We all know that green leafy vegetables are nutritious and they can be easily grown. Those who can not afford to buy them on regular basis and those who are keen to eat organic foods can grow them at home easily. Well, those who have a piece of land with themselves will find it quite easy to follow this advise but those who don’t have any space for kitchen garden like people who live in flats or in slums, what will they do? Do they have any alternative? Well, after seeing the recent show of Lar doce lar (Home Sweet Home) which was aired in Argentina, we can say that yes they too have alternatives to grow their own vegetables, if not on ground, then on walls. In a recent episode of the show a hanging garden was grown in recycled PET bottles.
The show Lar doce lar, in collaboration with Brazilian designer studio Rosenbaum, helped a family of a mother and two daughters grow their own garden by using recycled PET bottles. Since there was no space for a kitchen garden the designers identified a huge wall as a potential space for the kitchen garden and worked around the idea. Very soon, a hanging garden was put in place by cutting a small portion of recycled PET bottle horizontally into a square and was used as a pot. In this pot soil and manure was mixed and a sapling of some vegetable was grown.
The wall was then converted into a hanging garden by hanging several bottles on the wall, each one brimming with saplings of leafy vegetables. Mostly medicinal herbs and spices were used as they grow easily. The family of three ladies who live on a meager income of 200 Reais (130 US Dollars) a month have benefited tremendously from the concept. It has not only provided them with some nutrition, it has also made their home look like ‘home sweet home’.
The vertical garden became an instant hit on the show and requests started pouring in for knowing the way to cut the bottles. Overwhelmed with the response and energized with the thought that it will help many lives lead a better life, the designers actually published a short tutorial about cutting the bottles for plantation.
The most inspiring part of this story is that designers’ skills and creativity is used for improving someone’s life rather than creating things that are instrumental in ego massaging of those affluent people who form a miniscule part of society and that too in an eco friendly way.
Via: Treehugger