Green on wheels!

Now this is what we call Smart Greens! Artist Matteo Cibic has come up with a rather clever way to put the green back in the dense concrete jungle that is modern day Milan. In response to Inhabitat Editor, Jill Fehrenbacher’s question posed on Smart Urban Stage – ‘In crowded cities, how do we create better and more public green space to improve quality of life?’ - the artist came up with what is a rather ingenious idea of a ‘tree trolley wifi bench’.

What it is, is a mobile bench and garden combined. So the bench is equipped with wheels and has its own little garden behind it. And not just that, the tree trolley also doubles as a mobile work station for those to enjoy the idea of working outdoors, considering it is wifi enabled and also has charging dockets. And as if that isn't enough, these super functional trolleys will also sport street lights, making the area well-lit and safer giving, in the artists view, a boost to the nightlife of the area.

Making use of the ample parking space around the city, the artist said if people pay to park their cars in front of their homes or work spaces the question is would they pay to park a tree too? It is definitely a greener alternative to automobiles.  

However, what is of immediate though slight concern is all the creepy crawlies the miniature garden will attract. But then, it’s likely every home area will have at least one pair of green thumbs between them!

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It's all bio!

(picture courtesy inhabitat.com)

This is one home you’re not likely to forget in a hurry. The Villa Bio in Figueres, Spain designed by Cloud9, Barcelona is as eye-catching a home as it is Green. This home has a gorgeous living roof, floor to ceiling glass windows that cap the ends and even an underground parking. 

The entire structure of the house seems to be composed of one ribbon of concrete, slit across the middle and pulled up to make it seem like a split-level. There are also no beams in the house to support the structure, even with the living roof which adds a considerable amount of weight. The living roof at Villa Bio is also designed to support the weight of people lounging in the garden as well as gardening on it. The garden however is a Hydroponic garden which means the garden is planted without the use of soil. 

However, there is the fact that concrete has a rather high carbon footprint. But on the upside it has a remarkably long life and can be recycled. 

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The walls are breathing!

Balcony at Dilston Grove

(copyright Ackroyd & Harvey)

It’s almost literally a temple of green. South East London’s Dilston Grove Art gallery used to once upon a time be a church. And today, it comes fairly close to being something of a living edifice. 

The Italian style church (formerly known as Clare College Mission Church) was the first concrete church to be built in England in the early 1900s. The derelict church has now been converted into an art gallery and boasts of grass walls that cover its interiors, courtesy Ackroyd & Harvey of London.  

Watering Dilston Grove -
(copyright Ackroyd & Harvey)

The austere exteriors of the church gave way to compelling interiors and the artists saw in them the potential to create something that could be a monumental art work. And so came about the grass interiors of Dilston Grove, when vision came together with clay, germinating grass seed, water and natural light; there was almost nothing that stop the creation of this living and breathing, literally, work of art.

Working in conjunction with sound artist and composer, Grame Miller the artists infused life of a unique kind in the decaying interiors of the building over a 3 week period. That it was a breathtaking sight for sore eyes, we have no doubt. Just as we’re sure it brought alive the walls in a way its original architects would never have thought of.   

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5 tips for the pocket sized garden

Unfortunately, in today’s Lego block world, garden space is not a luxury most of us can afford. In fact, you’re lucky if you own a patch of grass to call your own. And if you are, in fact, one of these lucky souls, we have just the ideas you need to make that little garden space turn into your personal haven!

1.     A good imagination always helps so that when you look at your little piece of land you don’t extra garbage space but a potential garden.

2.     We really liked the idea of small step gardens. They’re exactly like the terrace gardens you studied about in school, only a lot more compact, and you don’t necessarily have to grown vegetables in it. Plus, they’re expandable and conserve water; just add on another little step whenever you want to add more plants.

3.     Another really great idea is of gutter gardens! No, don’t wrinkle your nose we promise you they’re not disgusting. The idea is to create a long pipe like structure (open from the top, of course) that can be strung along a fence or a wall and grow plants in that. Some people create these “gutters” out of wide bamboo sticks cut across in half.

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     Another interesting idea would be the one created by Wee Tree landscape designers of Chicago where they place horizontal planters between fence slats, creating a sort of wall of plants.

5.     If what you have in the name of a garden is a square spot of concrete or are not a huge fan of crouching with a spade in your garden, a raised flower bed that stands much like a table on its own four legs is a great idea, looks great and barely takes up any floor space at all!

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The Green Ec(h)o!

Eco! It’s nothing if not the new buzzword. It’s the wagon everybody seems to want to jump on to. But eco, like charity, begins at home right? So, what exactly is an eco home, then?

Now, before you picture yourself hitching a bag and heading to the woods or living in a drippy thatch hut in the middle of town with high-end cars and SUVs zipping past or a house with walls of corrugated paper – don’t. All this hue and cry about eco homes is not an underground conspiracy to get you to move into either of those. What an eco home, undoubtedly, is about is an attitude, lots of sensitivity, sprinkled generously with wisdom.

