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Container gardening: a simple and cheapmethod in the combat of desertification and

hunger

Prof. Dr. Willem Van CotthemUniversity of Ghent (Belgium)

http://desertification.wordpress.com

ABSTRACT

Presentation of some good examples of container gardening to produce

trees, vegetables, herbs, succulents, cactus seedlings etc. at home.Large-scale application can be helpful to combat desertification and toimprove survival rates in reforestation.

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Container gardening is a gardening type that can be applied at any spoton this world, in all climatic zones, in humid and arid regions, in rural andin urban areas, outside and inside the house.

It can be used for embellishment of the home with ornamental plants orfor food production (vegetable and fruit trees), e.g. in the drylands wheresoil and irrigation cause huge problems.

My friend Geert VAN DAELE has taken some photos of container gardeningexamples in my house, showing that anybody can grow very diverse plantspecies in different kinds of containers: bottles, pots, trays, bags etc.

I strongly believe that massive application of container gardening wouldoffer an impressive number of possibilities to grow food in the mostadverse conditions in arid or semi-arid regions, thus helping to combatdesertification, hunger and child malnutrition. I strongly recommend thismethod to all reforestation projects in developing countries. It is cheaper

and more efficient (higher survival rates) than the classical ones.

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2010-03-27 : Avocado seedlings grown in a yogurt pot and in PET-bottles. These seedlings

can easily be transplanted in the soil by cutting off the bottom of the pot or bottle and put the

rootball with its container directly in the plant pit. Survival rate is significantly higher. (Photo

Geert VAN DAELE)

2010-03-27 : Avocado seedling with 3 shoots growing in a PET-bottle (Photo Geert VAN

DAELE)

2010-03-27 : Avocado seedlings in PET-bottles and a yogurt pot (foreground). (Photo Geert

VAN DAELE)

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2010-03-27 : Avocado seedlings in small soda-bottles, a yogurt pot and taller PET-bottles.

(Photo Geert VAN DAELE)

2010-03-27 : Seeds of dragonfruit cactus (pitaya) germinating in a blue mushroom tray, kept

in a pastry box (mini-greenhouse to keep humidity high). (Photo Geert VAN DAELE)

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2010-03-27 : Dragonfruit seedlings in a blue mushroom tray, kept in a pastry box (Photo

Geert VAN DAELE)

2010-03-27: Dragonfruit seedlings in a black plastic tray, surrounded by an ordinary plastic

bag (mini-greenhouse). (Photo Geert VAN DAELE)

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2010-03-27 : Seedlings of the tomato tree (Cyphomandra betacea) grown in plastic icecream

boxes (Photo Geert VAN DAELE)

2010-03-27 : Seedlings of tomato tree (Cyphomandra betacea) in an icecream box. A very

simple method to produce hundreds of young trees with a minimum of water (Photo Geert

VAN DAELE)

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2010-03-27 : Seedlings can be transplanted in similar cheap boxes to let them grow and

harden off before planting in the soil (Photo Geert VAN DAELE)

2010-03-27 : Cuttings of Navajo willow (Salix matsudana Navajo) rooting in icetea and

coca-cola plastic bottles. Background: avocado seedlings in a yogurt pot, an icetea bottle and

larger PET-bottles (Photo Geert VAN DAELE)

2010-03-27 : Navajo willow cuttings rooting in small plastic bottles, otherwise littered. After

full development of the rootball, when roots start curling at the bottom, the lower part of the

bottle is cut off, setting the lower part of the rootball free. Then, the tree seedling is planted in

a plant pit in the soil, leaving the rest of the plastic bottle around the rootball as a protective

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layer limiting evaporation. Roots will develop swiftly in the soil and the plastic bottle will

slowly disintegrate. Survival rate is significantly higher (Photo Geeert VAN DAELE).