“Planting was completed in Spring 2002 and the garden is now well established. In an area of 200 m2, over 120 species of perennial plants from around the world thrive in soil only 30cm deep. The garden supports a range of layers, from roots, through small shrubs to our miniature version of a canopy layer. Most have multiple uses: food, medicine, fuel, fibre, construction, dye, scent.

“The garden demonstrates many ways we can all reduce our environmental footprint. Features include: composting of kitchen waste from the Global Cafe, irrigation using harvested rainwater pumped by renewable energy from a solar array and wind turbine, use of recovered soil and recycled newspaper, wood, stone and plastic in its construction.”

Link to roof garden here.

First printed in 1975, this wonderful book inspired City Farmer to take action in 1978 and start our work promoting urban agriculture. The authors, Helga and William Olkowski, visited us in Vancouver in those early years and introduced Integrated Pest Management (IPM) to many people in the city. They also motivated one of our founding directors to get her Ph.D. in entomology.

From the book cover: “Four years ago the Olkowskis decided they were tired of paying high urban prices for just-so food shipped in from who-knows-where. So they decided to start growing some of their own. By the end of the year they were raising all their own meat and vegetables right in the middle of the city of Berkeley by using every conceivable bit of space on their small city lot.”

Used copies of their book are for sale at Amazon linked here.

“For the past four years, Grubb has been acquainting himself with the medicinal and nutritional qualities of these plants that thrive on neglect, often in poor soils, on marginal land. He is an urban forager: a student of nourishing foods that can be gathered for free in the city. On this glorious morning the weedscape looks idyllic: the hawthorn and wild roses are in flower and birds are singing in the tree tops.”

Link to article “Where The Wild Things Are”.

Link to website “Eat The Suburbs”.