What is innovative gardening. Vertical gardening is crowing crops above the ground. This is used to minimize the space for practicing crop production. It can be used in places where is enough land to practice gardening on a large piece of land. This practice also save water.Vertical innovative gardens occupy smaller ground space than the horizontal gardens. Some horizontal gardens do not need containers. The importance of vertical gardening is that it is easy to control weeds, pest and diseases. Crops produced from vertical gardens are also clean because they don’t get into contact with soil. Leafy vegetables such as kales and spinach are harvested when they large enough to use for cooking. They are carefully plucked using hands to avoid uprooting the whole plant. Fruit vegetables are plucked when they are ripe. Tomatoes should be carefully picked when they are ripe.
What is innovative gardening and its Characteristics – Activities For Grade 3 Pupils
A vertical garden is a garden that is installed along vertical supports instead of horizontally along rows in the ground. “Vertical garden” is an umbrella term that can encompass many different vertical gardening setups. This is evident since container vertical gardens go by many different names:
- Living wall
- Green wall
- Vertical wall
- Moss wall
- Plant wall
The four characteristics that remain constant are a vertical structure, a container, a plant, and soil. Vertical gardens are appealing because they save space and allow us to grow food or ornamental plants outside of the traditional garden.
In commercial settings, vertical gardens are often elaborate installations set up by professional companies. These installations usually include a hydroponic system to provide nutrients and water to the plants to keep them healthy and growing. These companies tout these “living walls” as a tool to increase green space, boost mood and happiness, and function as living art in your workplace.
Activities For Grade 5 –
Activity 1
Finding out differences between vertical and horizontal innovative gardening.
Use digital devices or print resources to find information on innovative gardening.
Let us Find Out
Working in groups
Look at the types of innovative gardening practices in the following pictures.
c
d
- From the pictures, identify vertical innovative garden and horizontal innovative garden.
- What differences can you see between the vertical and the horizontal innovative gardens?
- Which of the two types of innovative gardening practices use a lot of ground space?
- Use magazines, newspapers,Internet or library books to get information on innovative gardening.
- Photocopy the information from newspapers and magazines, cut them out and paste them in exercise books.
- Label the pictures pasted in the album.
- Name the album “innovative gardening.”
- Share your findings with the other groups.
Points to understand about What is innovative gardening
- Vertical innovative gardens occupy smaller ground space than the horizontal gardens.
- Some horizontal gardens do not need containers.
- The album created from the print resources can be used to store information on innovative gardening.
- The album can be used to present the same information when needed.
Working in groups
- Name type of crops suitable for the vertical innovative gardening.
- Name the crops suitable for the horizontal innovative gardening.
- Describe innovative gardens which need more ground spaces.
- In groups, discuss the innovative gardening practices you would practice at home.
Note:
- Deep rooted crops are suitable for horizontal innovative gardening.
- There are many ways in which innovative gardening can be practiced.
Multi-storey Farming Using Dam liners
- The multi-story gardens are constructed using dam liner materials with a 0.5-1mm thickness. They are cut into different sizes and fastened using bolts and nuts at the ends to form circular rings with a diameter of 4ft.
- The soil around the terrace is mixed with the less acidic and fine goat manure on a 1:1 ratio. The base of the garden is wider to make the multi-story gardens stable.
- The storeys reduce in size by 2-4 inches upwards, forming a pyramid-shaped structure with terraces that allow for the smooth flow of water downwards. The storeys rise to a maximum of 6 or 8 terraces from the ground. Therefore, the farmer can choose to grow different crops on each terrace.
- The importance of this innovation is that it provides a solution to water scarcity. With less water and using this method, one can ensure food security, effective water utilization, and effective land utilization. Can be used when there is limited land space.
- The dam liners have a longer lifespan of over ten years as they are ultraviolet-heat treated.
- Allows smooth water flow downwards and lasts for ten years compared to sacks or old mosquito nets widely used by Kenyan farmers.
- You can plant vegetables like kales, Sukuma, carrots, onions, indigenous vegetables and other vegetables.
Sack garden
A sack garden is a type of horizontal and vertical garden that will help us understand What is innovative gardening.
A sack garden is created by taking a breathable sack like a ‘gunia,’ putting stones horizontally at the bottom, then packing the bag with soil mixed with manure and compost. Put a vertical tube at the center packed with stones to help you build the middle vertical column as you keep packing the bag with the soil mixed in with manure. Water the bag thoroughly, on top of the stone column and the sides of the bag. The soil must be well moist. Make holes that are 15 cm apart around the bag. Do not make holes in the stone layer at the bottom of your bag. Carefully place plants into the hole and on top of the sack. Be careful not to damage the plant roots. Water the plants well, and you are done. Your sack garden is ready.
The most important things to do when preparing a Vertical Garden at home
- Mixing compost manure with top soil makes soil fertile for innovative gardens
- Stone columns allow water to flow to the lower level of the sack.
- Holes are made to enable water to drain.
- Sack garden can be arranged to form vertical or horizontal innovative gardens.
- Like multi-storey farming, sack gardening allows you to grow more plants in less space. This is because the sacks prevent the root systems from spreading too far and inhibiting the growth of other plants.
Other innovative gardening ideas
1.Expandable step garden
- One Pot Garden
- Square Foot Gardening
- Gutter Gardens
- Tyre garden
- Sky Planters
- Transplanting seedlings
- Gardening practices on vegetables in the innovative gardens
- Harvesting vegetables from innovative gardens
information Source : .easyelimu.com