Throughout the two years of Urban gardening, I was able to interact with the green space in my school and apply the concepts of the sustainability compass to the hands on element such as when planting, nurturing and caring for the gardens. I had the wonderful opportunity to focus on raising awareness about sustainability issues revolving around food (such as carbon footprint of transporting food) and promoting greater use of our green spaces for learning. Urban Gardening has helped me think creatively of ways in which I can incorporate the service side into gardening, such as collaborating with Fresh Fruit Friday (local service) and giving them organically grown papayas or raising funds for other services at the family festival by selling potted spider plants.
Maintaining the garden- Once the plants are planted onto the final bed, we need to carry out regular activities in order to keep the plants healthy. These activities include: weeding, thinning, watering, fertilising, and monitoring for pests. Weeding, or getting rid of unwanted plants is extremely important because it makes more space for the plant to grow, and more nutrients and water for it to take in. Weeding is also useful because it helps loosen up the soil which helps water infiltrate into the soil more effectively, thus letting the cultivated plants develop faster and healthier. Monitoring for pests can be done in different ways, but in our garden, we do it with organic ingredients such as Neem oil. We used it mostly on our Papayas as Neem oil can help reduce insects feeding on the fruit, and prevent larvae from maturing.
Some of the benefits of a rooftop garden-
-Helps conserve energy. In summer, a rooftop garden protects the building from getting direct sunlight and heat, meaning less need for air conditioning. Also, during the winter, the garden will act as insulation thus preventing heat loss, meaning less need for heaters. These translates into less greenhouse gas emissions.
-Green roof can improve air quality and reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
-Less carbon footprint from food transportation if the garden can provide food for people in the building.
