From The Old Farmer's Almanac.
If your local government has procrastinated on allocating profitable land for community gardens then spare a thought for the people of Shibuya, Tokyo. Officials of this densely populated ward have just approved 3 different sites - totalling a little more than 1/2 acre - yet worth more than US $60 million.
From these three sites the plans are to divide them into 110 (2.5m x 4m) plots - each worth more than US $1/2 million each. And, in a city sprawling with 12 million residents - nearly 200,000 live in Shibuya - allocating 110 lots is going to be a difficult job.
The plots are being expressed as 'vegetable gardens' but ward residents will be able to grow anything they choose provided it doesn't disturb other gardeners, they obviously read my post on Gardening FOR the neighbours, or the plants aren't illegal.
The land was planned for sporting activities but it's great to see that gardeners won out on this one. It will be interesting to see what prices these residents will be charged for these allotments, though. Hopefully they will still be within the reach of the majority and not the elite.
Time will tell the story when they become available in April 2008.
Source: The Japan Times
Mmm! Even ceramic cardinals seem to relish a bit of suet - of course, our backyard cardinal is not a clinging bird, so would have to wait for the woodpecker or chickadee to drop a few morsels. All the clinging birds that can negotiate these suet cages will welcome the addition of suet cakes to your backyard feeding station... this high-energy food insulates against the wet and cold of winter.
If you must choose just one type of seed, make it black oil sunflower... a favorite of all birds and most backyard wildlife. A tube feeder with metal-reinforced seed ports, is an ideal way to present this seed to small birds, such as chickadees, nuthatches and titmice.
The tiny, black thistle seed that all finches and a few other small birds truly enjoy, are offered in a specialized thistle feeder which allows them to extract one seed at a time. 
A high-quality seed blend, with striped and black oil sunflower, peanut hearts, safflower seed, thistle, golden millet and other sought-after foods, will attract an upscale backyard clientele. Red millet, milo and various other grains are common fillers in inexpensive blends and tend to attract less desirable birds and rodents.
are of Spring and summer, and imagining all the new plants that will fill the frozen canvas that is the garden....
first published December 6, 2007
The tallest tree in Edmonton, and this is just my own rough estimate, is about 90 metres (300 feet) tall. Now, if you’re thinking that my eyeglass prescription has run out, let me explain. The tree I am referring to is nestled, quite comfortably, atop the roof of a rather tall high-rise in the downtown area. And although the tree itself is only about three metres from trunk base to tip, it’s definitely taller than any of the earth-anchored trees I’ve seen around here. OK, I plead guilty to a bad attempt at a humorous hook, but the point I’m trying to build to is this: if cities evolve the way I think they should (from an ecological perspective), rooftop trees and gardens will become as commonplace as those on the ground.
The collective term for trees or any other plants grown on the tops of buildings is green roof. Green roofs can range from a few containers of plants, all the way up to intensive designs that are almost indistinguishable from ground-level parks and gardens. And while this might sound like a stratospheric idea, its practice is quite firmly rooted in history—ancient history. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, were likely one of the first green roofs. Contrary to what its name implies, the gardens didn’t really hang (it’s one of those lost-in-translation things); they grew on the roofs of a ziggurat, which is essentially a building constructed on tiered layers (think Leggo sets). In fact, history is littered with examples of green roofs. The Vikings covered the tops of their homes with a variety of wild plants grown on a thin layer of soil, and closer to home, our early prairie pioneers used native sod as roofing material. So what is it about green roofs that keeps us coming back? Well, besides being a great way to add beauty and novelty to the sky-scape, green roofs are enviro-chique. What else would you call a structure that is alive and that reduces building heat loss and cooling requirements while capturing atmospheric carbon? And that’s only a partial list.
Unfortunately, though, many people still fixate on the limiting idea that high-rise roofs are just places to keep out the rain and snow and to hold up air conditioners. That needs to change.
When we erect buildings, we need to think about the rather large footprints they leave and not overlook an opportunity to recapture green space by simply moving it skyward. The Europeans (Germans, in particular) have become world leaders in green roofs. In fact, they have legislation that ensures that a percentage of the ground-level green space lost to construction be saved by putting it on the roof. I suppose the relative scarcity of land over there inspires conservation just as surely as the relative abundance of it here means that we take it for granted.
Some will argue that green roofs aren’t practical here because of our cold winters, but keep in mind that Chicago leads North America in green roof square footage, and its climate can be darn near as cold as ours in the winter. Of course, green roofs do have their limitations in that they aren’t practical for the vast majority of our A-framed homes (keeping the plants irrigated is tough, plus rubber boots and steep slopes are not a good mix), but they do have an application for a wide number of flat-roofed commercial buildings and residential high-rises. For these structures, there are many compelling reasons for at least investigating the possibilities of constructing green roofs: a reduction in heating and cooling costs, reduction in storm water runoff, noise abatement, increased roof life (less landfill from old roofing materials), wildlife habit and aesthetics, to name a few.
It’s something worth thinking about. I know when I fly directly above a city, I can’t help but think that the gravel-coated tar roofs look like an underutilized resource. It may seem like a simple answer, but when it comes to urban greening, perhaps we just need to set our goals a little higher.
