tomorrowsgardennc

[tomorrowsgardennc]

and here we see the 4th step down the rabbit hole... where you bring out the tape measure to fit another table.

please stop snowing my seed table can't take much more of this

[tomorrowsgardennc]

also this:

tl;dr - farmers get more money for culling birds with confirmed bird flu than they do from selling eggs.

so while you're at it, demand that farmers get paid more for the produce that feeds the people than for spreading diseases.

poster for your poster needs (grossly oversimplified but i'm going for broad strokes not intensive academic rigor)

free to use, repost & reproduce, no credit necessary

[tomorrowsgardennc]

worked yesterday on making food to donate to the local community fridge! in total, there's 3 containers of fried rice, 3 containers of roasted potatoes, 8ish bags of banana bread, and we'll see how much soup i'll have soon

[tomorrowsgardennc]

Pictured: Luis Cassiano is the founder of Teto Verde Favela, a nonprofit that teaches favela residents in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, how to build their own green roofs as a way to beat the heat. He's photographed at his house, which has a green roof.

Article

"Cassiano is the founder of Teto Verde Favela, a nonprofit that teaches favela residents how to build their own green roofs as a way to beat the heat without overloading electrical grids or spending money on fans and air conditioners. He came across the concept over a decade ago while researching how to make his own home bearable during a particularly scorching summer in Rio.

A method that's been around for thousands of years and that was perfected in Germany in the 1960s and 1970s, green roofs weren't uncommon in more affluent neighborhoods when Cassiano first heard about them. But in Rio's more than 1,000 low-income favelas, their high cost and heavy weight meant they weren't even considered a possibility.

That is, until Cassiano decided to team up with a civil engineer who was looking at green roofs as part of his doctoral thesis to figure out a way to make them both safe and affordable for favela residents. Over the next 10 years, his nonprofit was born and green roofs started popping up around the Parque Arará community, on everything from homes and day care centers, to bus stops and food trucks.

When Gomes da Silva heard the story of Teto Verde Favela, he decided then and there that he wanted his home to be the group's next project, not just to cool his own home, but to spread the word to his neighbors about how green roofs could benefit their community and others like it.

Pictured: Jessica Tapre repairs a green roof in a bus stop in Benfica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Relief for a heat island

Like many low-income urban communities, Parque Arará is considered a heat island, an area without greenery that is more likely to suffer from extreme heat. A 2015 study from the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro showed a 36-degree difference in land surface temperatures between the city's warmest neighborhoods and nearby vegetated areas. It also found that land surface temperatures in Rio's heat islands had increased by 3 degrees over the previous decade.

That kind of extreme heat can weigh heavily on human health, causing increased rates of dehydration and heat stroke; exacerbating chronic health conditions, like respiratory disorders; impacting brain function; and, ultimately, leading to death.

But with green roofs, less heat is absorbed than with other low-cost roofing materials common in favelas, such as asbestos tiles and corrugated steel sheets, which conduct extreme heat. The sustainable infrastructure also allows for evapotranspiration, a process in which plant roots absorb water and release it as vapor through their leaves, cooling the air in a similar way as sweating does for humans.

The plant-covered roofs can also dampen noise pollution, improve building energy efficiency, prevent flooding by reducing storm water runoff and ease anxiety.

"Just being able to see the greenery is good for mental health," says Marcelo Kozmhinsky, an agronomic engineer in Recife who specializes in sustainable landscaping. "Green roofs have so many positive effects on overall well-being and can be built to so many different specifications. There really are endless possibilities.""

Pictured: Summer heat has been known to melt water tanks during the summer in Rio, which runs from December to March. Pictured is the water tank at Luis Cassiano's house. He covered the tank with bidim, a lightweight material conducive for plantings that will keep things cool.

A lightweight solution

But the several layers required for traditional green roofs — each with its own purpose, like insulation or drainage — can make them quite heavy.

For favelas like Parque Arará, that can be a problem.

"When the elite build, they plan," says Cassiano. "They already consider putting green roofs on new buildings, and old buildings are built to code. But not in the favela. Everything here is low-cost and goes up any way it can."

Without the oversight of engineers or architects, and made with everything from wood scraps and daub, to bricks and cinder blocks, construction in favelas can't necessarily bear the weight of all the layers of a conventional green roof.

That's where the bidim comes in. Lightweight and conducive to plant growth — the roofs are hydroponic, so no soil is needed — it was the perfect material to make green roofs possible in Parque Arará. (Cassiano reiterates that safety comes first with any green roof he helps build. An engineer or architect is always consulted before Teto Verde Favela starts a project.)

And it was cheap. Because of the bidim and the vinyl sheets used as waterproof screening (as opposed to the traditional asphalt blanket), Cassiano's green roofs cost just 5 Brazilian reais, or $1, per square foot. A conventional green roof can cost as much as 53 Brazilian reais, or $11, for the same amount of space.

