Organic Urban Gardening For Beginners

Being self sufficient in a small space is much easier (and enjoyable) than you might think!

A few years ago, I knew nothing about gardening. It seemed like a useful but time-consuming hobby: too much hard work and too much information to take in. Then I moved to a small farming community in the mountains of southern Spain, where old men wearing flat caps still use mules to plough the earth, and everyone in the village has their own vegetable garden, or huerto.

10 ways you can actually help save the world

How can I make a positive difference in the world? Where do I start? Which of the overwhelming number of urgent global issues should I focus my attention on first?

These are questions most of us have asked ourselves at some point. But although being an active citizen can sometimes feel hopeless, just remember: you can only be responsible for your own actions- and major changes start at the grassroots level (just look at the Occupy movement!). So maybe you can’t save the world, but you can save your backyard. And imagine what would happen if we all did the same? With that in mind, here are 10 things you can do to get those green shoots growing in your own communities, expanding outwards like ripples in a pond to inspire others and make changes on a big scale. As anthropologist Margaret Mead once said: “Never doubt that a small, committed group of citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” The following list could be longer- things like recycling, buying fair trade and avoiding plastic wherever possible are taken as given, for example.

1. Join or launch a gift economy

Gift economies enable people to exchange goods, services and favours without any need for cash payment. One of the best initiatives is freecycle, a global online gifting website based on the idea that one man’s junk is another man’s treasure. Why throw things into landfill sites when other people in your local area could make use of them? The chances are there is already a group in your town, but if not, creating a new group is quick and easy. Simply check the site’s homepage, join the mailing list for your area, and see how many people you can help by gifting your unwanted goods and receiving whatever you need in return. Books, toys, furniture, electrical appliances and even cars are up for grabs. Another idea is to launch a skill swapping or time bank initiative in your community.  These models allow for people to find painters, carpenters, gardeners, babysitters, and any other services we all need occasionally, without worrying about payment in cash. After all, isn’t time the most precious thing we have? Get a group of like-minded people together and start keeping a record of the skills they can offer and what they would like to receive in exchange. Then simply match users, updating how many hours they have spent helping others and how many they are owed in return. In places like crisis-hit Greece, bartering systems have enabled people living in poverty to continue life as normal, as this inspiring video shows.