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Alki Apartment Case Study: COVID Container Gardens

COVID quarantine can be stressful, especially for those of us living in apartments or other small, urban spaces. A perfect way to alleviate the stress of enclosed spaces is to grow a plant from seed. Seeing a plant emerge from a seed is a positive, productive feeling that gives people a sense of control of their destinies and of closeness with nature. Tomatoes are one of many perfect candidates for container gardens in apartments. They are relatively low-maintenance, high-yielding edible plants, and most people would attest that the flavor of a homegrown tomato far surpasses store-bought tomatoes.

Making More Tomatoes: A Container-Based Tomato Patch

Store-bought tomatoes are harvested early, left to ripen in transit, and are incredibly resource-intensive for transportation and packaging. Home-grown tomatoes, on the other hand, are a delight to the senses, and perhaps the most satisfying plant a beginner gardener can experiment with.

4-5-20 We saved the seeds from storebought Sungold tomatoes and planted them in eggshells, which were put into egg cartons.

Saving tomato seed is so easy, there’s really no need to spend money on seed. If you like the flavor of a tomato, you can choose to grow that exact kind. For us, we love the sweet flavor of Sungold cherry tomatoes, and decided that we wanted to grow as many of them as possible.

4-26-20 Sungold tomato seedlings planted in eggshells (seeds planted on 4-5-20)

Egg cartons are perfect containers to start seeds in. They are readily-available, compostable, and the eggshells are a biodegradable container that provides nutrients to the plant as it breaks down.

4-2-20 All sorts of containers can be repurposed into pots that will let seedlings grow to transplanting size on a windowsill.

We filled the eggshells with potting mix. (We used G&B Organics’ Potting Soil, but you can include any rich, well-drained soil with lots of organic matter incorporated in. ) We filled each eggshell with soil, and poked a pencil in the center of the soil to create a hole for the tomato seed. We then planted the seeds in the holes and covered them up with soil. Finally, we watered them in, and their journey to full-sized tomato plants had begun.

4-26-20 Sungold tomatoes are transplanted, with the eggshell broken, into red solo cups, cardboard coffee cups, or ice cream pints, all with drainage holes poked into the bottom.

Once the tomato seedlings were big enough, we needed to transplant them from the eggshell to a larger container. Items that would otherwise become waste, such as used red solo cups, ice cream pints, and cardboard coffee cups, can live a second life as plant containers. They can be re-used every year, eliminating these items from the waste stream. The seedlings in the eggshells were ready to be potted up into these containers when the true leaves became more prominent than the seed leaves (cotyledons). This was 21 days after the seeds were planted. Now the tomato seedlings would be able to grow into starts and stretch out their roots into these small containers, which can fit on a windowsill.

The red solo cups would allow the tomatoes to grow into starts, but we needed a container that would be the permanent home for the fruiting plants. A quick check on Facebook Marketplace later, and we were the proud owners of 24 5-gallon buckets.

5-10-20: A ton of 5-gallon buckets

We decided to do a double-bucket system: we drilled drainage holes into the top bucket and placed it inside the bottom bucket. The bottom bucket acts as a reservoir, allowing the plants to water themselves. It also acts as an insulator, to keep the tomato’s roots warm. We kept an eye on the water level in the translucent bottom bucket to make sure that the plant roots weren’t drowning. We then filled the top bucket with soil and planted the tomato start. We only filled the bucket about halfway, as we plan to add more soil as the tomato grows, as tomato plants love to be buried, and will generate new roots along the stem as they get access to the soil.

5-10-20: We planted the tomato starts in 5 gallon buckets of various shapes and sizes, and used rolled up potting soil bags for planters. Strawberries also do really well in containers.

The tomatoes grew quickly in their 5-gallon homes.

5-15-20: A few sunny days gave the tomatoes a much-needed kickstart.
6-1-20: The tomatoes are starting to take off. Tiny flower buds have formed and it’ll be any day before we see clusters of little yellow flowers.
6-7-20: Tomato flowers!

The Phoenix: A 2 year old Overwintering Indeterminate Tomato

5-10-20: a year-old indeterminate tomato plant is producing fruit for the second year in a row!
10-31-19: Our indoor tomato plant, still producing tomatoes in October.

As our growing seasons are long here in the Pacific Northwest, we brought a potted tomato plant inside in winter 2019, and it kept producing tomatoes until well into November. For the next few months, it was an attractive vine in the corner of our guest room.

10-31-19: Our Halloween harvest from our indoor tomato plant
5-10-20: a year-old indeterminate tomato plant is producing fruit for the second year in a row!

The plant fought hard against the adverse indoor winter conditions: still, humid air and a decrease in sunlight. Powdery mildew claimed most of its leaves. But by Spring 2020, it had prevailed, and we brought it outside to see if it would have a second year of production. The dead leaves fell off and were replaced by new growth. By May, we had pea-sized tomatoes hanging from the gangly, ancient vine.

5-31-20: Tomatoes are just about ready to ripen!
6-3-20: I count 28 tomatoes in this picture. What do you think?
6-7-20: I counted 30 tomatoes in this picture…and some are starting to turn orange!

Plastic Bowl Hanging Basket

We had a set of nesting plastic bowls with lids that we weren’t using, so we decided to experiment with making a 4-tiered hanging basket out of it.

4-4-20: The parts list: 4 nesting plastic bowls, a length of chain, and some wire, to be cut and bent with needlenose pliers. A cordless drill is used to drill drainage holes in the bottom of the bowls.
4-4-20:Assembling the hanging planter
4-4-20: The assembled planter, hung and ready for soil.
4-4-20: Filled with potting soil and planted with kale and mustard transplanted from the wooden raised beds.
6-7-20: Mustard and kale have slowly been producing leaves, which we’ve harvested every 2 weeks, and now they’re starting to flower. Now, to let them go to seed?