"It's about making something that has such important health and social benefits possible for everyone," says Ananda Stroke, an environmental engineering student at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro who volunteers with Teto Verde Favela. "Everyone deserves to have access to green roofs, especially people who live in heat islands. They're the ones who need them the most." ...

It hasn't been long since Cassiano and the volunteers helped put the green roof on his house, but he can already feel the difference. It's similar, says Gomes da Silva, to the green roof-covered moto-taxi stand where he sometimes waits for a ride.

"It used to be unbearable when it was really hot out," he says. "But now it's cool enough that I can relax. Now I can breathe again."

-via NPR, January 25, 2025

[tomorrowsgardennc]

i am looking forward to my sunflower bed being FILLED with over 20 varieties of sunflowers! it didn't get finished in time to use last year, but it's been fallow all winter long and i'm ready to see those tall flowers fill it up!!

People who love to garden come quick!

What are you looking forward to planting this season??

I’ve got about three different types of morning glories and sunflowers I’m excited for.

[tomorrowsgardennc]

this is where the rabbit hole starts...

I'm going to be completely honest here: my anxiety has been at an all time high over the last two weeks, so I've been pouring over seed websites.

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latest gardening impulse buys:

- rooted goji berry tree cuttings (buy 1 get 2 free, so they should show up soon)

- more seeds:

---- aronia (choke) berry seeds-- aronia berries are incredibly good for you and while you can't eat them raw, you can do a lot with them. They can apparently start fruiting in their second year.

---- maypop seeds-- these are in the passion fruit family and apparently taste amazing, so I've ordered these to hopefully plant asap.

---- tomatoes - I've already planted a bunch, but about halfway through the summer here, the plants get pretty sad, so I'm thinking I'm going to start a new set once I get these ones established outside

----- another kind of peppers - part of the "what if"; we eat a lot of peppers

----- ground cherries - I'm thinking I can make a jam or other things out of these; I've seen these go crazy in our area so it would be interesting to expand our horizons

----- sorrel - expanding horizons, getting a perennial green to put into soups

----- Thai basil - we love it and will eat it in everything

----- St John's wort - it looked cool so why not

[tomorrowsgardennc]

the dibblerrrrrr

[tomorrowsgardennc]

Here's to a 2025 garden!

Garden plans can go two ways;

My family moves into a house that has a big enough backyard for a garden.

I get approved for the local community garden.

Hopefully at least one of those happens cause if neither happens I'm hooped.

What I want to grow:

Carrots

Tomatoes

Lettuce

Basil

Dill

Starting Garlic for 2026 (if I garden in my backyard)

[tomorrowsgardennc]

you had me at gardening + memes.

Here's to a 2025 garden!

Garden plans can go two ways;

My family moves into a house that has a big enough backyard for a garden.

I get approved for the local community garden.

Hopefully at least one of those happens cause if neither happens I'm hooped.

What I want to grow:

Carrots

Tomatoes

Lettuce

Basil

Dill

Starting Garlic for 2026 (if I garden in my backyard)

[tomorrowsgardennc]

'moisture control' potting soil more like 'water it once a month and it will still be covered in algae and sopping wet' potting soil

[tomorrowsgardennc]

It's almost spring! Can you feel it yet?

My garlic from last year finally decided to show it's face (ง •̀_•́)ง

How dare it hide frome me!

Now, I could totally lie to the internet and say "I planted these at the right time and definitely didn't plant them in March of last year"

Because what idiot doesn't look up how to grow a plant before sowing them?(me)

(ಥ﹏ಥ)

Anyhow, I hopefully have Garlic this year!

Besides my local garlic crisis, others signs of spring are starting to appear!

Eranthis! (Eranthis hyemalis )

Even though I couldn't find any source that said that these flowers bloom where I live, I know for a fact that they grow in my entire country. So correct me if I'm wrong on the plant!

Eranthis hyemalis is known for being an early spring flower, and given our (somewhat) warm temperatures this year I'm not surprised to see them in February.

Seeing this flower really brings me in a sense of joy and warmth as we make our way to warmer times.

Next post is probably gonna be about what plants I'm gonna be growing this year!

So stay tuned!

[tomorrowsgardennc]

It's almost autumn, and the summer garden still provides.

[tomorrowsgardennc]

The first sprouts of the year! I am so excited!

[tomorrowsgardennc]

Worm bins worm bins worm bins worm bins worm bi

[tomorrowsgardennc]

Dinsdag 18 februari 2025... spitskool, broccoli en bloemkool zijn gekiemd. En 2 verrassingsbloemkolen staan te groeien... kijken of het iets wordt.

[tomorrowsgardennc]

cleaning out my phone so here are some 2022 and 2023 garden pictures (from before i started the blog)

2022, my first year gardening

2023, my second year gardening

(compared to 2024)

if you're thinking about starting a garden, do it! every year will be a brand new adventure <3

[tomorrowsgardennc]

my 0.45 tract of land is now officially designated as farmland per the USDA.

does that make me a farmer now?

define "farmer".