is quick to add of the horticulture art. Topiary is a shrub you trim,
so you have only one color and one texture. In mosaiculture, we have many different colors and many varieties of plants.
Many botanical gardens in the U s. saw what happened here and they want to do that, too.
Right now, we have a small exhibition at the Atlanta Botanical garden and they are also participating in this competition.
The head of the Montreal Botanical garden told me that when some people arrive and see the Earth mother,
It like weeding a garden. Then in another seven to 10 years you do a second thinning.
Rooftop gardens could solve Singapore's flooding problemin the last two years, rapid urbanization and changing weather patterns have lead to major flash floods in Singapore.
but rooftop gardens. Big infrastructure projects are costly and take time to replace. And while the upgrading the drainage system is likely necessary,
require rooftop gardens on all new and retrofitted buildings. Rooftop gardens don't just add beauty to the city,
they can also play a big role in mitigating floods by reducing and slowing stormwater runoff
But it's not just rooftop gardens, Singapore's Today reports: These measures are to be complemented with diversion canals, storage tanks along pathways of drains, drain capacity improvements,
The panel also suggested  storage tanks, rain gardens, and porous pavement. Photo:  Henryleonghimwoh/Flickr Urbanisation has led to increase in storm water run off:
It also makes it legal for any garden to sell their produce on-site throughout the city.
And it's now less of a financial burden to convert vacant lots to urban gardens
which also makes it possible for city-owned plots of less than 1 acre to be turned into urban gardens,
Many of the urban ag projects in San francisco are nonprofit gardens that grow produce for public benefit.
not only discourage new gardens, but dampen the  entrepreneurial  spirit in cities where there's a desire for fresh,
and celebrates all forms of the urban agriculture--from community gardens to market gardens. Photo: Â ol slambert/Flickr
Scotts Miracle-Gro will award grants to cities to help them develop public gardens and green space,
There are benefits that only gardens can provide and we are honored to partner with mayors across the nation to improve their communities
There are more than one million community gardens in America, and participation in this activity grows every year. For more than a decade, we have partnered with national organizations to help increase community access to gardens and green spaces.
We look forward to now joining with the USCM to develop model green space initiatives and gardens that bring communities together.
It's a timely partnership as cities around the country like Philadelphia, Milwaukee and others, are looking for ways to clean up their water supply
grow and maintain edible gardens in parks, city hall land, and municipal community gardens. Photo: Wanderingtheworld/Flickr
Seattle builds nation's largest food forestthere are plenty of innovative ideas in urban farming:
vertical gardens, aquaponic farms, community gardens. In Seattle, they're taking another innovative approach while taking the community garden aspect quite literally.
In Seattle's Beacon hill neighborhood, plans are in place to turn an empty seven acre lot that didn't receive much attention (expect from the occasional lawn mower) into a food forest for everyone to use.
Further down the path an edible arboretum full of exotic looking persimmons, mulberries, Asian pears, and Chinese haws will surround a sheltered classroom for community workshops.
Sensor-managed garden goes'beyond organic 'And you thought it just took sunlight and soil to raise a tomato.
Will Bratton and Samuel Bagot believe a much better tomato can be brought to life in their horto domi (latin for garden at home) kit,
an open source hardware platform and sensors to precisely monitor and automatically manage the temperature, light and moisture inside a small domed garden.
an 18-story vertical urban garden Why we â â¢re running out of water 7 reasons why the federal government needs to get smarter about its urban sprawl
Located in in the Bay South garden, the one-of-a-kind park showcases a total of 18 man-made supertrees, massive structures towering as a high as 50 meters over the ocean bay.
In a way, the Gardens by the Bay project can easily be viewed as an indictment on the current state of humanity.
Numerous Horticultural Themed Gardens offer visitors an education on the relationship between humans and nature.
