Follow us on Twitter!With the 40th anniversary of Earth Day upon us, we are pleased to share with this you this video about an exciting and innovative collaborative project taking place in San Francisco, California. Coordinated and funded by Slow Food San Francisco and others, the Sanchez Elementary School now hosts a vertical vegetable garden program – the first in San Francisco. The city of San Francisco is so impressed and proud of the project that they recently awarded the Sanchez Elementary School with their highest commendation for “working and instituting the first vertical garden in a public school”. With continued success and support, this project may open the door for other urban schools to utilize unused vertical space as green learning environments.
Watch this Slow Food San Francisco video to learn more about this innovative vertical garden project:
This is a really interesting project. I am somewhat unclear as to how the completely recycled water is able to supply essential nutrients to the plants. I would have thought that after the third or fourth cycle, the needed minerals, micronutrients and macronutrients would have been absorbed by the plants, resulting in nutrient deficiency or toxicity.
Are fertilizers added to the water on a regular basis? And if so, since the children are growing vegetables in the vertical gardens, does fertilization affect the organic designation of the products?
Also, what type of soil composition is being employed? What level of sterility is being used in the soil to prevent weeds and harmful plant fungi without destroying the symbiotic relationship between beneficial bacteria that creates usable nitrogen in the soil?
Comment by Kay Lorraine — April 25, 2010 @ 4:15 am
Hi Kay,
Glad to know you found this interesting too, and thanks for you comments. I can refer any technical questions about the system to the company that designed and implemented the project.
Thanks again for your interest.
~ Nancy
Comment by admin — April 25, 2010 @ 7:26 am