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Green fingers in the city

By Sereba Agiobu-Kemmer
24 November 2018   |   4:17 am
Living in urban environments, in built cities that are concrete jungles, everywhere is concrete, even the ground in your yard is concrete.

 

Living in urban environments, in built cities that are concrete jungles, everywhere is concrete, even the ground in your yard is concrete. What do you do, a gardener with itchy green fingers wanting badly to garden and you can’t find any garden space? Container gardening is the solution. Containers make it possible to have a garden, in a small space, or even in the all concretized built environment. Your productivity is only limited by your imagination and creativity. Container can be anything from designer ceramic or clay pots to old galvanized buckets and paint buckets, old bathtubs, old disused tyres, basket, sacks, wooden boxes, teapots, cement blocks, galvanized containers, which can be placed on the porch, balconies and window sills, patios, verandahs.

Vertical space, the productivity of a small garden also improves when you utilize the vertical space to provide support to trailing plants and vines.

Selecting a container, as a general rule, select as large a container as possible. Small containers dry out more quickly and may need daily watering. You will have to think about weight, once the pot is filled with wet soil and plant material, it is going to be very heavy. And you want to think about appearance; what look “goes” with your house and other pots? Even fabric pots are good for growing plants. With colorful grow bag, you can add some whimsy features to your garden.

Most importantly, you will need to think about the depth of the container you will be planting in. Plants with deep root systems will be stunted and unhealthy if they don’t have adequate space.

Remember that the deeper the container, the larger the reservoir of moist soil and the less often you will need to water.
The exception is a self-watering garden or hydroponic gardens. In cities, indoor farming technology is helping urban gardening to evolve and develop. People are looking for lifestyle friendly, plant related projects that cater to short attention spans and hectic schedule.

In a desert of work, stress and the internet, nature-both indoors and outside-has become an oasis. As people begin to see a decrease in their time and living spaces, they will concentrate on making a big impact with bold plants. Many people want their gardens and their homes to be sanctuaries of tranquility reflecting their ideal concept of nature in which beauty and sustainability are key, a garden that is low maintenance, easy, less work, with bold colorful plants.

Mobile Gardening: Convenience, simplicity, and ease of “portable, mobile gardening” has brought into the market modular planters adaptable and flexible designs with moveable parts that are light weight and durable for the “always-in-motion” millennial generation to take their gardens wherever they go or fancy. Decorating our indoor gardens with houseplants for better, healthier lives is now the new trend. Gardening goes hand in hand with a healthy lifestyle. People see both outdoor and indoor space as extensions of themselves and are making conscious efforts to use plants and garden products as “tools” to increase their overall wellbeing, lead sustainable lifestyle. Indoor hydroponic, soiless gardens are in and our homes have breathing rooms filled not only with bold tropical foliage with unique colors, shapes and patterns, but also filled with plants to clean the air and our minds. For more and more urban gardeners, health is a top priority, people are not only gardening for beauty, they are equally gardening for their own well being, to make a positive impact on their communities, the environment and the planet. However small the space, you can maximize and utilize using the various systems that include containerizing, vertical and raised bed garden designs(up and down), mobile modular gardening. You can decide to grow, ornamental, or vegetable or a combination of both plus herbs. You may grow your own food or have for yourself a cutting garden. The choice is yours.

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