Graphic Credit: GardenRant.com

Occasionally I guest blog on other blogs or sites. Today on GardenRant.com, the four gardening women orchestrating the Rant started a two week vacation/hiatus and will be running guest posts each day. I really appreciate they ran mine since Garden Rant is one of the premier sites about gardening. My post can be found here… It is titled “Just What is the Definition of Gardening?” It seems to have generated some discussion on what is a controversial subject to some people.

First design two giant greenhouses for Singapore, then try to cool them – sustainably. Is this the construction equivalent of a Jamaican bobsleigh team? Graphic credit: Building.co.uk

If there were a prize for the least sustainable building concept, an air-conditioned greenhouse would surely be a strong contender. Barmy as it sounds, that is what is being built in hot and humid Singapore – or rather two of them. Crazier still, the scheme is intended to be an exemplar of sustainable practice.
The huge biomes taking shape on the waterfront are part of the Gardens by the Bay project, a regeneration scheme on reclaimed land near the business district. One greenhouse will re-create the cool moist environment of a mountain “cloud forest” while the other will replicate the cool dry conditions of a Mediterranean spring.
Atelier Ten, the scheme’s building services and sustainability consultant, claims the cooling system will be carbon neutral over the course of a year. This will be achieved by a combination of 10,000 litres of liquid desiccant, 5000 tonnes of forestry waste, and, dotted around the grounds, 18 steel “supertrees” housing exhaust air ducts, solar panels or, in one case, a “treetop” cafe. It’s a solution as unusual as the brief.
Atelier Ten was on the team led by landscape architect Grant Associates, working with architect Wilkinson Eyre, that won the commission in an international competition in 2006. The overall scheme includes three public gardens. Grant Associates is masterplanning the £400m one at Marina South, which will have 54ha of landscaping, a concert arena and shops as well as the star attraction – the two scallop-shaped greenhouses, which are even bigger than the Eden Project’s. The cool dry biome is 170m x 105m; the cool moist 120m x 85m.

Click to read the rest of the Strange But True: Sustainable Air-Conditioned Greenhouse story.

Photo credit: Food.Change.Org

At P.S. 333, a New York City public school otherwise known as The Manhattan School for Children, a little schoolyard garden plot like the ones popping up at schools across the nation is simply not enough. Thanks to the enterprising efforts of parent volunteers, a history-making project is taking shape on the building’s rooftop: a glass and metal structure officially called The Sun Works Center, which a press release calls “a technically sophisticated, 1,440 square-foot recirculating, hydroponic greenhouse.”
Benjamin Linsley, Managing Director of Brightfarm Systems, which designed the greenhouse and helped manage the project, has another name for it: “the mother of all school greenhouses.” I recently had the opportunity to visit the work site on the third-floor roof, where the structure is still awaiting its glass walls, but should be ready for when school starts in the fall.
On a blazing August day, Linsley and I sweltered as we watched two workmen fit together metal support poles inside the structure. A couple ventilation fans stood distressingly still, and, as the cooling systems aren’t installed yet, so did Linsley and I, sweating and discussing the scope of this ambitious project.

Click to read the rest of the Back To School In “The Mother Of All School Greenhouses” story.

Will Allen’s Growing Power in Milwaukee, Wisc. is the model for urban farming that many are duplicating. Now, in Cleveland, Ohio, Green Acres Plaza is a planned 60,000 sq. ft. agricultural structure designed for production, distribution, and the processing of locally and regionally grown foods. From Green Acres Plaza’s web site,

Green Acres Plaza will serve as the headquarters with links to Neighborhood “Victory” Gardens, public school initiatives, grocery stores, restaurants, hospitals, and food banks.
Green Acres Plaza will also serve as an economic development engine and training site for residents in the target area and surrounding communities. The location will be accessible from any direction within the Lee-Harvard area and will encourage socialization among residents while shopping, attending community room activities or enjoying a delicious drink made from fresh fruits and vegetables at the juice bar. Building a wholesale/retail foundation will create a positive economic impact in the community not only because of the jobs that will be created, but also because of the quality of food distribution that will be accessible at competitive prices.
Our sustainability program includes, establishing relationships with regional farmers, creating public-private partnerships and solidifying community support.
A fabrication facility will be positioned next to the Plaza and will be the site of training and job development opportunities in manufacturing and fabrication of future greenhouses. The results-oriented training will lead to years of employment for residents and individuals in surrounding communities.

