All the Dirt on Gardening

Rooftop garden Children's Hospital St. Louis MO Urban Harvest in St. Louis MO is building a demonstration garden for city dwellers who want to grow some of their own food. And, it's a food roof farm.  The idea is to connect citizens of the city with organic food at their fingertips. Rally Saint Louis is funding the initial project along with crowdsourcing. The first project will be on the 10,000 square-foot roof of a two story building at 14th and Convention Plaza a block from the City Museum. There will also be event and education spaces on the roof. Another community gardening group in St. Louis grows their food on the deck of an underused parking garage. What do you think? Could this work in your town? Urban Harvest says the benefits are -  GREEN ROOFS HAVE AN ISOLATING EFFECT, HELPING REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF ENERGY NEEDED TO HEAT A BUILDING IN WINTER AND COOL IT IN SUMMER. THEY ALSO RETAIN RAINWATER, THUS HELPING REDUCE PROBLEMS WITH RUNOFF, WHILE ENHANCIN...

The 120-acre site of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a habitat for hundreds of thousands of native trees and plants. Named for the Crystal Spring that originates on the family home site, Alice Walton’s accomplishment in the Bentonville hills earned her a listing in Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. Since 2008, Scott Eccleston, Director of Trails and Grounds, has worked with the Walton family, Tulsa landscape architects Howell & Vancuren, Frank Sharum Landscape Design of Ft. Smith, the board and the foundation to make a vision into reality. Eccleston said the passion of everyone involved is the reason it has all come together so spectacularly. Even though they started with beautiful Arkansas wooded hills, the site presented many challenges. For example, the design plan for the grounds included 270,000 native plants. “We put out feelers all over the country,” Eccleston said. “The result was that we could purchase only 5% of the plant material we needed.” ...