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Columbia City Apartment Case Study, Part 2: Indoor Interventions

Part 1 discussed outdoor permaculture interventions for apartment dwellers. In part 2 of our case study of Dave Boehnlein and Yuko Miki’s apartment dweller friendly permaculture strategies, we look at putting permaculture principles into practice indoors. Indoor permaculture is often overlooked, but is essential part of a permaculture lifestyle.

Vermicomposting with a Worm Bin

A worm bin, built from inexpensive materials, is an effective solution for apartment dwellers wanting to compost in a clean, efficient manner. The materials are simple. All you need are two Roughneck-style storage totes with a few modifications to increase habitability for the worms. The top tote contains the worms and compost, and it has drain holes drilled in its bottom. The worm castings (worm poop) and liquid (compost tea) drain into the bottom tote, which acts as a reservoir for this valuable fertilizer.

Worms need air to breathe, so Miki drilled 1″ holes in the side of the top tote and 2″ holes in the lid to let fresh air in. She installed soffit vents into the vent holes to keep insects out and keep worms in.

Shredded junk mail is used for bedding, creating a use for what would otherwise be a waste product.

Shredded junk mail constitutes the bedding layer on top. This is arguably a better way to handle paper waste than throwing it into the recycle bin. You can throw fresh kitchen scraps directly under this layer. Red wiggler worms (Eisenia fetida) thrive in rotting vegetation, compost, and manure. They are inexpensive and available online, or from anyone in the rapidly-growing vermicomposting community.

Soffit vents, available at hardware stores, are used in vent holes drilled into the side of the container. The finished worm compost will be rich and undifferentiated, and can be used directly in the garden.

Food Storage and Resiliency

Their apartment storage and laundry room had a broken dryer vent, so their landlord just vented the dryer out the open window. Because of this, they considered complaining, but they then realized that the open window in the wintertime created beneficial, cool conditions for a root cellar. This is a great example of a permaculture principle: turn a problem into a solution. This cool environment is perfect for worms and for food storage.

Food storage creates resiliency, an important permaculture principle.

A cool, dark storage environment creates conditions ideal for a root cellar. Root cellars are tried and true traditional means of storing root vegetables throughout the year. A root cellar can also be used as pantry space. Rather than hoarding food for emergencies without eating it, a resilient permaculturist can continually eat and replenish food in storage.

Foods like rice, pasta, and canned tuna can be stored for long periods in a root cellar. They should be eaten regularly and restocked, as in a pantry.
A portable butane stove allows cooking during power outages.

In addition to food storage, energy storage is another method to create resiliency. A portable butane stove provides cooking power during power outages. It adds gas to the portfolio of an apartment-dweller’s energy sources.

This BioLite CampStove cooks food using twigs as fuel. It also provides electrical power through a USB port.

With a Biolite CampStove, twigs, wood, and dry organic matter become part of your energy portfolio. This energy source cooks food and provides electrical power through a USB port.

Preserving Produce: Dehydrating, Pickling, Fermenting

Yuko Miki demonstrates indoor permaculture methods
Yuko Miki demonstrates indoor permaculture methods.

Moving indoors, Yuko demonstrated several techniques for preserving garden produce. Dehydrating herbs, fruits, vegetables, and mushrooms is a useful way of storing food through the seasons. A home dehydrator allows one to dehydrate large quantities of food at a time.

This moisture meter shows when plants are fully dried.

In addition to dehydrating, creating a vinegar infusion is another method of preserving fruit. With this method, one simply pours white vinegar over fruit (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc.) into a mason jar, filling the jar. Then, put a lid on the jar and store it in the fridge. After a few days, the fruit will infuse the vinegar. This method pickles the fruit, but the infused vinegar is equally valuable. This infused vinegar is an essential ingredient in a delicious drink known as a shrub. A shrub is simply infused vinegar mixed with a sweetener such as agave nectar and soda water.

Fermentation is another ancient food preservation technique. Kimchi is one example of a delicious, healthy way to store cabbage and other vegetables. Sauerkraut is another.

Herbs like this mint dry hung on the air vent. This drying technique has the added benefit of freshening the air.

Houseplants: Bringing Nature’s Benefits Indoors

How to Grow Fresh Air, by Dr. B.C. Wolverton, offers a list of 50 houseplants that purify the air indoors.

Houseplants have many benefits. Studies have shown that exposure to nature can result in health improvements of numerous kinds. Humans naturally seem to do better when surrounded by life. There’s a name for this phenomenon: the biophilia effect.

This heart-leaf philodendron (Philodendron hederaceum) can be trained to climb up walls and onto objects hanging on the wall.

Scientific studies have shown that in addition to improving air quality, indoor houseplants reduce stress levels by calming the sympathetic nervous system, and they improve people’s mood. Researcher Roger S Ulrich found that a view of nature from their hospital bed improved patients’ recovery times after surgery.

Houseplants beautify spaces and require little room while purifying the air.
Houseplants such as this Pilea peperomioides are easy to propagate through cuttings.
Plants filter the air near the printers, which can be a source of polluting toner particles.

Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) and Pilea peperomioides are tough houseplants that are easy to propagate. Place a cutting in a glass of water. It will start to root within days. It will grow in the glass of water for weeks. Pot up a few of these plants to fill your apartment with lush, stress-relieving greenery!

Pothos ( Epipremnum aureum ) is a remarkably resilient and beneficial houseplant.

Permaculture is a lifestyle. It doesn’t end at one’s doorstep. Through actions such as propagating houseplants, preserving produce, storing food, diversifying one’s energy portfolio, using one’s pee for fertilizer, and vermicomposting, one can create a resilient, sustainable lifestyle, both indoors and out.