Revolution Featured in Edible San Diego Magazine

Revolution Landscape was featured in the Fall Season edition of Edible San Diego Magazine.  The article titled, “Growing Tomorrow’s Dinner,” focuses on kitchen gardens.  See article here on page 10.

Author and San Diego-based food writer, Susan Russo, defines the kitchen garden as any small garden that contains vegetables, fruits, and herbs and is usually located near the kitchen for easy access.   She raises excitement about being able to grow your own fruits and vegetables while reducing water use and your carbon footprint.  She also illustrates how eating local and heirloom is more personally and environmentally healthy.

We were especially excited to be interviewed and to see corn from one of our landscapes as a major photo in the article.  Take a look!

Author: Jeff Robins   |   Posted on: September 1st, 2010   |     No Comments »

Shanghai and Sustainability?

Shanghai and Sustainability?

Shanghai, China. If you know even the slightest bit about this city, you know it doesn’t exactly conjure images of lush gardens and nature abound. Like most major urban centers, Shanghai is host to a dense expanse of smog and pollution that continues to grow each day as all 20 million of its inhabitants leave their greasy carbon footprints – not exactly ideal for an organic home garden. But not ideal does not mean impossible – if neatly trimmed green lawns and sculpted bushes can thrive in this habitat, plenty of other landscaping possibilities should be available. During my trip to Shanghai this July, those beautified lawns were all I saw along public roads and corporate buildings. To be fair, Shanghai receives much more rainfall than San Diego (of the three weeks I was there, it rained for at least one week) and is constantly humid, so plants are easier to maintain. But still, it’s a little disappointing seeing how much public land is used planting a bunch of bushes instead of sustainable, edible crop, especially considering how crowded Shanghai is.

But while there’s not much one can do about public landscaping, there are more opportunities in the home. There are two sections of Shanghai, Pudong (East of River) and Puxi (West). Puxi is the commercial and entertainment center, and is most commonly associated with Shanghai. Here, everyone lives in apartments or condos stacked into hundreds of towering skyscrapers. This is urban Shanghai. Pudong, however, is a little different. I guess it would be considered the suburbs, but recent development has rendered this false in some areas bordering the river. However, drive far enough into Pudong and you’ll find single-standing houses and mansions…with their own yards. There are even a few farms in this area, mostly corn and lotus (yes they eat that) from what I’ve seen. Fruit vendors in Puxi probably get some of their produce from here, though most are probably delivered from even further out, in the countryside. Unfortunately, due to recent government beautification efforts for the World Expo, Pudong’s public landscape has fallen prey to more sculpted bushes and saturated green vegetation pumped with pesticides, but with a bit of education many families could easily start a sustainable garden in their yard. I stayed at an aunt’s house in Pudong for a few days, and unfortunately their backyard consisted of nothing but a few nameless shrubs and weeds.

Fortunately, there are emerging programs and organizations dedicated to helping Shanghai denizens create their own garden, even in an urban environment. A non-profit group called Roots and Shoots, for example, is teaching organic gardening at local schools and shows people how to turn their balcony or windowsill into a small urban garden in an environmentally-friendly, pesticide-free way. Shanghai has a long way to go to organic, as it’s still developing and paving its way in world economy. But in the words of the founder of Roots and Shoots, “Try a little bit at first…start with a small space, gain some experience then expand your selection.”

Read more about Roots and Shoots: http://www.jgi-shanghai.org/ColumnList.aspx?NodeID=2

Author: Christine   |   Posted on: August 31st, 2010   |     No Comments »

Revolution Visits “the D” – Detroit that is.

Last week, Jeff Robbins of Revolution Landscape visited Detroit, Michigan and saw how people in the mid-“west” coast are also working towards sustainability.  He visited Karner Community Garden in West Bloomfield, participated in a garden restoration project with NPO startup Edible Landscapes, visited the University of Michigan Arboretum, and observed edible landscaping in several public spaces in Ann Arbor.

Karner Community Garden –  Early in my trip, I visited Karner Farm in West Bloomfield, a suburb of Detroit.  I was impressed to see that every one of the 30 some 10×15 ft. garden plots were being used and were well maintained.  I was not at all surprised to see that the garden layout and styles varied greatly between the parcels but I was especially excited when I saw that some of the gardeners had implemented permaculture practices, planting corn stalks and pole beans together.  As I was leaving, an old timer tending to his plot, told me that they hand water using a shared public hose and that I could sign up for a parcel through the local Department of Parks and Recreation.

Garden Restoration in Detroit Suburb – I met with Andy from non-profit startup Edible Landscapes and was invited to help fix up one of their tomato gardens.  Before starting, the garden had several collapsing 6 ft. plus tomato plants and lots of overgrowth which was the result of a few weeks of heavy rain.  We spent several hours weeding, staking and running trellis lines for the tomato plants, and finished with a 6 inch layer of hay mulch.  We also thinned out branches near the base of the plants to allow more air flow and reduce the risk of fungus.  It was interesting to hear that their biggest challenge was keeping out the groundhogs!

U of M Arboretum & Green Rooftops – On one of the days, I took a walk through the Arboretum near the University of Michigan’s campus.  Though there were many non-native plants, the signs I read indicated that the plants were chosen for their drought-tolerant and ornamental qualities.  As I continued on through the woods, I spotted and sampled some wild raspberries!  Back on campus, while I was touring the upper floors of one of the schools buildings, I looked down and noticed many of the rooftops below actually had soil and some vegetation on them.  I also noticed a drip irrigation system that seemed to be adequately spaced for vegetable beds and wondered at the soil depth and drainage.  I recently inquired about the space and have yet to hear if they have plans to propagate with veggies.

Edible Landscaping in Ann Arbor – I stumbled upon several gardens right in the middle of downtown Ann Arbor.   This was an unexpected surprise.  I saw edible landscaping in front of the Bank of Ann Arbor, as the border of a public parking lot, and at Palio an Italian restaurant.  At each site there were tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, sunflowers, beans, and the remaining areas were filled with mulch and what looked like native shrubs.  Though none of the plants were producing yet, I did notice that there was NO vandalism.   Seeing these existing gardens in very urban and public spaces really made me think that we can take Revolution’s approach with San Diego’s ecology and make edible landscaping an integral part of our communities.

Author: Jeff Robins   |   Posted on: August 10th, 2010   |     No Comments »