July 08- Hoop house

We decided to build a hoop house to have a place to start our seeds and extend our growing season and grow tropical plants that require more heat in the summer. And because I've always wanted to have a greenhouse....

Cleared the area to sheet mulch

Lots of hard work and some dancing...

I gathered all the PVC from Urban Ore a refurbished material shop in Berkeley.

Covered the cardboard with mulch from an old pine that got sick on the site and was removed and mulched.

We connected the side hoops with a top PVC line to give it more structure

Lunch and beer under the shade of the plum tree. The least I can do to help all my beautiful helpers

We covered the PVC hoops with a UV protected plastic.

We also added Bamboo on the sides to provide a stronger structure.

Alex was doing some heat calculations with his new iphone

It works. I got immediately hot in there. So hot that we had to figure out some shade. But that will be on the next work party...

Giancarlo added a gate from his garden to the Algarden for easier access.

We also added two new beds, a short one and a long one along all the short ones to experiment a different orientation. It was late on the season so we bought plants that were ready to be planted versus starting from seed.

Good job!

June 08- Groundbreaking

Groundbreaking

By June after signing the agreement we order a truck load of soil, mulch and cardboard to start the garden

This is the first day that we started work.

 The land was covered in weeds and we had to start by cutting down most of it and pruning most trees to make space.

We also got a truck load of soil, a truck load of mulch, and a truck load of cardboard.

Soil samples were sent to be tested. This always the first thing to do when thinking of starting an edible garden. You must know your soils, they are the base and it cannot be overemphasized how important this is. The soil had no lead or other harmful chemicals,but it was very hard, mostly clay and with no organic matter so we decided to build our planting beds with the soil we bought on top of the existing soil.

Sheet mulching

Sheetmulching is an organic way of eradicating weeds and grass.

The cardboard we used was recycled cardboard that we bought from a cardboard collector. It  was soaked overnight to speed its decomposition into the ground. The cardboard was laid on the ground and then it was covered with soil and/ or mulch. The weeds and grasses underneath don't get sun light and most of them suffocate and die. The cardboard eventually decomposes and becomes part of the soil and provides a habitat for worms and other critters.

This proved to be very true, because raccoons found the worms under the cardboard and would come attack the garden at night ripping up the cardboard to eat the worms.

We laid out the site and removed some of the clay top soil of the planting bed areas before setting the cardboard down.

 It was an exhausting day but at the end of the day we had three planting beds planted with tomatoes, basil and lettuce.

The shade of the tree was a welcome spot.

The first set of beds are ready.

Tired and happy at the end of the day.

Spring 08 - Layout and agreements

The summer of 2007 I finished graduate school and that fall I started working at a Landscape Architecture and Urban Design firm MIG in Berkeley. Quickly I realized that Landscape Architecture has nothing to do with being outside with plants, which is my true passion, and is more about being in an office doing design in a computer all day. I was starting to go crazy and urgently needed a garden.


I located this site, two blocks from my work, on the winter of 2007. Their fence got blown away with a storm so I was able to see the site everyday on my way to work. I wanted a garden and this was the perfect site.


One day I saw the neighbor outside (Giancarlo) with a truck full of plants, I could see he was a plant person so we could communicate. I asked him about the site, he told me it belong to his neighbors, they had owned the property for 25 years but had never done anything with it. Giancarlo is a permaculture  expert who lives on the house next to the site, his house is extremely lush and his garden is covered with edible trees, shrubs, vines, ground covers, there is not one empty spot on his land. He also grows bamboo for carbon sequestration and to harvest for use in the garden. There are chickens too. He said he had been wanting to grow food and set up a productive garden on that site but didn't had the energy to do it by himself. I could not believe my fortune the universe provided me not only with a beautiful opportunity site but also with a great mentor to learn permaculture and organic gardening.


We contacted the owners with our proposal. I got a Google aerial image of the site and drafted a simple layout plan and a phasing plan for three years. Water would come from Giancarlo's house and all the labor and cost would be provided by Giancarlo and I so there would be no cost for the owners.


The meeting went well, they were excited but had a few issues with liability and access.  So we drafted and agreement so that we were all in the same page and everything was clear.


This is the agreement that we wrote with the owners of the site:

Arrangement for Use of property. for Garden and Plant nursery

 (Owners) agree to allow temporary use of their property  for cultivation of food crops and plant propagation by Giancarlo Muscardini and Patricia Algara and a limited number of their associates (users). This use is for self-sufficiency and sustainability and not for operation of a business.

Users may construct raised beds or mounds for annual and perennial crops, build a modest greenhouse and seed-house in the southwest corner of the lot for seed—starting and plant propagation, and store maturing plants, in accordance with the plot plans titled Dimension Plan, Food Production/ Food Propagation and Phasing by Year (year I), attached.

Users will operate in a tidy, environmentally—friendly manner, rid of clutter and debris, and properly dispose of any waste off the property. Chemicals are not expected to be used.

Users shall contribute to maintenance of existing elements of the yard, and to desired future landscaping of the property as negotiated between owners and renters.

There will be no exchange of money. Users will provide materials, plants, plumbing, electricity, water supply and labor. An access gate from street may be constructed.

Owners authorize access during daytime and for plant care. Owners reserve the right to temporarily restrict access, with advance notice, in the event of hosting an event at adjacent house or yard.

Owners may contribute to cultivation and may partake in the fruits of the endeavor for normal household use.

Owners agree to this arrangement with the understanding that no permits or licenses are required by the City. If such requirements materialize, users will be responsible for compliance.

This agreement will be effective for one year and may be discontinued, renewed or modified thereafter. Multi year use is contemplated. If owners decide to use the space for a different purpose, users will have at least three months to vacate the space.

At the cessation of use, users will remove all structures and materials, unless owners and users agree otherwise at that time.

Owners

We acknowledge and agree to this arrangement on behalf of ourselves and our associates.

Giancarlo Muscardini Date

User

Patricia Algara Date

User


I hope this story is inspirational and helpful for other who wish to start an urban farm in a vacant lot.

Foodscaping

I never thought I would do this, but here I'm, writing a blog...
This blog is about my foodscaping project; which I think is of interest to other people and this is a good way to document the process which I hope will be replicated ALL OVER. I will try to keep it simple and to the point


Foodscaping is a project trying to make vacant urban land productive and ensure food security for neighborhoods in an oil crisis time. It is also an effort to localize part of our food production as I see this as one of the biggest impacts we can have in climate change, as well as creating a closer connection to our environment through the food that we eat, how it grows and where it comes from. Ideally we will build a community in the process, neighbors will meet one another and share their food crops. Crazy, I know!

This first project: the Algarden, is very interesting because, it is truly collaborative and has many levels of sharing. A lot of people have contributed to make it happen and I thank all of you, I could not had been done with all of your time and efforts.
This is really fun for me and I feel incredibly lucky and fortunate to have this opportunity to learn so much and share this knowledge with others. I hope you enjoy reading about my mini urban farm adventures and come visit.