Greenscaper's Profile

Good post Sarah, but re: Item 8 you should know about sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) that employ capillary action to produce healthier plants, using less water and precious time. Traditional drain hole watering is antiquated as is our horticultural education system. Broken is probably a better word.

Thanks to our out-dated and retrogressive horticultural education you evidently don't know about eco-friendly sub-irrigation planters (some call them SIPs). Instead you used dumb drain hole pots that waste water, time...and eventually the plants. There's still time to try them this year Amber. You will become a believer.

I agree with jooly. These are cool balconies structurally but vastly underutilized. There is a wide array of sub-irrigated planters that could help make these mini gardens of Eden in the city.

These planter boxes could be/should be sub-irrigated rather than top watered. Benefits - healthier plants, perhaps 50% greater veggie production while saving precious water and time. It is a green solution that is still poorly understood...but that's finally changing thanks to informed bloggers, Facebook, Twitter...and of course Google.

Why risk growing vegetable in contaminated city soil when there is a better way that is risk-free? Use sub-irrigated box, bed and bucket planters rather than in-ground planting. Grow vegetables on rooftops, balconies, patios, driveways and other paved surfaces with six or more hours of sunlight

Sub-irrigated (aka "self-watering) planters are the safe and proven way to produce more vegetables per square foot while saving water and your valuable time; no rototiller, shovels, hoes or rakes required. They are the green way to grow green in the city.

If the droopy leaved Dracaena marginata in the window was an animal it would be a euthanasia candidate. Most likely it's a result of imprecise drench and drain watering (aka poke, pour and pray). Better to use measured sub-irrigation.

What a neat green greenhouse. Cool idea with such good instructions. Thanks for posting it.

I doubt that keeping worms in the house is going to become mainstream any time soon. The NatureMill seems to have greater potential for apartment composting. I'm going to get one. Think of it as the AeroGarden of composting. The price of the NatureMill or a competitive product will come down as the sales volume goes up.

It is not "environmentally friendly" to kill decorative plants! Unless you have a lot of light and a budget to replace them regularly do NOt try this at home. A luxury hotel has a big budget and even if this Tillandsia wall crashes they'll fix it with money as in the "brute $trength and awkwardne$$" method.

Tillandsias are flowering epiphytic plants that grow high up on trees in the tropical rainforest. They need high light levels!

As a former interior plantscape company owner I can attest to the reality that someone with shallow business savvy will always say yes to whatever a well-heeled client asks.

BTW, I'm wondering what foodefafa means by "harvested sustainably". I hope that's not alluding to harvesting them in the wild, as in rain forest. That's a big no-no.

There are many commercial Tillandsia growers in Florida, Central America and elsewhere who will be happy to provide plants without impacting the natural environment. .

I learned how to cut bottles from Popular Science Magazine when I was a kid. That's a long time ago. Tie a piece of kerosene soaked string around the bottle. Light the string. As it burns it heats the glass. Quickly immerse the bottle in cold water. It snaps apart at the string line. Hey, this is a test of my long term memory...no warranties expressed or implied...you're on your own.