The cultural geography of gardens

Introduction by Christie, Maria Elisa
The Geographical Review
July 1, 2004

Excerpts:

Garden spaces are such a common part of people’s everyday experience that they mostly escape scholarly attention. This collection of case studies offers readers a sense of people, places, and gardens based on geographical fieldwork in parts of the world as distinct as Istanbul, Toronto, Sydney, the Peruvian Amazon, and central and northern Mexico.

Whether they are called “dooryard gardens,” “home gardens,” “house-lot gardens,” “backyards,” “community gardens,” or “market gardens,” these spaces of intimate engagement with the land present us with an opportunity to explore important aspects of biodiversity, food sustainability, civil society, the roles of gender and ethnicity in daily life, and how people’s lives are affected by migration. Participating authors ask very different research questions and employ a range of qualitative and quantitative methods, encouraging other scholars to pursue stimulating new avenues of research.

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Seeds sprouting on an old mop

You don’t need a garden to grow your own fruit and veg

Helen Babbs
The Ecologist
29th September 2010

Excerpt:

Rowena and Philip Mansfield farm fruit, herbs and fish in Anglesey, North Wales. I was drawn to this Welsh couple, who have swapped urban life for something very rural, because they’ve been growing strawberries in a drainpipe.

From sections of humble pipe, and employing less humble hydroponics, they’ve harvested 75lb of berries. They’re dismissive of my delight.

‘Nothing original about drainpipes,’ says Philip. ‘We look at all pipes and see them sprouting food. Just pass water along the tube and let the plant roots touch the liquid – they’ll take up whatever nutrients they need.’

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