So, basically, whether or not you live in an eco home is really only a reflection of you. Yes, you want every single modern appliance known to man and then some. Yes, you want your home to light up like the Eiffel Tower at the push of a button and for it to be as plush as that of the shahs of Iran. But living luxuriously does not mean you cannot live wisely.

That button which will turn off the light is not, in fact, a mile’s trek from you; use what you need when you need it. Make use of the natural resources available to you. It is, after all, possible for you to harvest rain water and to design your home such that it makes the best of all the natural light and air coming in before you resort to artificial sources. Plant a living or green roof if you can. It'll not be an eye-catching trendsetter, it'll naturally regulate the temperature of your home, all year round! And there, the home you’ve always lived in has now metamorphosed into an eco home!

Remember, an eco consciousness lies in the mind. If you care, it shows and that’s what makes a real difference. 

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Hanging out in Babylon!

When we speak of design and architecture there’s no denying that there are several jewels of the ancient world that leave us mesmerized. If in an era that saw next to no mechanization such marvels could be created it’s almost anybody’s guess what – given the right resources – could be achieved today.

From the Pyramids of Egypt to the Coliseum in Rome to the temples of India, one cannot help but wonder how any of those engineering feats were ever achieved! What must it have taken to hoist and put in place those enormous rocks and in some cases to carve beautifully detailed structures out of it! And today, nothing tells the stories of the world gone past like these structures can.

There are, however, some of these engineering revelations that have been lost to the world forever. Destroyed due to natural calamities, not all of these structures unfortunately were blessed with a fate like Pompeii which after being literally buried for 1700 years in obscurity was rediscovered by chance. Some like the hanging gardens of Babylon have now disappeared so completely that they’re nothing more than legends of whose grandiosity only random travellers’ accounts remain.

Of course, historians say that the name “Hanging” gardens is probably misleading since the gardens didn’t so much hang as they did overhanging. Legend has it that much like a predecessor of the Taj Mahal by several centuries the Hanging Gardens were a gift by a King to his Queen. And also like the Taj, the construction of the Hanging Gardens was nothing short of a miracle in dry and arid Babylon (modern Iraq).

Commissioned by their King to this impossible task of creating a man-made green mountain in a place where there was not only no stone but also no water the engineers exercised all the ingenuity at their disposal to fulfill their orders. The result was a green mountain indeed; one built out of mud and lead and then rare stone graced by huge trees and other plants continuously fed with water by what is supposed was a chain mechanism of barrels and tubs that in a continuous motion carried water up the mountain and fed the trees; a mountain which, hopefully, gladdened the heart of a homesick queen.

Unfortunately, it is said the Hanging Garden were destroyed in an earthquake in the 2^nd Century BC. But for the time that they stood as architectural marvels they awed all those that saw them and earned a permanent place in history as one of the original Seven Wonders of the World. And perhaps were the earliest known forerunners of the modern roof top gardens!

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The lie of the land

Do you have a yard or a garden or some space around your house that you can develop? Whether you want to do it on your own or call in an expert for the job it always pays to be aware of exactly what you’re looking at. Not only will it give you a better idea of the cost estimates it will also help you get a clearer idea of what you’re looking at in terms of the project. And if you decide to take a shot at it yourself, well, there’s really nothing better than getting your own hands in the dirt and making so part of your home on own!

Plan your project depending on the season you’re in and the gestation period of your plan. Create an image in your head or go online or to your local library and do some research. Zero in on ideas that are suitable for your weather as well as the space you have to work with. The idea eventually is to create a space that never fails to delight you whenever you visit it and to have enough variety for there to be something for every season.

Depending on the look you want for your garden you can decide what to do first and how to go about it. Do you want to create a water garden or a gravel garden? Do you want to create a small bower in a corner where you can put a bench and enjoy the late afternoon sun or would like some place to put a swing set or like some space where your kids can play? While you’re brainstorming learn to differentiate between things you need in your garden and the things you want. Once you’ve zeroed in on the basics draw a rough image of your plot and start putting in the essentials. After which you can move on to the things you’d like to put in. You might learn that instead of a lily pond in the corner you’ll have to contend with a basin with two lilies in it!

Also before planting anything it’s a good idea to consult an expert so you know the exact quality of your topsoil and the care like, the amount of water, sun and shade, the plants you’re putting in will need. Who knows you might find out that you can, after all, plant that one orange tree you really wanted!

And remember landscaping your garden isn’t like waving a magic wand and creating your own fairyland overnight. It takes sustained work and patience so reign in your horses and do your landscaping in stages if you think that’ll work better!

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Bring in the green!

Bring in the green! And we don’t mean the money though we’re sure that’s always welcome too. Today, however, we’re more interested in plants and what they can do to transform your home in so many ways!

