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Urban Garden Resources

Many people today are finding themselves in situations where they need to produce food in what is considered unconventional agriculture conditions. Whether it be due to the restrictions of limited space, such is the case for those living in cities or challenges of work with community gardens, schools, or orphanages seeking self-sufficiency, ECHO offers resources to support the farming endeavors of those with little to no land. With solutions ranging from urban gardening on rooftops to growing food in feed-sacks and tires, these techniques show how farming can be done even with limited land and resources. Through the use of local  and readily available resources these options can be easily accessible and cost effective ways of supplementing food and income for those facing the challenges of urban and community gardening.

 

  1. TN #31 Rooftop and Urban Gardening

    Key Resource
    1996-01-01 What can a family do if the national unemployment rate is over 50%, wages are a dollar or two a day, prices of food are increasing and may at times be even higher than in the USA, they have neither savings nor credit and there is no governmental safety net? For many, an option of last resort is...
    Urban Agriculture Urban Gardening Urban Tire Garden Wick Irrigation Rooftop Gardening

  2. TN #58 Tropical Rabbit Production: A Guide to Raising Rabbits with Few Resources

    Key Resource
    2009-03-01 Rabbits are animals for folks that like to eat meat and want to raise it quickly. Rabbits reproduce quickly; up to eight bunnies every three months. A young rabbit can weigh four pounds in three months -- bigger than a broiler chicken. Rabbits are easy to raise, both in urban and rural areas....
    Rabbits

  3. TN #95 100-Fold Vegetable Gardens with Low-Cost Wicking Beds

    2019-07-23 I discovered 100-fold gardens while researching ways to irrigate plants directly in the root zone. I wanted to know how to practically and affordably control some of the variables that influence plant growth, such as water availability and soil fertility. I read about “wicking beds,” which are...
    Dryland Farming Wick Irrigation Low Maintenance ga... Garden structures ...

  4. Gardening on Rooftops & Other Above-Ground Locations - Martin Price

    2018-11-20 Most hunger and malnutrition around the world is not usually caused by a lack of food, although that may be changing. From the point of view of the hungry family, the cause is usually a lack of income sufficient to purchase the food. Anyone with enough income will be able to obtain food, except...
    Urban Gardening Urban Agriculture Container Gardening

  5. Rooftop Gardening - Tim Motis (2010)

    This video is a description of the Urban Garden landscape at the ECHO Global Farm in North Fort Myers, FL. Dr. Motis describes in detail the methods used and decisions made in its design. This video is split into multiple parts: Part 2:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ax9uqV_mbY Part 3:...
    Urban Agriculture Urban Gardening

  6. A Special Expanded Issue on Rooftop Gardening

    1990-08-19 INTRODUCTION TO OUR SPECIAL EXPANDED ISSUE. One of ECHO's purposes is to help people grow food under difficult conditions. You are not likely to encounter a soil worse for gardening than a cement slab. Neither will you find such large areas of unused growing space in full sun and near prime...
    Rooftop Gardening Urban Gardening

  7. Gardening on Rooftops: the last agricultural frontier

    2008-01-01 Low cost, low technology, lightweight methods to produce food on rooftops and other locations above the ground.
    Rooftop Gardening Urban Agriculture Urban Gardening

  8. Above-ground or Rooftop Gardens.

    2008-07-20 For 25 years, ECHO has promoted several methods for growing vegetables above ground, particularly methods well suited to urban settings on rooftops, concrete slabs, or in areas where gardens may benefit from being out of the ground
    Rooftop Gardening Tire Garden

  9. Technical Details of Above-Ground Gardens

    1996-10-19 The Shallow Bed Garden The Shallow Pool Garden Wick Gardens Tire Gardens

  10. Technical Details on the Microgardening Production System

    By Abdoulaye Seck The Microgardening technology is mainly based on 1 or 0.5 m2 wood tables and therefore, can be installed everywhere. Land is an issue in peri-urban/urban and even in some rural areas. The technology can be installed everywhere in household compounds (even in terraces and...
    Gardening Microgardening Rooftop Gardening Tire Garden Urban Gardening

  11. Conversations about Urban Gardens

    This group pageexists so that individuals involved in UrbanGardens around the world can connect. We encourage you to share the challenges you face in your endeavors, discuss lessons and techniques learned through your experiences, and share your story!

