vegetable chips

The problem with growing root vegetables vertically is the harvesting of them afterwards. The root vegetables grow thick and outgrow the spacing in the mesh that convesional vertical plots have. this means that when you pull out a carrot it will tear off the flesh that has outgrown the mesh. this designs mesh is elasticated and only fastned on one axis so it can be moved slightly to help get that veg out safe.

Idea for perspective

The design of this planter is to offer an easy veiw of the growing vegetables. It puts the plant "on show" for the child and makes understanding them easier.

point of veiw

Went round my flat for about an hour on my knees and took a few photos of what I saw, a childs point of veiw is very different as our world is designed for adults. Children are almost always looking upwards so I will take this into consideration in my designs.

Amsterdam herbs

While I was in Amsterdam I saw this stall of ready to grow window herbs pretty standard but nice.

patch update

Just an update of how my patch is doing.

String and wood model

Here is a quick mock up of how I intend to grow root vegetables vertically, the string acts like a mesh to stop soil from falling out of the vertical base . The string though can be manipulated to make more space to get the vegetables out without damaging the mesh or vegetable.

Food a fact of life

This is a really useful website for this project.

Child health statistics

Child Health Statistics.

Nutrition in Britain

useful website

Another vertical garden I found

More vertical gardening, space saving and looks good. This living wall by Smith & Hawken is being sold for growing fresh kitchen herbs easily.

Environmental impact of food

Meet the Food You Eat from Adam Little on Vimeo.

This is a video of a scale that measures the environmental impact of food. link here

What is wrong with what we eat?

Interesting talk that fits in well with my breif by Mark Bittman on what is wrong with what we eat.
Link to ted talk.

Moss ecosystems

Nice blog I found on moss ecosystems

window sill garden

looking much more lively thinking it's almost time to get into bigger pots. My first intention was to plant these in my plot but I want to conduct an experament as to wether vegetables can be grown well indoors. I will then compare the indoors with outdoors.

Beer, teaspoon of sugar and lots of moss. BLEND then serve onto a wall

My first try at moss/eco graffiti step by step. Get the moss, wash off dirt/small stones, blend with a beer and some sugar then slap mixture on a wall. wonder if I could dry out the moss and grind it down with a teaspoon of sugar and instead of the beer dry starch? If that worked then some kind if just add water moss paint could be made.

keep me right

Right no confusion this time, this is an ordered list of my plot with the position of everything that I have planted.

Spuds from space

These might look like aliens but they are actually potatoes that I have kept in a dark cupbord for about 3 weeks, now they are ready to plant.

Plot

My plot 2 meters squared and chock a block with seeds. Really easy make lines in the soil then place your seeds in each column before re covering with earth, then water, water lots.

fast growth

These are a couple of updates on how my seedlings are doing.

Grub from the center of the Earth

This is a creepy little grub thing that I dug up from the plot... nasty!

Digging the plot

here are some images of me digging the plot, it's roughly 1 meter by 2 meters or the size of a standard door. firstly i marked the borders edge, I then cut the turf into moveable pieces. The soil underneath was full of rocks that I removed then the soil was almost fluffy, ready to plant.

First life

First sign of life in my seed trays. Don't know what life though as I have forgotten the order in which I planted the seeds... oops.

1950's style

The graphic style of the 1950's is long from gone, this new graphic was actually designed for obama by Shepard Fairey

some more eco-graffiti

Some moss graffiti!!! Crazyness and very cool, I've been researching on how to do this and think Im going to give it a go. For the moss paint get a can of beer a few clumps of moss and a spoon full of sugar just like Mary Poppins, chuck them in a blender and buzz till smooth then paint.

just a cool video I saw

This video is a cool idea and brings a fun playfull theme aswell as a tactile feel to helping the environment. eco-graffiti.

Question sheet

One of the question sheets I am sending to the local primary school to get an idea of how much kids know about there veg.

seeds of change

Here's just a couple images of my little startup planters and a veiw of the garden below where I am going to start my plot.