The new art of vertical gardening

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.