I am currently working with the Strathcona Youth Council on the development and build of a vertical teaching garden for Lord Strathcona Elementary School in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. In August we did some garden clean up and planted up a vertical garden container for the daycare. At this point we are deciding on the various applications and their locations throughout the school and adjacent community centre & daycare. The president of the Youth Council is also part of the garden club at her high school so she is an awesome asset to the project.

The kids have been super excited about some of the applications we have been discussing. One of the most fun applications, which we hope to site right beside the daycare, is a runner bean teepee. We also have concepts for growing squash vertically in a half barrel, creating a hanging bottle garden, a pallet garden, a barrel garden with a built in composter and pillar planting. In all we are aiming for about a dozen applications.

There are three key objectives for the garden: 

• create learning opportunities for kids attending the school
• provide fresh organic vegetables to kids in the school and daycare
• engage and educate the public on a variety of ways food can be grown in small spaces

As the project evolves I will be posting about it on Facebook and (hopefully) blogging about it. I am hoping to find the time to develop a new Urban Seed Project website where I will be able to blog on various programs. You can also learn more on my Facebook page for the Truck Farm (where I do most of my posting) at https://www.facebook.com/Strathcona1890TruckFarm