Needless to say, a great deal of re-education happened while
reconsidering how to best use the local rural environs to a mutual
advantage. Having re-introduced myself to the inner
conservationist/naturalist/farmer, a number of articles, books and case
studies became the backgrounder to this undertaking. Much to my
surprise at the time, I began to learn that many of the better
techniques related to traditional farming and their real-time
conservation of resources. Imagine my shock at this somewhat common
fallacy of “Better living through technology” being sup-positioned with
“but not always”.
Container Planters
One of the first things learned about this region was the higher than
normal clay formations local people call soil. Many of the residents
that planted vegetables had reclaimed a portion of the land and
tirelessly maintained it over years to become more “friendly” to plant
life. Some took a very naturalist viewpoint and did composting, soil
reclamation, rainwater irrigation, and using heritage seeds. Others
took a more engineered approach and fertilized their plants in
chemically stabilized soils using hybrid seeds.
Regardless of the approach, it always comes down to the basics of
plant life – sun, water, nutrients. The simplification of these things
seemed to be a smart approach to capturing the best return on the energy
used (both physical and mechanical). Being impressed with the approach
of square-foot gardening for maximized yield, the advances of container
based gardening, and research in the biological processes of composting
– it seemed that containers were a likely place to start.
What type of container
When one looks at the sheer number of modern gardening conveniences
provided to todays consumers, it is no wonder that we are awash with
conflicting solutions to do something that occurs so naturally. This
became our dilemma and it was somewhat quickly determined that while
some products were very good in one efficiency (water use) they were
predominantly plastic (kinda counter-intuitive). Others that were more
natural, made of wood, lacked an appropriate water reclamation system,
thermal mass, or longevity. Even in the re-purposed container approach
urban gardeners use of anything that holds water and soil provided a
diverse and inventive solution.
<next article is Our approach for a better container>
