Urban Farm Grows More Than 800 Pounds of Produce for Local Food Banks

This urban farm in Detroit is growing more than 800 lbs. of fresh fruits and vegetables annually and then donates it all to local food banks.  The farm is completely ran by volunteers and within the park you’ll find over 200 varieties of plants, vines, and fruit trees, which make a wonderful habitat for bees and butterflies.

“Lafayette Greens also provides an example of a successful and sustainable public-private partnerships. Compuware and the City of Detroit, who owns the land, negotiated a cooperative lease agreement that benefits the public.”

Read the full article here: “asla.org“

source by : http://www.urbanorganicgardener.com/2016/01/urban-farm-grows-more-than-800-pounds-of-produce-for-local-food-banks/

Soil, Your Garden's Engine Room

Soil is the engine room of the garden and healthy soil will help the garden perform at its best. One of the most important things that gardeners can add to their soil is organic matter. Organic matter provides some fantastic benefits:

• Absorbs moisture like a sponge so helps to increase the water holding capacity of soil.
• Helps improve soil structure by binding mineral particles together and creating additional spaces for air and water and allowing easier root growth.
• Encourages earthworms and beneficial microorganisms which enrich the soil and help create plant available nutrients.

Yates Dynamic Lifter Organic Plant Food is pelletised composted manure so is an easy to use, concentrated source of organic matter. Dynamic Lifter is rich in organic nutrients to gently feed plants over several weeks and is also boosted with the goodness of blood and bone, fishmeal and seaweed.