DIY: Create A Garden with A Milk Crate

By Dianne Crary

A few weeks ago the gardeners on Randall’s Island took a field trip to the River Park Farm on 29th Street in Manhattan to see how they were growing vegetables in milk crates (Zach’s Lil-Acres blog).  We were all impressed with the creativity of using milk crates to grow produce.  We decided to try this technique in our Learning Garden.

Three different sizes of crates were found that would serve our purpose.  Following the instructions on the River Park Farm website, I made three different size templates of landscape fabric to hold the soil in the boxes.  I thought this would be a quick and easy job to make a cross shape template to the dimensions of the box.

However, there seemed to be gremlin lurking about and when one side fit well, the other edges were out of place.  Eventually, the templates were made.

Some suggestions are:
1) Do not try to make the templates outside when the wind is blowing.
2) Measure the outline when the landscape fabric is laid out on a flat surface.
3) Use a yardstick to mark straight lines.
4) Make the ends a bit longer so they can be folded under.

The next day the landscape fabric was cut using the templates as a guide. One suggestion is to mark the center of the cross.  This makes it easier to identify the crosses when cutting out the fabric.  I marked ours L, M & S to correspond to the crate size. Then the sides were stapled together and the ‘box’ turned inside out so that the staples would not show.

Using a sewing machine would probably be a faster method to join the sides together. The landscape fabric was placed in the box and the top edges turned down to a level just below the rim.

Hopefully, this double layer will give added strength when attaching it to the crate.  A knife cut a small hole into the landscape fabric and zip-ties secured it to the box.  Long zip-ties work very well because it allows you to weave it in and out of the slits in the box.  The box was then filled with soil and will be planted.

We will keep you posted as they boxes do as the season progresses.

Zach’s Lil-Acre

By Diane Crary

I don’t know what’s more unexpected:
A farm at 29st. and 1st. Avenue
Vegetables growing in recycled milk crates
A farm on the top of a parking garage
A farm that provides vegetables for the chefs at Riverpark Restaurant ( Sisha Ortuzar and Tom Colicchio)

ALL OF THE ABOVE.

We were lucky enough to visit Zach Pickens, Head Farmer at Riverpark Farm last week.  Zach gardens in a temporary space.  The 15,000 sq. ft. rooftop farm may have to moved next year, when the second tower of the Alexandria Center for Life Sciences is built.

What kind of a farm do you make when you have to move it?

MILK CRATES?  The “beds” are  1 cubic ft. recycled plastic milk crates lined with landscape fabric,  filled with soil and compost.  The milk crates are ergonomic, have enough depth to grow shallow vegetables like lettuces and taller ones like tomatoes, which require a greater depth.

Sixteen milk crates will fit on a pallet creating the “lil-acres”.  The cost per milk crate, including soil is $5.00.  By putting one crate on top of another empty crate; the stacking creates ventilation and enables  gardening without bending.   The design has created a mobile, modular, urban farm.

Finding the right tools for a small space can be a challenge.  Zach is an inventive guy.  He makes his own 2 inch soil blocks; a size he has found works best for the crates.   A mini hand seed spreader allows him to sow 400 sq. ft. within 15 minutes.

This is a farm and farmer you admire for their tremendous resourcefulness.  Oyster shells,  greens from the restaurant and cocoa from Mast Brothers in Brooklyn provide nutrients for compost tea.

The photo above (Zach) with a converted rain barrel; rigged so it can be turned 360 degrees; mixes soil and compost; allowing four boxes to be rejuvenated at a time.

Last year Riverpark farm produced 3,500 pounds of food.  This year Riverpark farm will provide the restaurant with  165 different varieties of vegetables.

Thanks Zach.  You’ve laid down the gauntlet.  After this visit, we will be looking at our “lil-acre'” differently.”
Riverpark Farm is open to the pubic for tours on Tuesday at 12:30 pm.
There are workshops on Saturday for volunteers.
There is a lovely dining deck that can be rented for weddings, farm dinners or other events.

http://www.riverparkfarm.com

In the Beginning…

By Phyllis Odessey

This is an update on the transformation of The Learning Garden.  Tomorrow we will be constructing  6 raised beds, a gourd tunnel, adding to our bitter melon trellis, creating the second rice paddy and fencing in the entire garden with volunteers from Community Team Works.

Pictured left is the beginning of the gourd tunnel, which will be 16 ft. long.  Kids from our Edible Education Program will be able to walk under the gourds and other flowers growing up the tunnel structure.
This new space is over 3,000 square feet and brings the total area of The Learning Garden to 15,000 sq. ft..  The pink paint is the outline for the raised beds.  The beds are far enough apart to provide access for kids and any disabled visitors.
The rice paddy (see photo below) proved the most challenging.  The ground is uneven in all parts of the garden but the first course of the rice paddy we wanted to be level.
James Burns, Nick Storrs, Anil Chandrakumar, Jean Hurkin-Torres and Fred Mark worked on the first brick course yesterday and  succeeded in leveling the ground below.
Besides  construction projects, we will be filling the beds with soil, planting new veg and adding mulch to all the areas where you see landscape fabric.

The second expansion of The Learning Garden in two years is a testament to the popularity of the program on Randall’s Island.   We now have a waiting list of teachers and students that want to participate.  We are making every effort to accommodate everyone.

Standing still  is not one of the characteristics of The Learning Garden staff.  We are constantly in motion.  The new section will feature a “cranberry bog and new system of growing vegetables in milk crates.  An innovative method of growing vegs   from Zach Pickens at Riverpark Farm.

“A journey of thousand miles must begin with a single step.” Lao Tzu
We are on the second step.