D.C.'s First Edible Urban Garden Tour

Get your grow on with DC’s first Edible Urban Garden Tour hosted by Loulies.com.

Explore city spaces and residential gardens that will open their doors and gates for the public to see what growing good food in our own backyards, front yards, rooftops, and empty lots is all about. It’s a chance to ask questions, learn from and hear what inspires some of DC’s best gardeners.

The tour will start at Old City Green, a beautiful, plant-filled garden shop and stretch through the revitalized neighborhoods of Shaw, Bloomingdale and Ledroit Park. Plus, see for yourself and learn more about Common Good City Farm, the community garden that Prince Charles recently toured as part of his inspiring Future of Food visit to DC. A map of tour locations will be distributed on the day of the event at Old City Green. Purchase tickets online or pay with credit/cash at the door.

The tour is self-guided and will cover several miles so a bike or a car is recommended.

LOCATION: Old City Green at 902 N Street NW
DATE: July 15, 2011
TIME: 3pm to 8pm
COST: $20 - To buy tickets, go here!

Oh, Those Clever Japanese! Gardening in Reused Bottle Caps

Reblogged from Springwise.com, Eco & Sustainability, April 8, 2011

Heightened interest in all things green means that gardens are popping up everywhere. We’ve seen them in greeting cards, we’ve seen them in giant bubbles — we’ve even seen them created on the sly in guerrilla fashion. (THAT'S US, PEOPLE! We're the guerilla fashionistas!) The latest spotting? Gardens in bottle caps from Japanese Merry Project.

Priced at JPY 158, the Merry Farming Kit includes a tablet of compressed, dry soil that’s just the right size to fit inside a standard plastic soda bottle cap along with basil seeds for planting. Urban gardeners need only place the soil in a cap, moisten it, and plant the seeds, as specified in the accompanying directions. After that, all that’s left to do is wait for the seeds to germinate and grow up into full-sized plants. Merry Project is planning to expand the selection of seeds it has available, according to its site.

Urban gardening is an alluring trend in its own right, but when combined with a dash of plastic reuse, it may just prove irresistible. Retailers around the world: one to offer for eco-minded adults and kids in your part of the global garden?

Spiral Growing Tubes Enable Farming in Small Spaces

Reblogged from Springwise.com, Eco & Sustainability, 1st June 2011Gardening in bottle caps is a fun concept that’s well-suited to urban settings, but consumers interested in growing more substantial crops might be better off with Whirligro instead. Targeting those with limited growing space, Whirligro uses spiral-shaped tubes to elevate food crops off the ground and enable greater production.

Designed primarily for fast-growing leaf crops, Whirligro uses durable, transportable growing tubes that can each hold three plants. Each Whirligro unit, in turn, holds 10 tubes spiraling around a central post, offering the combined ability to grow 30 plants in an area smaller than one meter by one meter. Plants grow through holes in the plastic tubing, reducing any weeding requirements to a bare minimum; because the plants are off the ground, meanwhile, pests tend not to be a problem, the device’s Scottish maker says. Watering can be done by hand or with a small drip irrigation system. Pricing for the Whirligro ranges from GBP 55 to GBP 140, depending on size.

No end in sight to the urban gardening trend. Who will help bring the Whirligro to urban farmers in your neck of the woods?To find out more, check out Whirligro's site, or send them a message.

Wanted: Someone Who Knows Facebook Better Than I Do!*

*Which is everyone.

Hear ye! Hear ye! I am in need of some help, y'all.

Any guerilla out there willing to take on the DCGG Facebook page? It's super easy... Right now nothing ever happens on the DCGG FB page, so anything you do will be an improvement. The bar has been set low so no matter what you do, you'll be a tremendous success! Guaranteed greatness, you gotta like that.

The problem is this: I don't understand Facebook. For someone who works in marketing, my inability to "get" Facebook is somewhat comical, but it be the truth, people! I don't "get" Facebook. All those Friends, all those Pokes, all those News Feeds and Notifications! Bwah! It makes my head swim, and not in that fun way that happens when you've taken too much Nyquil.

So! I need someone who will periodically check Facebook and respond to Friend Requests and Notifications, and who will post some things about gardening and stuff! You know, make our page cool and whatnot, so that people will think that I'm - *ahem!* *cough* WE'RE - cool and whatnot. I won't pay you, so you can be as slack as you like. Set your own goals and be fruitful! Or be not fruitful! Just so long as your not fruitful is more fruitful than my not fruitful. See? Low bar. Guaranteed greatness.

Seriously. I need help. Interested? Drop me a note and let me know if you'd like to manage the D.C. Guerilla Gardeners' Facebook page. You'd be my hero! And while I can't pay you, I CAN buy you a cup of coffee. Or a beer. Or a Cosmopolitan. Or lemonade. Or something. Anything beverage-y. I'll even throw in a pastry or two.

Gracias in advance, my greeny guerillas!