The new art of vertical gardening

Bambang Parlupi, Contributor, Jakarta

More and more people have taken up gardening as a hobby and are growing flowers, fruit and vegetables in yards, lawns or other open spaces. They have utilized idle land for urban agriculture. In Jakarta, this type of gardening has led to the emergence of gardens not only on housing estates, but also along riverbanks.

Is it possible for these people to garden in their houses? The answer is yes. Verticulture can help them move small gardens to their houses, taking up little space without spending much money and energy.

Verticulture derives from two words: vertical and culture. It is the practice of "vertical farming". This system is basically not much different from the cultivation of plantations or paddies.

The main difference is in the use of land. In conventional farming, every square meter of land can accommodate no more than five plants. Verticulture makes it possible for gardeners to grow 20 plants on every square meter of land.

"The verticultural system is usually applied in the cultivation of seasonal plants like vegetables," said Ning Hermanto, 45, a member of Bunga Lili Woman Farmers Group (KWT) in North Jakarta. This farming system is also suitable for growing medicinal herbs and decorative plants.

The verticultural system makes farmland look more beautiful and the plants fresher, as well as enabling farmers with large pieces of land to multiply their land's productivity, according to Ning, an advocate of ecological farming in Jakarta and Depok.

Sri Widiastuti, an agricultural observer of the National Consortium for Forest and Natural Conservation (Konphalindo), has ensured that verticulture is suitable for farming in big cities like Jakarta and in flood-prone areas.

"Even mothers, children and pensioners can grow plants using the verticultural system," she said, adding that verticulture was environmentally safe and provided a solution for future agricultural problems.

In vertical farming, people grow plants in levels by providing shelves using any available equipment and material, like wood and bamboo. We can choose the shapes, like rectangular, triangular and ladder-like structures that can accommodate a number of plants. We can also hang the plants from ceilings or roofs.

The shelves should be strong, flexible and between 30cm and 50cm from the floor. "Paint and biscuit tins, plastic containers, soil pots, pails and other containers can all be used to grow plants," said Ning, who won first prize at a productive land competition at 1999 Agribusiness Expo in Jakarta.

Vegetables that need a lot of sunshine like chilies, lettuce and mustard greens should be placed on top of the shelf, but ginseng, celery and kangkung (a leafy vegetable) should occupy the middle or lower part of the shelf. Potted fruit plants can be added to the combination of plants on the shelf to make verticulture more interesting.

Novice gardeners should spend some time observing plants first before they start. Before buying, gardeners need to find out whether they are highland or lowland plants.

Various vegetables such as mustard greens, spinach and katu (a kind of bush yielding edible leaves and berries) are more suitable for hot areas like Jakarta.

Verticultural farmers can prepare seedlings themselves by creating simple nurseries to develop seeds from ripe and half-dry fruit from their old plants. The seeds should be selected and then dried up in the sun before being developed in nurseries. Those who love consuming tomatoes, pare (bitter melons), cucumbers can grow these vegetables this way, but a wire net or bamboo is needed to help the plants creep up.

Verticulture creates a healthy home with fresh and beautiful greenery. This gardening system produces more hygienic and environmentally friendly plants, according to Sri Widiastuti, who is also a member of the Indonesian Organic Farming Network.

She explained that organic farming shuns substances like chemical fertilizer, chemical pesticide and chemical stimulants. Gardeners can make natural fertilizer themselves using simple materials like kitchen waste.

Small gardens based on the verticultural system do not yield products as large as those produced by large gardens that use chemical fertilizers such as urea, TSP and NPK. However, the products of verticultural farming have a smaller chemical content.

Vegetables grown along riverbanks may have a high chemical content as water from city rivers is often contaminated by chemical substances and other toxic materials. By growing vegetables at home and applying the verticultural system, housewives can get fresh, unpolluted vegetables.