Foodscaping

Dig In and Support Urban Gardening in San Diego

| January 20, 2016 | Categories: Agriculture and Farming, Gardening, Good Earth Plant Company, Sustainable Living
While I’m on the road at the annual Tropical Plant Industry Exhibition in Florida, I learned about a proposal making its way through the approval process at the City of San Diego. Yes, stop the presses: a government idea I’m excited about! The San Diego City Council’s Smart Growth and Land Use Committee took an important step Wednesday at its meeting to establish Urban Agricultural Incentive Zones in the City of San Diego. These zones were given a green light by California state legislation passed in 2014. Now it’s up to individual cities and counties to decide whether they want to allow them in their areas.… Read More

Let An Urban Farm Grow In Your Part of the Planet

| October 1, 2015 | Categories: Agriculture and Farming, Environment, Gardening, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Sustainable Living
The Uncommon Ground rooftop urban farm in Chicago. Photo: Courtesy UncommonGround.com
It was great to see so many of you at the U.S. Green Building Conference on “The Value of Sustainability” held on September 22 at SDG&E’s Energy Innovation Center, where we have one of our favorite outdoor succulent walls. It looked fantastic if I do say so myself! If you missed it, the conference featured local and national experts including yours truly talking about sustainable strategies on the triple bottom line: People, Planet and Profit. They aren’t mutually exclusive. It was well attended and well organized. Due to the press of business at Good Earth Plant Company I wasn’t able to stay all day, but many people did.… Read More

Nine Ways to Make the Most of Labor Day Weekend

| September 3, 2015 | Categories: Environment, Gardening, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants
Labor Day arrives on the late and lazy side in 2015, on the last possible day of the calendar: Monday, September 7. Have you made your plans? Or are you still waiting until the tourists go home to reclaim your spot at the beach? Why not take advantage of the long weekend and the great weather to invest time in working in the garden that will pay off big later. Nine suggestions from Good Earth Plant Company: Plant some garlic or radicchio, both excellent cool-weather crops. Install a birdbath to see the birds through the dry Southern California vall. Start a compost pile to create some organic fertilize for next spring’s garden.… Read More

Let’s Talk Sustainability in San Diego at the 2015 Green Building Conference & Expo

| August 27, 2015 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Environment, Good Earth Plant Company, Indoor Plants, Living Walls, Sustainable Living
The Good Earth Plant Company living wall at the SDGE Energy Innovation Center is one of our favorite projects. See it at the USGBC Green Building Expo on September 22.
One of the silver linings of our current drought in San Diego is that it has gotten more people thinking about sustainability and the big picture issues surrounding our use of water and other natural resources. This is a great thing! Thinking leads to talking, and talking leads to doing something. The more we start integrating cutting edge sustainability strategies into San Diego’s buildings, homes, and communities, the more we can improve our well-being. This is something I write about a lot on this blog. In September, I’ll get a chance to talk about it at the third annual San Diego Green Building Conference on Saturday, September 22 at the SDG&E Energy Innovation Center.… Read More

Ripping Out Your Lawn? Consider Foodscaping

| July 18, 2015 | Categories: Agriculture and Farming, Environment, Gardening, Good Earth Plant Company, Indoor Plants, Sustainable Living, Water and Water Conservation
Something as simple as a community garden can greatly increase your general happiness daily. Photo: Courtesy Karen Contreras, Urban Plantations
Homeowners in drought-stricken California have gotten serious about making changes in their water consumption. They are ripping out their water-guzzling lawns in record numbers. What they don’t always do is give a lot of thought about what will replace that lawn. So we end up seeing a lot of mulch and rocks as a quick fix. Consider a tastier alternative: Foodscaping. The simplest definition of foodscaping is landscaping with edible plants. It embraces the concept of growing food in place of lawns on private or sometime community property. It’s something in between farming, where you are growing food in a way that maximizes output, and landscaping that is meant to be decorative.… Read More