Plant support

Gardening in such a small space (roughly 8 feet by 16 feet) requires that we go vertical as much as possible. For that reason, we are enclosing the garden with a light weight, easily portable fence made of 1 1/2 inch PVC pipe with 48 inch green plastic fencing wire-tied to it. This fence will also serve as plant support for pole beans on the east side and sugar snap peas on the west side. The beans will likely climb higher than 48 inches (most likely 96 inches or higher), so I will need to go up with another layer of fence by the beans. I cannot go outside the parking space footprint to support that fence, so I will go over the top at a height of 8 ft and join the west and east fences with two lengths of PVC. Pictures later. The entire of cost of the garden, including the greenhouse and 30 grow boxes will be about $700. That will not be economical the first year, but by the end of the second year, it will have paid for itself at today's vegetable costs.

So the world will know

Carol R. made a nice sign for our Parking Space Garden. It reads "Parking Space Intensive Garden -- One Less Car, Lots more local food." In the greenhouse we have 13 tomato plants, 2 hot pepper plants and 4 sweet peppers. Outside we have 5 containers of pole beans, 3 containers of broccoli, 4 containers of sugar snap peas, 2 of lettuce. This week I hope to plant zucchini, kale, onions and carrots.

What happened in Cuba

Cuba had it's "peak oil" experience in the 1990's. The fall of the Soviet Union resulted in the sudden cutoff of all oil imports into Cuba. Almost overnight Cuba had to learn to cope with the shortage of energy and all the resulting shortages that caused. This video shows how Cubans did this and how they learned to take care of themselves. We have a lot to learn from Cuba.

Grow boxes on a boat

Grow boxes are ideally suited for liveaboards. We currently have four boxes on the quarterdeck of our boat. (My wife and I have lived on our 38 foot trawler, Desiderata, for more than two years. We are remodeling a 100-year-old house in Everett Washington and the work has taken a bit longer than we had expected. We expect to move in this summer.) We have lettuce and strawberries started. This week we will start harvesting the lettuce which was planted in March. This box has not been in a greenhouse. None-the-less, our harvest is very early for the Maritime Pacific Northwest.

Under Construction

At last the Parking Space Garden is under construction at Shoreline Unitarian Universalist Church in Shoreline, WA. I have been busy with travel and remodeling our house. But from now on, I should have a lot more time to put on this. Expect to see major progress this coming weekend.

Early Broccoli

I set some broccoli plants the same day in the Earth and in the Grow Box. The top picture is the Grow Box. The bottom is in the Earth. The plants are in the same area -- within 20 feet of each other. Notice the larger size and healthier appearance in the Grow Box. I attribute this primarily to the black plastic cover. It will be interesting to see how much earlier the Grow Box plants mature. I have 3 plants in a 14-gal Rubbermaid container.

Shoreline, Washington

Last Wednesday night I received permission from the Board of Trustees to construct a Parking Space Garden in the parking lot of the Shoreline Unitarian-Universalist Church in Shoreline, Washington -- immediately north of Seattle. This will be a demonstration garden intended to show what can be done in one parking space. The project will receive financial backing from The Great Turning group at SUUC and the vegetables produced will be sold on Sunday mornings to benefit the Great Turning group.

Whe garden will include a portable greenhouse and security fencing. Pictures will follow in about a month.