As our high streets wither in the shadow of recession, radical gardeners are reimagining our shared social spaces as green ones. We'll meet the people following in the muddy bootprints of Ebenezer Howard, creator of the original garden city, Letchworth: like the team behind Cardiff's vertical gardening project, How Green Is Your Alley? Or Elephant and Castle's original guerilla gardening Richard Reynolds, currently busy with his Mobile Gardeners project. Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own. Organic gardening expert Alessandro Vitale wants you to embrace the living soil and establish your own city eden where creatures and plants can coexist, in harmony with our modern lives. He shares his low-cost and organic approach with all the essential guidance you will need, including his top 50 plants for beginner gardeners, with a plethora of information on how to plant and look after them and how to make the most of all your produce. Learn how to make vegan honey with dandelions, establish a micro-orchard, or brew a natural antibiotic from garlic. Learn about Korean Natural Farming techniques, including how to make simple treatments that will nourish your soil far better than any chemical. This book really breaks down how to grow your own healthy food no matter if you have a yard to work with, or a rooftop, or even only a windowsill. Gives insight into the various planting methods and tells you how to sow, start, and save seeds and describes the various different types of seeds to choose from. This book covers everything you need to know to get started growing your own garden, and even gives tips on how to preserve your harvest. 5 stars!!

Never create food waste again by creating compost in an odourless composting system that can be kept inside. We'll visit radical socialist gardeners like those in Incredible Edible Todmorden. This Yorkshire town is planting every available surface with veggies. They are on a mission to reject the global food industry and become the UK's first food self-sustaining town. We'll drop in on The Plant in Chicago where rebels are transforming a disused industrial building into a zero emission farm. It's been a lot of hard work, and no small amount of magic to transform this space, and we are really proud of the results. Our ultimate goal for this project is to helpclose the nature gap for over 800 urban youth in the area through an on-campus native garden and learning space.Do you live in the city and yearn for the space and time to grow your own food and live more connected with nature and the seasons? Rebel Gardening shows that anyone can grow a garden of delicious organic fruit and vegetables, wildlife-friendly wildflowers and abundant herbsin absolutely any urban space with a bit of know-how. We'll meet Wayward Plants, masters of temporary conceptual gardens. In the past they've brought us the Urban Physic Garden in Southwark, the Union Street Orchard also in South London and Algaegarden, a garden planted with pond grasses and hung with plastic tubes filled with different coloured algae that appeared at the 2011 Metis International Garden Festival in Quebec. This is the ultimate beginner’s guide to establishing and tending an organic kitchen garden in any urban space, no matter how small, written by the YouTuber and TikToker known as Spicy Moustache. I’m Alessandro Vitale also known as “Spicymoustache”. I’m based in London and I have been an Urban farmer for 7+ years and content creator for the past 1 year, producing educational content about gardening and maximising the production of food in a small space (i grow my own food in 8×5 metres of space), foraging wild food, natural remedies and how to use every part of your fruit and vegetables with a zero waste approach for a more sustainable life even in the middle of the city. My goal is to educate people not only to grow their own food and re-create the missing link with nature but also reduce their impact on the environment by lowering their carbon footprint. The main point is to create digestible content in the most authentic way so anyone could do the same at home.

Organic gardening expert Alessandro Vitale wants you to embrace the living soil and establish your own city eden where creatures and plants can coexist, in harmony with our modern lives. Part 4 is a detail of all the different plants which are great for beginners. Starting with tomatoes, cucumbers and courgettes are also easy to grow and can yield some fantastic crops in small spaces, the chapter also goes on to talk about less well grown foods such as tomatillo and Globe Artichoke.A wonderful source of inspiration, ideas and knowledge, especially for those with limited space and time." - Charles Dowding, author of No Dig Designing with plants means we concentrate on creating a variety of forms and colours throughout the year and develop something our clients can interact with on a more personal and emotional level. I'm also an artist and creative. I currently work for LA Compost as the South LA Compost Hub Manager.

Rebel Gardening shows that anyone can grow a garden of delicious organic fruit and vegetables, wildlife-friendly wildflowers and abundant herbs in absolutely any urban space with a bit of know-how. Do you live in the city and yearn for the space and time to grow your own food and live more connected with nature and the seasons? Rebel Gardening shows that anyone can grow a garden of delicious organic fruit and vegetables, wildlife-friendly wildflowers and abundant herbs in absolutely any urban space with a bit of know-how. Our approach focuses on selecting the right materials and combinations of plants to suit the environment. We design as much as possible with what the garden already has to offer. I have a small urban garden and I wanted to learn more about permaculture so this was right up my street. There are four sections - defining your small space, what to plant and how, maintaining your garden, and top plants for beginners. When vegetable shortages hit supermarkets earlier this month, I was probably less concerned than most salad lovers. I’ve been an urban gardener for seven years, growing my own food in an 8x5m space in London. It all began for me as a tribute to my grandfather, who taught me everything I know about gardening and the living soil around us: how to use every part of the fruit and vegetables I grow; the importance of micro-organisms; using organic practices to nurture plants and protect Mother Earth.If you are excited to learn all about organic gardening, then it is the must have book of this year for you to read. Understand how microorganisms do all the work of feeding your plants and keeping pests and diseases away. Learn how to encourage the natural networks that make a growing space thrive.

Depending on how historical we're feeling we may look at the roots of radical gardening too. The Green Guerillas of 1970s New York, the original community gardeners and throwers of seed-bombs. And the UK's own Meanwhile Gardens near Westbourne Park, where the wasteland turned adventure garden boasted the UK's first skateboard pit. One great advantage of growing in small spaces is that you can use the shade to your advantage. If you grow cucumbers vertically up a trellis, like I have, you can move your pots around on hot summer days so your lettuces can follow their shade. This is a bit like people sitting around the pool on holiday, chasing the sun or the shade as the sun moves. You don’t need a big garden to reconnect with nature. Grow and eat fresh, organic food using nature’s own principles as your guide: My name is Erica Montelongo, born and raised in South Central, Los Angeles. I am one of the founders and caretakers of Rebel Garden at Chuco's Justice Center. I’ve done gardening before but it’s been a while so I was happy for the refresher and the new ideas. I can’t wait to get my hands dirty and get some seeds started!!Four and a half stars. Full of information. This would be a superlative choice for public and school library acquisition, home use, allotments/gardening groups, smallholders (with or without urban locations), and similar. The language and spelling are UK English (marrow, aubergine, etc), but will pose no problems in context for readers elsewhere. Tutorial and recipe lists have measurements given in metric units with imperial (American) units in parentheses (yay!). This amazing book contains a wealth of information about all aspects of urban gardening, regardless of space constraints. The author explains in very clear terms a number of gardening methods and plant choices that will work in almost any urban space and setting. It is a valuable reference book I will return to again and again. This book breaks down ways to create, maintain, and enjoy an urban garden. This book covers things like understanding your space, utilizing your space best, choosing your plants, keeping your plants healthy, and growing your own food. There's lots of tips for first time gardeners and lots of information. This is the first time I've heard that tilling is bad for soil so it's definitely left me with a lot to think about. The book also includes a lot of information by vegetable and gives types on preparing them. From initial conversations through to the final plantings our clients play a crucial role in shaping and refining their project.