They act as vertical gardens as well as a massive solar power generator. Meanwhile, the design allows the structures to work as air vents for local conservatories.
via CNN) Photos courtesy of Gardens by the Bay More stunning super-structures: City of Darkness:
These days, more and more people aspire to grow fresh vegetables and fruits right in their garden.
the shortage of enough garden space or no garden space at all is the biggest hindrance.
the new Kitchen Nano Garden serves as an excellent way to grow fresh vegetables right in your kitchen, without the use of pesticides or fertilizers.
Just place the Kitchen Nano Garden beside the Kitchen counter and grow your favorite vegetables, herbs and flowers without any hassle.
Nano Garden employs LED lighting that promotes plant growth, without the need of sunlight. The water used
this petite kitchen garden serves an excellent way to grow fresh fruits and vegetables
Crop Mobscrop mob is primarily a group of young, landless, and wannabe farmers who come together to build
and promotes community-managed farms, gardens, allotments and other green spaces, creating opportunities for local communities to grow.
We represent nearly 200 city and school farms, more than 1, 000 community gardens, a growing number of community-managed allotments and an estimated 200 city farms and community gardens in development.
Between them our members employ around 550 people, engage and empower thousands of volunteers and attract over three million visitors each year.
They include city and school farms, community gardens and orchards, allotment gardens and just about any other piece of community-managed green space.
We also offer our services to any other organisation running a community farm or garden (for example local authorities, schools
trusts, hospitals, housing associations and public buildings). About FCFCG What is the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens?
three animals at city farmwe are registered a charity which supports, represents and promotes community-managed farms, gardens,
allotments and other green spaces, creating opportunities for local communities to grow. We work with these community groups to help empower local people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities to build better communities, often in deprived areas,
We represent nearly 200 city and school farms, more than 1, 000 community gardens, a growing number of community-managed allotments and an estimated 200 city farms and community gardens in development.
Between them our members employ around 550 people, engage and empower thousands of volunteers and attract over three million visitors each year.
They include city and school farms, community gardens and orchards, allotment gardens and just about any other piece of community-managed green space.
We also offer our services to any other organisation running a community farm or garden (for example local authorities, schools, trusts,
hospitals, housing associations and public buildings). Who supports us? We enjoy widespread support from a number of Government departments, regional development organisations and local authorities.
and is teaching aquaponics at the Denver Botanic Gardens. She said she has done market research that suggests the technology may appeal to a half dozen consumer types,
Vegetable beds, herb gardens and orchards have sprung up on sites as varied and previously urban as the railway station forecourt and an elderly people's home, under the aegis of the Incredible Edible Todmorden campaign.
Remote control gardenmost people would love to have a nice vegetable garden, but few have the time to maintain one.
Above all, gardens require regular watering. When the weather is hot, just a few days without water can kill your garden!
The time it takes to drag out hoses, and get everything soaked regularly, is more time than many people are willing to spend.
or friend to check on your garden is inconvenient to say the least. There are many automatic watering systems available today.
But what if you want to check on or water your garden remotely? How do you plug your garden directly into the Internet?
The goal of this garden project was to build a garden that was easy to water,
and could be controlled remotely via the internet
A move back to local brands? When brands are king there is an interesting move in the opposite direction at Wyevale garden centres.
The name is being removed from most of the 122-strong chain so that they look like independents.
but despite Wyevale being seized by its banks in a debt-for-equity swap that hardly seems to be the garden centres problem.
The recession is apparently forcing us back into our gardens not least to grow our own.
previously ran the Country Gardens chain that Wyevale bought. He is dropping Wyevale branding and reverting to previous local names,
including Country Gardens. But it is the opposite of the trend witnessed in other areas, especially retail.
Wyevale or The Garden Centre Group, as the holding company will now be known may hope to gain from customers putting trust in centres they believe are run locally
and establish local gardens, markets, businesses, and community-based food systems. There are tens of thousands of highly-productive, equitable,
a Chicago Botanic Garden-led urban agriculture training program targeted to underserved local youths. At the helm of Farmedhere is CEO Jolanta Hardej,
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