News: O-Hare Goes Green

Talk about carbon omission offsets – O’Hare International Airport recently unveiled it’s newest piece of interior decor – an edible vertical garden. While I’m not completely convinced that the airport has all of its intentions aligned with the traditional urban farmer – this effort to showcase alternative green space deserves mention. To learn more about the garden and who was behind it, check out the whole story here.

Small Space? Urban Garden Solutions!

Tis the season to start planning your 2011 edible gardens. City dwellers must overcome the myth and fear that growing veggies is only for those with a stiff mortgage and plenty of land mass. Those of us who live in apartments and high rises can overcome this obstacle by employing some creative solutions:

Urbio Vertical Garden: This up-and-coming design team is currently collecting funds via Kickstarter to turn their urban jungle ideas into reality. Their concept of magnetic and adjustable plastic planters is brilliant, modern, and functional.  Let Urbio be your inspiration.

Writing a Green Resolution

By Lydia Krupinski

If you’re anything like me you’ve procrastinated with writing your New Year’s Resolutions for 2011. Seeing that we’re still in the first few days of the year I think there is no shame in getting them in a tad late. Perhaps this can be a resolution in and of itself!

To help you come up with at least one eco-minded goal for the New Year we’ve compiled the following suggestions:

A Garden’s Debut

posted by Lydia Krupinski

The sun is shining, the air is warm, and I could think of no better day to bring the entire garden out for its debut! I’ve been itching to move all of my sprouts out from the germination stations – but figured that as long as I’m wearing a coat – the delicate veggies are staying indoors. But today was the day!

Here’s a general update on my Seed Saver plants: The swiss chard, broccoli, lavender, green onions and lettuce are growing but vveeerrryyyy sssslllooowwwlllyyy. The sage and stevia never surfaced, but the tomatoes, zucchini, beans, and peas have flourished! These four plants were all over 6 inches tall a month ago and I was aching to put them out to feel the fresh lake breeze. The peas and beans, being more resilient to the cold, went out three weeks ago.

The sad news is that amidst some unannounced construction on the patio above me, the bean plant was pulled from the soil, snapped, and is barely hanging on. I was very upset if you can imagine. Here was my prized plant sulking under its own weight after being mauled by some handymen. But the peas are climbing up their hemp very well – and we’re hoping that a new bean seed can catch up.

Newly Minted Green Thumbs

By Lydia Krupinski

A couple of months ago my husband David and friend Sarah attended a workshop on urban gardening and local foods hosted by the group Transition Rogers Park. Thea Carlson of Angelic Organics led a demonstration on how to garden in an urban environment. She demonstrated DIY compost bins and shared her experiences on growing in the city. Victoria Anderson of Gethsemene Garden Center led a Q&A on starting your own container garden and gave practical advice on how to reap an abundant harvest with limited space.