Benefits of Wading Pool Gardens

The City-Dweller's Guide for growing fresh, healthy vegetables.

Experiments on the rooftop parking lot of the office of The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chicago have proven the feasibility of growing high yields of vegetables in children's plastic wading pools.

     The plastic wading pool is the most cost-efficient container available. At 6 feet in diameter and 12 inches deep, each one provides approximately 28 square feet of growing area for under $10, and is capable of producing up to 40 pounds of produce per growing season. Over a ten year period, if you accrue the total cost of everything you need ($30 for the pool, soil, transplants and seeds) it comes to 8¢ per pound of food grown!

     By planting "intensively" in the pool containers, a microclimate is created that holds moisture in the soil, keeps plants from dehydrating, encourages healthy root development, prevents soil loss and cuts down on labor. The plants are happier, and reward the grower with abundant yields.

     Wading pools can be placed in any areas that could not be gardened conventionally, such as rooftops, patios, decks, sections of playgrounds, along railroad tracks, in brown fields.

     The wading pools are lightweight (before they are filled with soil), easy to situate, and last for many years without decay.

     Wading pools provide an opportunity to grow food in areas where there is soil contamination or where there is limited or no land available for growing a garden.
In this article, you will be given complete instructions on starting a container garden in your neighborhood:

WADING POOL GARDEN PREPARATION

     How to create and plant a container garden utilizing 6' diameter children's plastic wading pools. Also, we provide information about a plant's need for sunlight; how to deal with wind conditions and air flow; water needs, composting; temperature conditions; fertilizer requirements; plant diseases and insects.

OTHER TYPES OF GARDEN CONTAINERS:

• Grain Feed Sacks
• Used Tires

HOW YOU CAN START A COMMUNITY GARDEN

     Look for sites; contact local churches and schools; let your neighbors know you want to start a community garden; help women to empower themselves by starting a produce business; enlist the help of neighborhood children to establish the garden; get the word out to devastated agricultural communities such as Honduras, and Nicaragua (where natural disasters have left soil depleted of nutrients) that they could start growing immediately with container gardens.

BEFORE YOU START YOUR GARDEN

     Don't keep your garden a secret! Let merchants in the community know you are starting a garden. Solicit free seeds, lumber, tools and advice from local merchants and municipal associations (to provide compost and manure).

DETAILED STEPS TOWARDS CREATING YOUR GARDEN, WITH SHARED WISDOM FROM NEW YORK'S CITY FARMERS