[Community_garden] Victory Gardens—a Manifesto & Garage Roof Garden Proposal

[James Godsil]

                                         Victory Gardens—a Manifesto

Near the beginning of the 21st century we humans find ourselves is a
struggle against tremendous destructive forces of our own making.  We are
struggling for our health, for our community, for our habitat, for our very
survival.  We have poisoned ourselves and our land and must now begin the
process of cleaning and renewing our spoiled world.

This struggle will take great effort from our government, our industry, our
schools, and our communities at every level.  This struggle must be
confronted on a scale larger than individuals.  But individuals must also
struggle at levels large and small, each as best he or she can.

We propose to aid this struggle on an individual level by each planting a
garden, large or small.

Planting a garden can help restore our health with the sorts of fresh and
wholesome foods humans evolved to need.

Planting a garden can help restore our environment, because our food is
currently embedded with fossil fuels from its production, transportation,
and storage.  By growing your own food, you can eliminate much of its carbon
footprint.

Planting a garden can help maintain the bio-diversity that has been
destroyed by the monocultures of corn and soy, with which our snacks and
fast-foods are packed.

Planting a garden can turn wasted space into productive and cleansing
bio-cultures.   The grass lawn that is soaked with pesticides or the roof
that soaks up heat can become spaces of environmental renewal.

Planting a garden can help us achieve peace, because so many of our wars are
fought over the fuel needed to produce and process our food.  They are
fought so that we can maintain the affluence that allows us to ship exotic
foods from all over the planet.

Planting a garden can help us restore our communities.  "Culture" and
"cultivate" share the same roots, and our human roots lie in the communal
production of food and shelter.  A garden can become a meeting place of work
and joy and health and celebration.

Most of all, the struggle of our generation is not only a struggle to save a
way of life; it is equally a struggle to change the way we live our lives.
We have come to see ourselves primarily as consumers and this orientation
has put our health and survival at risk.  Planting a garden is step,
symbolic and actual, in changing this orientation—in seeing ourselves and in
acting instead as producers, as preservationists, as conservationists, as
stewards.  Without this orientation, our prospects are bleak.  With this
orientation, our prospects are good indeed.

Let us call these gardens "Victory Gardens" and let our generation also be
one that creates new freedoms and prosperity, let it too be a "great"
generation rather than spectators of our ruin.

Photo Appendix



                               Reclamation Society's Harambee Garden



                                   Erik Lindberg and Jan Christensen at
Start
                                Of Erik's Victory Garden on His Building's
Roof





                   Erik Lindberg's Family Farm Atop His Old Industrial
Building in Milwaukee

Lindberg Proposal for Garden on Your Garage Roof

Attached is a proposal for roof top planter boxes.  I envision two boxes of
about 12' long placed along the east edge of the garage roof.  If kept at
the edge, combined with the lightweight soil mix I'm recommending, there
shouldn't be any structural issues.  You might also be able to place them
along one of the other sides, but the east edge would be the most reliable.

The boxes as proposed are constructed of regular construction grade lumber
and plywood.  Like mine, I would line them with plastic so that the lumber
isn't soaked from the inside, but they still will get a little wet and will
deteriorate over time.  I expect that mine will last at least 5 years before
they need significant maintenance, but that is just a projection without
much solid evidence.  For an increased cost they could be made from cedar.
I could also make them out of pressure treated lumber.  With the plastic
lining, I wouldn't expect any leaching of the chemicals, but I didn't
personally want to take that chance with my own.   The other significant
design detail is a drainage layer along the bottom.  While it is customary
to use gravel, to save weight I would use packing peanuts, which are then
covered with landscape soil to keep them separate and to keep the soil from
clogging the drains.

As for soil, I would make a mix of Growing Power compost, peat moss, and
vermiculite, with a thin layer of topsoil on top (the compost tends to be
clumpy, so a layer of topsoil helps make sowing easier.  After the drainage
layer and the bottom, there would be a minimum of 8" of soil.  This is
enough for most vegetables and flowers, except, perhaps, beets and
carrots—but they might also do just fine.

I didn't include any stairs because an attached set of stairs would not meet
code.  I would either use a small ladder or I could devise some sort of
temporary, removable stairs, but they aren't included at this time.

Finally, this can be done without addressing the existing roof.  The only
drawback would be that when you do get the roof replaced some day, you'd
have to empty the boxes to move them so that the roof work could be
performed.

I'm too new at this to guarantee any specific results, but so far I've seen
that the boxes designed like this, with this sort of soil, drain really
well.  My initial plantings seem to be doing very well so far.  It is also
easy to build a hoop-shaped covering to extend the growing season into the
spring and fall.

Please let me know if you have any questions,

Erik
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