Canada: Even gardens have a carbon footprint. Here’s how to reduce the climate impact of urban farming

Gardeners use techniques they believe contribute to sustainability.

By Stephanie Cram
CBC News
April 18th, 2024

Excerpt:

“We’re kind of returning to … old-school practices of gardening, so it’s a deep mulch, no-till garden,” said Clint Porritt, co-ordinator for Star Garden.

“The deep mulch part is this idea of feeding the soil in a natural way.”

But how do you start a garden on packed ground without tilling?
It starts with cardboard.

“What we did is we put cardboard down, which is no cost to this type of gardening.… We dumpster dived for cardboard,” said Porritt.

Once the cardboard is sourced, it’s just a matter of making a bed right on top of the grass.

“We laid it down. We soaked it. We put wood chips on top.… On top of the wood chips we just put straw, leaves, grass clippings, any type of organic material we can get our hands on for free.”

Almost everything at the garden is donated, down to the wood and toilet paper rolls they used to create seedling trays, so they aren’t adding to their carbon footprint by buying new materials.

Read the complete article here.