PlantwisePlus Blog

According to the astronomical definition, the first day of spring in 2015 is on March 20. When spring starts, nature also awakes! Not surprisingly, many favoured vegetables in Europe are sown in spring. That is why on March 21 we celebrate the World Planting Day.

Urban gardening brings planting back to the cities
Recently, the aim of manyyoung people and families with small children is to inspire city dwellers to start gardening in or around villages, towns, or cities

in order to make urban areas greener again. This so called ‘Urban gardening movement’ is the practice of growing food in an urban environment. But urban gardening is much more than that. It is a way for people to reunite with nature and the act of eating, and it is also a movement through which people are gaining more independence from the current industrial food system.

Think global, act local
Ideally, urban gardening (sometimes also referred to as ‘urban agriculture’) represents the place where environmentally-sustainable methods, the local economy, and relationships between people intersect, creating a thriving local food system and ensuring greater access to healthy food. And while the Plantwise programme, through the establishment of plant clinics, aims to reduce crop losses by tackling pests with the right knowledge, intending to improve food security of smallholder farmers in developing countries, urban gardening is a very powerful movement that can contribute to community food security in our urban village.

Urban gardening has led to a new trend and more and more people grow their own vegetables- for instance on their balconies. Mini-vegetables like small tomatoes, small cucumbers or zucchini can be planted on urban balconies. By using small wooden boxes, plastic buckets or clay pots, a biological vegetable garden can be created on a very small space.

In such wooden boxes mini-vegetables like small tomatoes, small cucumbers or zucchini can be planted to transform your urban balconies in a small garden. Photo: www.coopzeitung.ch

Season and month are important factors for the sowing of vegetables. In order to catch the right moment for the sowing we share here a sowing calendar with some popular garden-grown vegetables. !
Celebrate World Planting Day and contribute to a greener future by growing on your balconies and gardens!

Season and month are important factors for the sowing of vegetables on your balconies and urban gardens. This sowing calendar will help you to find the right moment. Click to enlarge! Source: adapted from http://www.knauber-freizeit.de