Gardening for health

We were able to build slightly more gardens than expected, because we needed less soil than our initial estimate. We have to order soil by the truckload and it went further than we thought it would. In the end, we had 52 women who had ordered a Vertical Garden, so we decided to use the savings from the soil on extra drums.

“Before, we rarely ate vegetables—only when we had some extra money. Even if we wanted to grow vegetables, we couldn’t because our area is surrounded by ocean. Good thing Roots of Health started the vertical garden program. Now, we eat veggies everyday. They’re so delicious, especially since we know we planted them. Whenever we harvest vegetables, we plant new seeds right away so we don’t run out.” - Emma Banagan, vertical garden recipient

Summary

Since receiving funding from Catapult, we’ve been hard at work building and delivering vertical gardens to the families in the community of Aplaya. Residents of this community live right by the sea, and have houses built on stilts to avoid high-tide flooding. Since our clients do not have any green space in which to grow any fruits or vegetables, our vertical gardens are very popular.

Accomplishments

We raised funds for 50 gardens in the community and we are proud to announce that we have constructed and set up 52 vertical gardens in Aplaya! This represents 52 families that now have an easy and safe way to grow their own food.

We began our vertical gardening program by setting up a vertical garden in a public space within the community, and explained how the gardens work. Residents were excited by how much they could plant in these compact containers, and were thrilled to realize how fertile the soil was from the compost and rice hull charcoal we mixed in. They were also excited at how little water is needed to water the plants. We took orders for the gardens, and started building the gardens and assembling them for the clients as they became available. Our staff set up the gardens for our clients, and adapted them as needed—like the houses some of the gardens are on stilts! Every few weeks, our head vertical gardener visits each family with a vertical garden and assists with any problems they may be having and provides seeds or gardening tips.

Budget

This project is now finished since we have purchased and distributed vertical gardens across the community in Aplaya. We spent slightly more than we projected, but were able to provide more vertical gardens than anticipated.

Projected Budget ($) Spent ($)

• Drums: $1025 budgeted; $1124 spent
• Soil amendments: $35 budgeted; $46 spent
• Soil: $410 budgeted; $341 spent
• Compost: $115 budgeted; $98 spent
• Seeds: $5 budgeted; $6 spent
• Materials: $30 budgeted; $34 spent
• Labor: $200 budgeted; $212 spent
• Transportation: $180 budgeted; $169 spent
• Total: $2,000 budgeted; $2029 spent