Very few people, presumably, make omelets with eggs sourced from their lawns despite the hype on backyard chicken coops. Nonetheless, even those who would’ve once rejected the notion of
farming as a pastime are nurturing their green thumbs. Now, several new products and services are emerging that aim to assist this budding segment of urban neo-farmers as they graduate beyond the cultivation of a lone windowsill mint plant.
Grow Y’Own: While the First Lady’s statement-making
victory garden is laudable, it can also be viewed more negatively as being just a tad self-righteous. After all, keeping up 55 varieties of vegetables is easy when one has
an attending staff. For the average person, maintaining a healthy edible garden is not only expensive and time-consuming but also quite challenging. Enter Grow Y’own, a self-contained, raised bed gardening system that affords even neophyte soil toilers a low(er) maintenance method of putting homegrown dinner on the table. The miniature greenhouses, handcrafted by green construction expert Ken Kuhne, are
adaptable to the four seasons, meaning that self-cultivated, market-driven dining can be a year-round reality.
CitySoil: In many cities, particularly NYC, having backyard access remains a fantasy alongside the elusive walk-in closet. Resourceful urban locavores, however, have invented a number of ways to introduce agriculture to the cityscape that range from the
outlandish to the more practical, most often in the form of the rooftop garden. With gentleman’s farms increasingly dotting the skyline, even above
restaurants and
grocery stores, specialty rooftop gardening products are surfacing. CitySoil is an ultra-lightweight soil engineered specifically for the weight restrictions of rooftops. Made entirely from natural and recycled components, the soil boasts high porosity, permeability and wind resistance, all of which will help yield more tomatoes come
canning season.
Wilder Quarterly: The
recently shuttered ReadyMade magazine may have been the closest thing to a relevant modern gardening magazine, even if its editorial content extended well beyond plant life. In its path,
Wilder Quarterly is poised to become the indie authority on the natural world (though it remains to be seen if it will share the former cult rag’s
lifehacking ethos). The debut Fall issue, which will be available this September, includes a
pickling tutorial held at Brooklyn’s
Vinegar Hill House, an interview with
mycologist/TED speaker
Paul Stamets, and a visit to Yves Saint Laurent’s
Jardin Majorelle in Morocco, as well as regional gardening tips and home harvest cooking ideas.
