Urban Farm

Using wood chips for mulch

We just finished up Urban Farming 101 and 201 taught by Greg Peterson at The Urban Farm.  Greg teaches at Arizona State University on Sustainability and is a wealth of information.  He can tell if you have healthy soil just by looking at it.  Greg has also started Grow Phoenix and you can learn to grow your own food.  Register for the Grow Phoenix class that is on March 7, 2015.  Click on the Grow Phoenix link to sign up.

Permaculture is a term we learned in our first Urban Farm 101 class.  Permaculture operates on three code of ethics.

1. Care of Earth
2. Care of Species
3. Return of Surplus to the first two.

Here are 10 steps to help you grow in your space.

1. Familiarize yourself with native plants, predators and pests in your area.
2. Observe how the sun strikes the site of your garden.
3. Draw up a list of plants and group them together according to sun and water needs and pest concerns.
4. Prepare area 6″-12″.
5. Start with the biggest plant and place them so they provide shade for smaller sun-sensitive plants.
6. Place plants requiring the most care closest to home.
7. Place plants requiring similar amounts of sun and water in the same bed, also consider companion planting.
8. Lay mulch down:  wood chips, cardboard, newspaper
9. Create a composting system
10. Begin a low-waste water system:  drip irrigation, rainwater harvesting

I will be sharing more of how we implemented items into our garden.