Gardens in Mass Housing

I'm not just talking about gardens in plazas or community centers. I'm talking about gardens right in the middle of crowded mass housing. We need to see more of this. Gardens not only accentuate concrete jungles but freshens and greens the scenery as well--the green that put life into the whole picture.

Garden and herbs can be started in simple hanging pots or makeshift plant boxes of wood crates or plastics or concrete. They can be placed on ledges at window jambs, or blank walls or any available space. The best option is to hang earthen or plastic pots or empty coconut shells on walls or sheds.

Urban gardens like this can alter somewhat the congested look of crowded mass housing and also refreshen the air a bit, besides being an added income earner or getting more veggie meal dishes on the family dinner table. If the pots or plant boxes holding them are painted, so much the better.

The sight of healthily spreading green shrubbery or spreading low vines or trees puts life into spaces and can even effect positive moods for people around them. Scientifically, plants add more oxygen and absorbs carbon monoxide in the air. Big, mature trees are highly responsible for this, but where they are impossible to be kept, small plants and low vines and spreading shrubbery can take their place.

Community Coops or associations can start this on their own and promote the project for others to follow. Then, the urban garden will bloom in no time. The local government can enter in to provide tips on how better to grow the plants and what organic methods of enriching them may be applied. In our times of terrible and often lethal air and environmental pollution, urban gardens are not anymore a choice. They are a must.

Indoor gardens are also encouraged, just make sure there are no extra water left in plant pots and inner leaves where mosquitoes can hatch eggs and propagate. Indoor gardens can be planted to herbs and veggies.

For trees--and you're really desperate to have them--bore a hole in your ground pavement until you reach the soil underneath. Then plant the tree there. Make sure the hole is wide enough to fit a mature trunk. Ipil trees or aratelis, bayabas, caimito, avocado, and the like are possible for this purpose.