Irrespective of what the size of your home is or whether you’re perched up on a fairytale princess tower a few plants in your home can make a tremendous amount of difference to not just the look of your home but also its feel.

To be perfectly honest I don’t have much of a green thumb but since my father definitely does I’ve grown up with all manners of plants filling our house, not one of which I could name today except for cactus! I’d listen to people talk enthusiastically about the therapeutic feeling of working in the mud and tune out after the first three words. That being said, I recently brought two plants into my bite-sized house (and yes, I know their names and no, they’re not Paul and Polly). I’ll admit to feeling anxiety akin to the kind accompanied by the advent of pets but the excitement was just as high. Eventually, the image I had in my head of a couple of bright and cheerful plants in my home weighed out every other consideration. And so came home the Button Roses and the Jasmines, chosen carefully for the flowers and the fragrance, respectively. And as of this morning, they were still alive, thank you very much. Point being, that if I can get home a plant so can you – unless you’re a convicted plant murderer!

And there’s such a vast variety to choose from! From the flowering plants to the cacti – hybrid and otherwise, to the creepers and climbers there’s so much you can do with them! You’d be hard put to find a place in your house where flowers don’t look good! Put them in small planters and keep them in your kitchen window or even the bathroom window. You can add leafy plants to a corner in the drawing room or put them at the entrance to your house.

Bring home the climbers and creepers if you have a balcony, terrace, arched gateway/ walkway, or any ugly outdoor area you want to cover up! Just plant a vine and watch it work the magic and transform the area! If you’re not sure about letting them take over a whole area, get a money plant or something of the kind and train them over moss sticks. You’ll have to occasionally water the moss stick to keep it damp but it isn’t really messy and smells pleasantly of the wet earth irrespective of the season outside! If you’re a frequent traveler and don’t have the time to maintain plants you can always get a desert variety that hardly require any TLC and pretty much look after themselves!

If you’re worried about your expensive and high maintenance flooring put the planter in an interesting container. This will not only contain all the excess water the planter may leak it will keep a terracotta one damp and the plant happy. And think of the favour you’re doing to the environment!

However, it’s not all rainwater and sunshine, plants do need some care. There’s nearly nothing that looks worse than a dying and carelessly (un)kept plant. So make sure you water them when required, move them from a sunny place to some shade occasionally, and gently turn over the soil once in a while too!

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Gardening and Landscaping

A well kept garden and front yard says a lot about a person. Gardening has been a constant favourite to pass one’s time. People usually associate gardening either with their grandparents, or a very prim home maker who likes to keep her lawns immaculate and hedges, manicured. That notion, however, has been proved otherwise in recent times. Gardening is something that almost everybody indulges their selves in. People have these jest filled competitions in their neighbourhood as having a beautiful garden ends up being more of a social prestige rather than personal pleasure.


A garden does not comprise of beautiful flowers and vegetables. How one landscapes it, the ornaments that are used, the use of the space all come into the mix.
There come certain handy tools that function much more than their original use.
The Rake
It not only helps cleaning the mess that the leaves created this fall but also helps to spread the seeds and it defragments clumps in the ground.


The Shovel
A quality shovel helps one get the right depth for planting trees and bushes as shallow holes do not ensure the right growth.


The Garden Hoe
The hoe is your best friend if you want those weeds to be removed completely.


The Watering Can
This piece of equipment is most definitely under-rated. The water hose has become the most common method of watering the plants. However, the watering can does not overload the plants with more than they require. It controls the water pressure and gives the plants just how much it needs.


Mulch
This is mostly used for decorative purposes but also helps retention of water in the soil. This helps the plant in all kinds of climates.


Moving on to landscaping, everything being in unison is the key ingredient to a visually attractive garden. Keeping everything in sync and theme with one another helps to derive the symmetry.
Having the similar kinds of plants help one achieve this. Arranging them alternately in height is also a good idea. Flowers too, give an exotic and pretty touch to a garden but at the same time, growing flowers with various climatic requirements are not simple. Certain flowers bloom only in certain seasons and thus, replacing them with other garden elements is necessary. Stones and rocks are eternal favourites. Stones of different shapes, colours and sizes can be placed. Stepping stones- if one decides to place a pond in the garden is a wonderful idea! Statues made out of granite or marble next to a bench, also add a classy touch.


Luring beautiful butterflies and humming birds to your garden would require one to make your garden a nectar paradise by planting the flowers that attract them.
A hammock tied between two trees, is something I have always wanted to have. It turns your garden into a delightful place to just kickback with a book and a lemonade transforming your hectic lifestyle into a Zen’s meditation retreat.


A little lit up pathway beneath a trellis arch leading to the garden during the evening will be fantastic! So, your private escape from the hustle bustle by day could turn into a twinkling, starry (maybe romantic) escape at night.


Creating your own Eden isn’t a Herculean task. The basic elements distributed and placed wisely can go a long way. But, certain aspects of the landscaping and decoration may require certain supplies.
Happy Gardening!

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