  12. Tire Contaminants from a Container Gardening Perspective

    2016-01-25 When trying to find affordable planting containers in the developing world, organizations and workers all over have promoted the use of a readily-available waste resource: tires. Over the years, many have asked whether or not tires contain harmful chemicals that could potentially be taken up by...
    Tire Garden Toxins

  13. Portable Gardens Made From Old Tires

    1996-04-19 Tires make handy containers for gardening.
    Container Gardening Urban Gardening

  14. No-Till Gardening

    1983-06-19 I first read of this method of gardening in Organic Gardening magazine where it was referred to as permanent mulch gardening. My reaction was that there must be something wrong with anything so easy or everyone would be using it. But our garden has performed so exceptionally well with so little...
    Gardening Community Gardens Urban Gardening

  15. Agricultural development for peri-urban and urban communities’ livelihood enhancement

    2010-09-01 A case study on the introduction of the microgardening technology in The Gambia (West Africa)
    Microgardening

  16. FONDAMA Yard Garden Program

    2014-07-01 In Haiti, a Yard Garden program is helping families and individuals to make real change in the area surrounding their homes. The results, described and pictured in some photos below, can be impressive! Mark Hare with MPP describes the program as follows: “The Yard Garden program is not about...
    Community Gardens

  17. FAO Urban agriculture

    The rapid growth of cities in the developing world is placing enormous demands on urban food supply systems. Agriculture – including horticulture, livestock, fisheries, forestry, and fodder and milk production – is increasingly spreading to towns and cities. Urban agriculture provides fresh food,...
    Urban Gardening Urban Agriculture Peri-urban agricul... FAO

  18. Vegetable Gardens in Kiffa

    2004-07-01 Training in tire gardening was done with women in Mauritania. After the training, each woman was given several small packets of seeds and encouraged to start a garden. When we arrived in Kiffa, the only vegetable gardens that could be found were in an ancient riverbed (known as a Wadi) northwest...
    Garden Vegetables Tire Garden Kitchen Gardens Vegetable Rural Development Urban Gardening

  19. Urban Agriculture: Food, Jobs & Sustainable Cities

    Key Resource 1996-12-01 The number of people living in cities will more than double in by the year 2033. At the same time it is clear that past incentives to keep the developing World's people in rural areas have not worked. This text presents a picture of the urban agriculture of Asia, Africa and Latin America, and...
    Urban Agriculture

  20. MetroFarm: Big Profit on a Small Parcel of Land

    1994-01-01 Filled with marketing and business management basics and diverse examples that entertain and enlighten. Case studies show how successful metrofarmers possess the vision and persistence to prosper. Bob Hoftetter, New Farm Magazine There is a tremendous amount of useful information in MetroFarm....
    Urban Agriculture Urban Gardening Urban business-Agr...

  21. Farming comes to town - Small-Space Agriculture

    Abstract, Spore, 2019 April Feeding the world's growing population – two-thirds of whom will live in urban areas by 2050 – calls for agricultural innovation to facilitate food production in ever smaller spaces, especially in cities. With cities expanding and climate change placing greater...
    Small-space Agricu... Urban Gardening Hydroponics

  22. Cities Feeding People: an examination of urban agriculture in East Africa

    1994-10-01 This book examines urban agriculture in East Africa and proves that it is a safe, clean, and secure method to feed the world's struggling urban residents. It also collapses the myth that urban agriculture is practiced only by the poor and unemployed.
    Urban Agriculture Africa-Urban

  23. Amaranth to Zai Holes: ideas for growing food under difficult conditions

    Key Resource 1996-01-01 This is a book of practical ideas. It is written for people who help those who live and make their living under difficult conditions in the tropics and subtropics. What should a development worker do to assist a community? There are no simple answers, but there are many possibilities—plants,...
    Tropical crops Tropics Developing countries Food Crops-Tropics

  24. Urban Agriculture: Growing vegetables in cities

    Key Resource 2002-01-20 This Agrodok targets those who want to grow vegetables and other crops for their families or for the local market in urban and peri-urban areas. Factors that urban agriculturalists and gardeners need to take into consideration when selecting where to plant their crops and the best methods of...
    Urban Agriculture

  25. Design and Testing of a Modified Hydroponic Shipping Container System for Urban Food Production

    Abstract,International Journal of Applied Agricultural Sciences, 2018 In urban centers today, Controlled Environment Agriculture is being proposed as a potential alternative to conventional agriculture using hydroponic methods in controlled spaces as a means to increase local food production and...
    Hydroponics

  26. Chinampas: An Urban Farming Model of the Aztecs and a Potential Solution for Modern Megalopolis

    Abstract, HortTechnology, 2019 Urban horticulture is not as new as many people think. Throughout history, different techniques have been used to ensure sustainable urban agricultural production. A good example of this is the chinampa system, which was developed during the time of the Aztecs in...
    Mexico

  27. Evaluating the Efficiency of Wicking Bed Irrigation Systems for Small-Scale Urban Agriculture

    Abstract, Horticulturae, 2016 A wicking bed (WB) is a plant driven system where plants receive water through capillary rise from a self-contained coarse material-filled subsoil reservoir. WBs have been widely promoted as a water-efficient irrigation solution for small-scale and urban food...
    Wick Irrigation