by Windowfarms
About Window Farms
August 11, 2009 in Featured Post, Getting Started by Windowfarms
window farms
Window Farms are suspended, hydroponic, modular, low-energy, high-yield edible food gardens built using low-impact or recycled local materials. This site is the online community of window farmers, where we share our development processes and design innovations.
These vertical gardens, located in windows throughout the cityscape, are intended to inspire others to design and implement their own window farms, creating a network of urban food production. Signs in the windowfarms will challenge people to create their own and direct them to a website where we can all share photos, plans, designs, and information. Together, we can derive viable methods for growing food under the local conditions of our own homes.
To learn more about Window Farms, see windowfarms.org.
To learn how to build your own, get started with How-To instructions, or start reading posts from other window farmers throughout this site.
Please share your design process with the other farmers by joining the site and sharing your design and development process.
If you would like to join the site, please get started here.
For press inquiries, please check out some of our large downloadable images here and write to britta@windowfarms.org for interviews.
Living in a small town, my only use for window garden, except in the winter, is starting plants. It adds some extra time, very useful in NDak, and frees up garden space. I’ve been using the 40 oz drink cups one gets at McDonalds, etc. They are on a rack that angles the tops toward the sun, with each row set behind and below the one in front of it. This way as many as possible get enough light. Water is rainwater, and the soil is exchanged when the plants are set out. To ease removal, before adding soil, the cup is dunked in water, and sand is trickled onto the wet inside wall. Then soil is added, and a plant introduced from the starter tray.
In the cold season, the same setup is used for lettuce, chard, and other winter crops that don’t need too much light.
The book, “Fresh Food from Small Spaces” by R.J. Ruppenthal is worth reading for anyone with an urban garden.
Can you take some pictures and create a post? It’s a litle hard to imagine what it looks like. If you use the gray drop down menu at the top once you are registered. You can easily make a new post and include pitcures: myblogs>new post.
Thanks!
We have windows in Canada. Any chance you know if they work up here during the winter? I could do something like this.
Cheers
Sounds like you will need to put the CFLs in your system for sure. Put them on a timer so they turn on and off automatically in 12 hour cycles. On during the day. Off at night. Why wouldn’t they grow in Canada? Plants oughta love you guys. You’re way better to the environment than we are down here. Good luck. Put up posts with pictures as you progress!
Here is a video of my finished window farm. It is before the plants started growing, but it gives you an idea of what it can look like and how it works!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bA_jFv7fEo
The plants have since started growing and I will put more videos up to show what it looks like grown.
Sweet, Cassie! Thanks!