People living in cities in particular, have a key role to play in changing the global food system by taking up gardening. Some of us struggle to keep plants and succulents alive and there are others with green thumbs turning every space into a beautiful environment, even growing food.
In between the 2 extremes, in theory, anyone can start and try to maintain a garden if they can reconnect with nature.
In the modern world and food systems, lavish supermarkets have neglected food deserts, giving high priced unhealthy health fads to have malnourished citizens. These are the home of the cities malnutrition.
To advocate for change and better understand their place in the food system, urbanites are encouraged to starting gardening and develop some sense of food freedom.
A study estimated around 70% of people will be living in cities. Urban gardening with their collective power, can help transform the global food system and have a positive impact on the economy, environment making it more equitable and sustainable. Through urban agriculture, city-goers are practicing their green thumbs. People can practice vertical farming, roof top farming, indoor farming and community garden stewardship all of which are beneficial for our environment, social development, and economic resilience.
Urban gardening/farming is most recently used for food security in the context of an urgent climate change. Our food system plays a significant role in causing this crisis. As temperatures increase, longstanding agricultural practices are being undermined, with potentially disastrous consequences for food availability and diversity in many parts of the world. A sustainable food system should be localizing the food economies and increasing climate resilience.
The old industrial methods of agriculture actually destroys forests, pollutes rivers and the capacity of soil for nutrients to plants. However regenerative forms of agriculture can and will heal our planet. When we adapt these measures, we help communities adapt to excessive heat, causes of drought, devastating floods and more. Smart agriculture can produce food on unused land.
Food production shouldn’t harm the planet, instead it should support the health of ecosystems and allow biodiversity to thrive. Generations have taught and demonstrated this basic fact throughout human history.
Here are some tips for growing your own food in a climate-friendly way if you live in a city.
- Plan Your Garden
There’s no need for lots of technology to start farming. Once you map out and measure your future farm and area in your garden, your first attempt into gardening begins. Determine the weather patterns in your area, research and start small by growing food you like to eat. Then buy some basic equipment like tools and pots. Don’t be tempted to buy things first then set up.
- Buy Peat-Free Soil
The demand for soils made with peat contribute to environmental degradation and climate change because peat harvested from peatlands take thousands of years to form. When peatland is pulled apart for use in home gardens, it releases extraordinary amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The commercial harvesting of peat also exposes peatlands to fires that can release even more greenhouse gases than the emissions from all the flights taken in a year.
The good news is that peat isn’t an essential for growing plants and there are many varieties of soil you can buy made without this precious resource. So make sure you check the label and try to find “peat-free” potting soil.
- Get Seeds With a Purpose
Once you figure out what vegetables you like would do best in your planned garden space, consider buying seeds online or in-store. Do some research to make sure you’re choosing quality seeds.
Better still if you can go a step further by selecting and buying seeds from companies and organizations that promote and offer the best sources of heirloom and sustainable seeds. The organization Seeds of Change, for instance, invests profits into school gardening programs to teach emerging generations about gardening.
- Compost for Soil Nutrition
Join a community garden near you with like-minded gardeners. Those with experience will likely share tips and valuable advice on feeding your soil with nourishment throughout the year. Occasionally, you might need to feed it specific nutrients found in fertilizers. But, more often than not, you can usually get by with home-made compost. Learn how to prepare compost. It is a great way to minimize food waste, since it’s made from kitchen scraps. Just get your hands dirty. If you have too much compost, you can also usually drop it off at collection sites at farmer’s market and community gardens.
- Focus on Microgreens
Microgreens are for people in small apartments or a small balcony with little or no outdoor space. These miniature leafy greens can even be grown on window sills. They are harvested in their infancy — are a great option if you want to grow your own food. They require less light than heftier plants, quickly mature, and can yield year-round. Select pots with enough drainage but avoid leaks.
It is a great crop to grow because they can be expensive to buy. Pick easy varieties. The best part is that microgreens are packed with nutrients and can be added to salads and smoothies, used to top stir frys, or even munched as a snack.
- Plant Wildflowers for Pollinators
Protect your plants with nets and rings as a barrier. Remove pests manually or repel with natural methods. We humans have caused the insect populations to plunge with pollution, habitat loss, and invasive species causing many insects to go extinct. Without serious structural changes, many insect species could go extinct.
On your part in a small scale, you can support the health of local insect populations, especially pollinators that are essential for plant biodiversity, by growing wildflowers. Consider sunflowers, marigolds near your vegetable garden. Many pollinators are also attracted to herbs like lavender, basil dill and fennel and others. Not only will they provide sustenance to butterflies and bees, but they’ll also look beautiful!
- Share Your Harvest With Neighbors
There’s a benefit from growing food. You make a great neighbour! If your garden yields a lot more food than you can consume, it is a great way to bond with neighbours and make friends. Or that they’re too good to not share with those nearby. Invite them over for a meal on dishes cooked with food fresh from your garden.
This class act may even spark their curiosity and motivate them to start their own edible gardens. However you choose to share your garden’s bounty, it could be an economic decision also. Lead by example, get them to earn some extra income too.
- Join a Community Garden
An excellent example as above can spur a response. If others in a group are growing food, it is likely to spur curiosity and create something of a momentum. Someone may discover a green thumb and may take that passion to a bigger canvas. Nowadays, cities are full or community gardens overseen by wonderful people in your neighborhood who volunteer their time to create urban oases. You can join their efforts by volunteering once or twice a month to tend to bigger plots of land and grow even more ambitious fruits and vegetables.
- Become an Advocate For Sustainable Food
We are aware that the global food system is broken and is not sustainable. Food produced and sold in big cities are either harmful to the planet or a huge percentage is harmful to us and to the biodiversity.
Research, read books or watch documentaries to better understand and learn about this problem. This is the first step to bettering the food system.
Biodiversity is never an infinite resource which we can exploit indefinitely. This means extreme overfishing and marine pollution, pollution to livestock, it means factories violently churning through animal bodies, polluting environments in the process. In agriculture, it means excessive pesticide use and the death of biodiversity.
Food can and should be produced in a way that respects people, wildlife, and the planet. By learning about the food system and agricultural production, you can become an advocate in your own community and contribute to the global food revolution. Humans can learn to love our planet better.