Trenton Forging in Trenton, Michigan has built a 1,600 square ft. greenhouse on its roof; the video below shows what heats the Greenhouse—excess heat from the forging operation. Veggies go to the employees and a charitable group. This will become more the norm as both demand for locally produce food and new ways of recycling wasted energy increase.

Kyri Hailey, a youth apprentice with the Greening of Detroit summer program, helps set up the new MGM Grand garden greenhouse Friday at Third and Plum streets. Photo credit: John Gallagher/Detroit Free Press

MGM Grand Detroit casino broke ground Friday on what promises to be downtown’s only big community garden and one of the most elaborate gardens in the city.
Created with the nonprofit Greening of Detroit organization, the MGM Grand garden will occupy 1.8 acres at Third and Plum near the casino.
It includes a 60-by-96-foot greenhouse and eventually will include beekeeping for honey, berms with fruit trees, and training programs for children and adults interested in growing food.
The site is a gravel parking lot, which prompted Rebecca Salminen Witt, president of Greening of Detroit, to tell an audience at the ground-breaking ceremony, “We hear a lot about vacant space in our city. We see that as an opportunity.”
George Jackson, president of the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., said the garden fits into Mayor Dave Bing’s plans to nurture a greener, more environmentally sustainable city.
“We think this is outstanding, and my hat’s off to MGM Grand,” he said.
Jeff Jackson, director of engineering for MGM Grand, said the garden has been in planning for about a year. MGM Grand purchased the lot from nearby DTE Energy.

Click to read the rest of the Detroit Ground Breaking For $1M Urban Ag Site story.

Craig and Libby Smith, owners of Badger Ridge Greenhouses, supply custom designed containers, hanging baskets, bedding plants and vegetables to Calgary and Cochrane wholesalers. This year business is down because of the cold, cloudy weather. Photo credit: Barbara Duckworth/Producer.com

Craig and Libby Smith’s farming dream has grown from a small greenhouse to more than 18,000 sq. feet of space producing flowers, herbs and vegetables.
They bought a bare quarter section of land northwest of Calgary near the hamlet of Madden in 1998 and by 2000 had started a small greenhouse that has expanded into a large indoor growing area and garden centre.
“It started as a hobby that grew into a business,” Libby said.
Seventy percent of their business is selling wholesale to garden centres in Calgary and Cochrane, Alta., with the rest from farm sales and farmers’ markets. They create custom designed hanging baskets and containers and grow vegetables such as traditional and heirloom tomatoes. Herbs are the newest product.
This year has been a challenge because home gardeners reduced buying due to poor weather in May and June. Wholesalers reported that business was down 50 percent.
“The rain in early June has really killed the wholesale market,” Craig told a June 24 farm tour.
Added Libby: “Despite the fact we are in a closed building, we need the sun to grow flowers and this year has been challenging with four weeks of rain and snow.… We are probably not down that much because every year we have been growing our own retail market, but we are certainly nowhere near where we should be.”

Reinier Wolterbeek, project manager of the revolutionary Seawater Greenhouse on Spencer Gulf, holds some of the environmentally friendly produce of the future. Photo credit: AdelaideNow

The multi-million-dollar greenhouse in the South Australian desert will be run on desalinated water and is expected to create up to 100 jobs within two years.
A revolutionary seawater greenhouse project on the eastern shore of upper Spencer Gulf, 20km south of Port Augusta, is nearing completion in an ambitious approach to taming the harsh Australian outback.
Turning seawater into freshwater through new desalination technology has the potential to transform irrigated agriculture, while lessening reliance on Australia’s inland rivers.
The 2500sq m, environmentally friendly greenhouse will use solar energy to desalinate seawater pumped from a few hundred metres away to produce high-value crops.
The first batch of hydroponically grown tomatoes is expected to be harvested late this year.
Production is estimated to be worth about $250,000 to $300,000 a year, with a 2ha greenhouse producing goods worth $2.5 million to $3 million a year.

Click to read the rest of the Growing Vegetables In The Australian Desert, Thanks To Desalination Technology story.