Innovator seeks to educate about green roof movement – San Diego Daily Transcript

| February 24, 2012 | Categories: Green Roofs, Media Coverage
If you visit Good Earth Plant Company Inc. and GreenScaped Buildings president and owner Jim Mumford’s office, you will notice two things: plants hanging from and growing on walls, and plants growing from the roof. Mumford has built a reputation for renting, installing and maintaining of plants, green roofs and green walls and has been doing so in San Diego and across Southern California for more than 20 years. Chances are you have seen or heard about his work, as he is one of the few who does these types of installations in the county. Mumford’s work has been published and broadcast in several newspapers and television stations over the years, and his companies have completed more than 16 green roof projects and numerous green walls and plant fixtures for corporate clients and private residents.… Read More

Business owner also known as eco entrepreneur – San Diego Daily Transcript

| December 30, 2011 | Categories: Media Coverage, Sustainable Living
In business since 1977, Jim Mumford has had plenty of time to figure out what he wants his company to stand for. That said, the past 12 months have gone a long way in defining Good Earth Plant Co. What began as a general flower shop set up by Mumford at the age of 20 is today one of the few places around San Diego that companies and individuals turn to when looking to turn their homes and offices into sustainable green spaces. Finding practical ways to put plants in new and interesting places has changed the business model to where Mumford has added a second arm: Greenscaped Buildings.… Read More

Seed Bombs in San Diego County

| August 30, 2010 | Categories: Agriculture and Farming, Architecture and Design, Media Coverage, Sustainable Living
I saw a gumball vending machine, put in two quarters, turned the knob, and out rolled a brown seed bomb??  Wait a second…this isn’t a gumball machine! Recently, seed bomb vending machines have been popping up in San Diego and New York areas thanks to Jim Mumford at Greenscaped Buildings’ brilliant idea for unofficial planting.  He uses repurposed dispensers that hold little seed bombs of native flower seeds and compost held together by clay.  How cute is that?!  A little ball of flower seeds perfect for a mini explosion of native wildflowers on a neighbors’ lawn or between cracks in the sidewalk.… Read More

Meet East County’s Eco-Warrior Jim Mumford – East County Magazine

| May 8, 2010 | Categories: Good Earth Plant Company, Media Coverage, Nature and Wellbeing
First came green roofs; now edible walls join pioneering urban farming trends May 8, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) — Plenty of people told Jim Mumford he was nuts building a green roof project in the middle of a Kearny Mesa industrial park. Three years later, the roof is thriving and Mumford’s GreenScaped Buildings is a pioneering venture and he’s earned a reputation as leader in this segment of the green building industry. Read more: http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/3267

Here We Grow – Pacifica San Diego Magazine

| April 24, 2010 | Categories: Biophilic Design, Green Roofs, Media Coverage
When there’s no space on the ground, Jim Mumford plants on the walls and the roof. His Kearny Mesa-based company, Good Earth Plant Company, has been providing plantscaping services for San Diego homeowners and businesses for more than 30 years. Today, Mumford’s new venture, GreenScaped Buildings, also creates “green roofs” and “living walls,” giving life to otherwise inanimate objects. Read more: http://www.pacificsandiego.com/2010/04/24/here-we-grow/

Walls you can eat – CNN Money

| April 12, 2010 | Categories: Agriculture and Farming, Living Walls, Media Coverage, Sustainable Living
SAN DIEGO (CNNMoney.com) — Mario Batali decided last year to install a garden between his adjoining West Hollywood restaurants, Osteria Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza. But a plain old backyard patch wouldn’t do. Batali wanted something more visually striking, something more … vertical? So he turned to Jim Mumford, the owner of Good Earth Plant and Flower Company in San Diego. Mumford, 52, had built a reputation as a nontraditional gardener. In March 2007, he embarked on a “giant experiment,” replacing the 1,800-square-foot roof of a commercial building he owned with a planter’s paradise: three inches of specialized, lightweight soil over a padded waterproofing and drainage system.… Read More

Mozza’s Edible Garden Wall: Please Don’t Eat the Geraniums While You Wait, LA Weekly

| February 26, 2010 | Categories: Agriculture and Farming, Media Coverage, Sustainable Living
Excerpt from the article that appeared in the LA Weekly blog, February 2010 The next time you’re stuck in line outside Pizzeria Mozza, you’ll have a much more pastoral setting for your wait than the usual valet caravan, the hungry crowds, the celebrities dodging TMZ for a pizza. This morning, Nancy Silverton and crew had an edible garden wall installed along the otherwise unremarkable wall between the Pizzeria and the Osteria on Highland Avenue. The wall is a testament to Mozza’s ongoing commitment to sustainability. It also provides some good aesthetics, as well as, perhaps, a get-your-own amuse bouche. The San Diego company Good Earth Plants & GreenScaped Buildings put up a vertical wall of herbs and flowers and lettuces, including 72 square feet of sage, cilantro, parsley, rosemary, beets, chicory, Italian dandelion, han tsai tai, 3 kinds of mint, 4 kinds of edible geraniums and Chinese celery.… Read More

Good Earth Plant Company: Vertical veggies – KFMB TV CBS 8 News

| February 10, 2010 | Categories: Agriculture and Farming, Media Coverage, Sustainable Living
SAN DIEGO, Calif. (CBS 8) – When the folks at Good Earth Plant Company want some from veggies or herbs, all they do is clip them right off their wall. “We’ve got parsley, we’ve got some beets, we’ve got some mint, a little bit of rosemary, strawberries,” Jim Mumford said. Mumford has developed a wall system to grow vegetables vertically. Watch the story here:// San Diego, California News Station – KFMB Channel 8 – cbs8.com Read more: http://www.cbs8.com/story/11923046/good-earth-plant-company-vertical-veggies

A Simple, Practical Solution – Voice of San Diego

| December 11, 2007 | Categories: Green Roofs, Living Walls, Media Coverage
Cities are facing climate change. Urban areas are warming up. Storm water overflow is contaminating beaches, bays, rivers and lakes. Development continues to encroach on the natural environment. Green roofs (or “eco-roofs”) provide a simple, practical solution to all these problems. Green roofs are an engineered, lightweight roofing system that supports plants. Green roof technology has been popular in Europe for 30 years, and is used in some North American cities including New York, Chicago, Toronto, and Portland, Oregon. But green roof technology is not well known in most of the United States and hardly at all in San Diego. Read more: http://voiceofsandiego.org/2007/12/11/a-simple-practical-solution/

Environment-US: Growing Oases in the Sky, IPS News Agency

| June 7, 2007 | Categories: Environment, Green Roofs, Media Coverage
SAN DIEGO, Jul 5 2007 (IPS) – An industrial park seems an unlikely location to find a native plant garden. “It’s mind-blowing,” says Jim Mumford, who ripped up his old roof and replaced it with something alive and verdant atop a small one-storey building that he’s converted into a haven for wayward butterflies and pollinating plants. As the founder and president of Good Earth Plant Co., a container plant and design firm, Mumford combines business acumen with the enthusiasm of an amateur naturalist. He wants to turn neglected urban landscapes into green space for workers and wildlife, beginning with his own commercial property in the gritty neighbourhood of Kearny Mesa, San Diego.… Read More