These days more Brevard residents seem to be out
working the back 40 -- the back 40 square feet, that is. Urban vegetable garden
projects are sprouting up all over, ranging in size from window box herb
planters to lawn-sized crop production areas.
'I think people are coocooning more,' said
Merrideth Compton, who grows greens and vegetables at her digs in Cocoa Village.
'I think it's about feeling good, about improving your own space,' Compton said,
'Growing vegetables costs a whole lot less and is also rewarding at the same
time.' Originally from the Northeast, Compton remembers gardening with her
Grandmother as a child. She's come full circle. The garden '...did help sustain
us. And I think it skips a generation. Not only do I grow vegetables, I'm
starting to think the way my Grandmother did, I now cook the way my Grandmother
did.'
Horticulture Agent Sally Scalera, a Homeowner
education specialist with Brevard County Extension Service notes public interest
in edible plants has grown steadily in the last two years. 'Right now, our "Be
Healty, Grow your own Vegetables" course is the most popular, and has been for a
while now. I don't see that changing,' Scalera said in a telephone interview
from the Extension Service office in Cocoa. 'For the last few years now, people
have been willing to pay $5 or $10 for a course like that, but not so much for
courses on general landscaping,' Scalera said.
Along with the health aspect, Scalera said many
people who participate in Extension Service classes also voice concern over
fresh produce prices as a big part of their motivation to grow their own. The
Extension Service is part of a cooperative with the University of Florida's
Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, as well as various other state
colleges and federal agencies. The aim is to provide cutting edge information
and expertise to the public. The service offers dozens of low-cost classes per
year at various locations around the state, and announced on the Extension
Service website. Next class up is canning and preserving food, which Scalera
said is every bit as popular as the food growing classes.
Farmers markets have taken root in the community as
well, Scalera points out. 'All vendors at Brevard Farmers markets (that the
Extension Service sponsors) have to grow or produce at least 50 percent of what
they sell,' Scalera said. 'Plus, people get the meet the people who are growing
their food.'
Emerging agricultural technologies can make small
areas such as the average urban 1/4 acre more productive than ever before. The
trend is up, not out.
As the official Farmer for Rockledge Gardens' new
hydroponic vegetable production area, Diana Salopek maintains such a high-tech
garden. On a recent sunny morning she was performing routine maintenance on the
nutrient-laden irrigation system which feeds herbs and vegetables in the
facility's Vertigrow system.
'The plant root in various combinations of growing
medium,' Salopek said, flushing the drip irrigation lines in an open-sided pump
house which ticks away like a heartbeat, forcing liquid fertilizers through a
network of pipes and small hoses to deliver measured amounts of nutrients to a
series of buckets, each filled with a plant or two. Rockledge Gardens began
experimenting with the new system last January, and their hydroponic farm is
located adjacent to the main facility on U.S. 1, three miles south of S.R. 520.
'The lines need to be flushed at intervals to
prevent mineral build-up in the lines from the liquid nutrients,' Salopek said.
Its called a soil-less system because the growing medium -- a combination of
volcanic Pearlite chips, vermiculite and coconut coir doesn't break down the way
organic soil does, but is sterile and reuseable. 'It just holds the plant roots
in place,' Salopek said, while liquid plant food drips over them several times a
day. Salopek has grown herbs and vegetables in North Carolina and run a couple
of farmer’s market before coming to the facility.
The highly-efficient system uses less than half the
water and land required for conventional farming for comparable yield. 'We're on
city water here, so that's important,' said Rockledge Gardens owner Theresa
Riley. The produce is certified organic. 'We use biological pest control here,'
Riley said, which combines beneficial insects and organisms to control pests and
plant ailments, along with horticultural oils. 'The standard (for certified
organic) is that you can harvest the same day that you spray, and the sprays are
safe for workers to breathe.
Rockledge Gardens opened a weekend farmers market
about three weeks ago as a service to their nursery customers, Riley said.
'It is price, 'but more and more people are asking questions about their
food,' she said, such as, "Where did this come from, Is it safe?"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
More info:
