Gardening Practices Research Articles

Practice Transformation Analytics Dashboard for Clinician Engagement.

Practice transformation in primary care is a movement toward data-driven redesign of care, patient-centered care delivery, and practitioner activation. A critical requirement for achieving practice transformation is availability of tools to engage practices. A total of 48 practices with 109 practice sites participate in the Garden Practice Transformation Network in Maryland (GPTN-Maryland) to work together toward practice transformation and readiness for the Quality Payment Program implemented by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Practice-specific data are collected in GPTN-Maryland by practices themselves and by practice transformation coaches, and are provided by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. These data are overwhelming to practices when presented piecemeal or together, a barrier to practices taking action to ensure progress on the transformation spectrum. The GPTN-Maryland team therefore created a practice transformation analytics dashboard as a tool to present data that are actionable in care redesign. When practices reviewed their data provided by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services using the dashboard, they were often seeing, for the first time, cost data on their patients, trends in their key performance indicator data, and their practice transformation phase. Overall, 72% of practices found the dashboard engaging, and 48% found the data as presented to be actionable. The practice transformation analytics dashboard encourages practices to advance in practice transformation and improvement of patient care delivery. This tool engaged practices in discussions about data, care redesign, and costs of care, and about how to develop sustainable change within their practices. Research is needed to study the impact of the dashboard on costs and quality of care delivery.

Contribution of Home Gardening to Household Dietary Intake among Peri-urban Households of Imo State, Nigeria

Rapid urbanization, industralization, land grabbing and dwindling land resources is fast eroding the practice of home gardening in peri-urban areas. This has altered the dietary intake pattern of peri-urban households who hitherto could augment their meals from products of gardens around their homes. The study assessed home gardening contribution to dietary intake among households in peri-urban areas of Imo State. Specifically, the study sought to ascertain the types of home gardening practiced, the contribution of home garden to the household dietary intake and identify the constraints of peri-urban households in practicing home gardening. Multistage sampling procedure was adopted in the selection of sample. Okigwe, Orlu and Owerri-West Local Government Areas (LGAs) were purposively selected from each of the agricultural zones in Imo State for their peri-urban nature. Four communities were purposively selected from the three LGAs were home gardening was mostly practiced. A survey was conducted to find out households which practiced home gardening. Ten households each were then randomly selected from these communities, making a total of one hundred and twenty (120) respondents for the study. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics (mean, frequency and percentage). The result showed that majority (54.2%) of the respondents practiced mixed crop home gardening while 43.3% practiced mixed farm home gardening. The level of contribution of home gardening to dietary intake among households was (53.3%). A fairly high number (47.5%) of peri-urban households expressed experiencing high constraints to practicing home gardening. It is recommended that peri-urban households should be educated on other methods of home gardening where land is in limited supply to improve household dietary intake.

Information on biodiversity and environmental behaviors: A European study of individual and institutional drivers to adopt sustainable gardening practices

The specific case of home gardening practices is particularly relevant when discussing lifestyle habits and ecological transition, due to the wide range of positive and negative environmental externalities private gardens may generate. However, existing studies usually focus on restricted areas, mostly at a city scale. We provide an original empirical contribution to the literature on individual and institutional drivers regarding ecological transition by exploring the variations of individual behavior between European countries with an appropriate econometric approach. Using a European database (Eurobarometer 83.4), we highlight several interesting results regarding Europeans' adoption of sustainable gardening practices, more particularly on the role of socio-demographic drivers, urban or rural residential location and access to trustworthy biodiversity-related information. In conclusion, we provide recommendations for the design of dedicated public policies, specific to a national or local level of decision.

Identifikasi Model Pengelolaan Lahan Kering Dataran Tinggi Berbasis Agroforestri Tradisional di Pulau Timor

Tujuan diadakannya penelitian ini untuk; (i) mengidentifikasi model pengelolaan lahan kering dataran tinggi berbasis agroforestri tradisional; (ii) mengukur seberapa besar kontribusi pendapatan rumah tangga masyarakat yang diperoleh pada masing-masing model pengelolaan lahan kering dataran tinggi berbasis agroforestri tradisional. Penelitian ini dilaksanakan di Pulau Timor khususnya di kecamatan Miomaffo Barat, Kabupaten Timor Tengah Utara, Nusa Tenggara Timur pada bulan Oktober-Desember 2016 menggunakan metode deskriptif eksploratif dengan teknik pengumpulan data menggunakan teknik observasi, kuesioner, dan wawancara langsung pada tokoh kunci (Qey person). Penentuan sampel dalam penelitian ini berdasarkan peta existing conditions penggunaan lahan yang merupakan hasil overlay data Citra landsat serta data persebaran ekologi agroforestri di pulau Timor. Penentuan responden guna mengetahui kontribusi ekonomi masyarakat ditentukan secara snowball sampling. Hasil penelitian diketahui bahwa terdapat tiga model agroforestri tradisional yang dikembangkan masyarakat di lokasi penelitian yaitu; (a) model agrosilvicultur Kono yang merupakan praktik perladangan menetap dengan komposisi jenis tanaman berkayu (Kehutanan), tahunan dan tanaman semusim; (b) model agrosilvopasture Poan yang merupakan praktik kebun hutan tetap dengan variasi jenis tanaman yang tinggi (Polycultur) serta bentuk pengelolaan yang menyerupai bentuk kebun hutan (Forest Garden) dengan stratifikasi tajuk yang beragam; (c) model silvopastural Suf, merupakan praktik penggembalaan alam pada kawasan padang savana, yang dimanfaatkan sebagai ranch peternakan alami. Analisis kontribusi pendapatan rumah tangga masyarakat diketahui di atas 50%. Artinya bahwa secara kontribusi ketiga model agroforestri tradisional yang ditemukan berpeluang untuk dikembangkan dengan perlu adanya intervensi intensif dalam hal pengelolaan yang berkelanjutan dengan pertimbangan pada aspek ekologi wilayah, sosial ekonomi serta budaya atau kearifan lokal masyarakat setempat.

Trends of Students of Home Economics at Al- Balqa Applied University Towards Home Gardening

The objective of the study was to identify the trends of students of home economics at Al- Balqa Applied University toward home gardening in terms of, importance, sources of information available on this subject inside and outside the university, in addition to the most important obstacles that encounter practicing home gardening in their opinion. Also, solutions that may contribute to encouraging the practice of home gardening were investigated as well. The results of students responses showed that, home gardening is of great importance in terms of improving economic conditions and enhancing household food security with an average of (4.23 and 4.25), respectively. On the other hand, data showed that, courses included in study plan for home economics provide moderate theoretical information about home gardening (3.14), while practical part is limited (2.36). Also, responses of the students revealed a lack of laboratories and nurseries in the colleges required to apply the practical part of home gardening. Moreover, the results indicated that the students use internet to obtain information about home gardening more than the other sources available outside the university with an average of (3.32). On the other hand, students responses revealed many obstacles facing practicing home gardening, where lack of desire to practice such work (4.09) was the strongest obstacle. Meanwhile, adding more courses about home gardening to the study plan of home economics, focusing on the practical part, and providing the necessary laboratories and nurseries needed for the practical part of home gardening were the most important solutions to encourage practicing home gardening. Keywords: Home Gardening, Home Economics, Al-Balqa Applied University. DOI : 10.7176/JBAH/9-3-09

From citizen science to citizen action: analysing the potential for a digital platform to cultivate attachments to nature

Identifying private gardens in the U.K. as key sites of environmental engagement, we look at how a longer-term online citizen science programme facilitated the development of new and personal attachments of nature. These were visible through new or renewed interest in wildlife-friendly gardening practices and attitudinal shifts in a large proportion of its participants. Qualitative and quantitative data, collected via interviews, focus groups, surveys and logging of user behaviours, revealed that cultivating a fascination with species identification was key to both ‘helping nature’ and wider learning, with the programme creating a space where scientific and non-scientific knowledge could co-exist and reinforce one another.

Constraints Faced by Urban Dwellers in the Adoption of Terrace Gardening Practices

Constraints Faced by Urban Dwellers in the Adoption of Terrace Gardening Practices

A Study of the Spiritual Expression of Corridors in Literati Gardens

Chinese ancient literati drew inspiration from traditional paintings and pursue picturesque scene in terms of artistic expression in constructing gardens. Using the method of image analysis, literature review, field investigation, and logical analysis, an important element of literati garden construction -- corridor, as the research object, was studied. As the important element of traditional Chinese gardens, corridors in the garden are not only the connection of the buildings, but also act as the guide line of the scenery, which make garden buildings connected into a harmonious whole landscape. Clearly, the interaction between the traditional Chinese painting and garden space were probed from three aspects, spatial order, spatial level and spatial imagination and reality. In sum, spatial-temporal integration, fusion of feelings with the natural setting, interdependence of being and non-being are three levels of the spiritual expression of corridors. Meanwhile, by analyzing the spiritual expression of corridors in the picturesque scene creation of garden space, the paper tries to probe into literati’s aesthetic ideals of unity between man and nature and spiritual pursuit of seclusion and detachment. What’s more, further studies according to the connotation culture of literati gardens and corridors were probed, in order to provide a reference for contemporary garden practice.

The Ecocritical Implications of Downing's Influence on Poe's Landscape Aesthetic

Abstract This article examines the influence of landscape architect Andrew Jackson Downing's seminal work, A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening (1841), on Poe's landscape tales. Poe knew this book through reading a review in Arcturus appearing in the same year and, as strong evidence suggests, through perusing Downing's tract firsthand sometime before 1843. Looking at the affinities between Downing's and Poe's aesthetic principles, we may see that Downing's landscape gardening theory profoundly influenced Poe's later fiction and validated his belief in the powerful role of the artist in the creation of Beauty. Two landscape tales, in particular, demonstrate the correlation between Poe's writing and the principles of landscape gardening popularized in his time: “The Domain of Arnheim” of 1847, and its “pendant,” “Landor's Cottage” of 1849. Situating Poe's work in the context of landscape gardening—first by establishing Downing's influence on Poe and then by examining the environmental impact of their idealized landscapes—we may see how both literary and horticultural texts echoed the broader culture's demand for a composed American landscape without considering the environmental consequences of putting these aesthetic theories into practice.

Eco-Efficiency Assessment and Food Security Potential of Home Gardening: A Case Study in Padua, Italy

In the expanding urban agriculture phenomenon in Europe, home gardens are a traditional form that have kept agriculture within cities, even becoming crucial in certain historical periods (e.g., war periods). However, horticultural practices in home gardens can also have negative consequences. The goal of this paper is to assess the eco-efficiency of home gardens as a type of urban agriculture. To do so, a case study in Padua (Italy) was evaluated following life cycle assessment and life cycle costing methods. A home garden of 30.6 m2 and 21 crop cycles were evaluated. The functional unit of the assessment was 1 kg of harvested fresh vegetable at the consumption point, and the ReCiPe method was employed for impact assessment. Environmental assessment indicated that organic fertilization, use of tap water, mineral fertilization and pesticides were the most contributing elements of the entire life cycle. Furthermore, the relevance of garden design and crop selection was a determinant in the eco-efficiency results. The assessed home garden could satisfy the food requirements of between 1 and 2 members of the household. Crop management and design recommendations are provided to improve eco-efficiency and food security potential of home gardens.

Effects of Landscape Structure on Medicinal Plant Richness in Home Gardens: Evidence for the Environmental Scarcity Compensation Hypothesis

Our research involves of how Paraguayan migrants who are living in Misiones, Argentina, manage medicinal plants in home gardens, and how this practice can be related to the landscape. We examine the relationship between the richness of home garden medicinal plants and landscape variables (e.g., distance to the forest) by applying PLS analysis, which combines principal component analysis with linear regression. We surveyed 60 home gardens localized in a rural area, and we characterized the surrounding landscape with geospatial tools. Paraguayans’ home gardens are extremely diverse sites (total of 136 medicinal species), where both native (82) and introduced species (50) are managed. People who live close to the native forest or mixed use areas (e.g., farms, secondary vegetation) tend to possess less native plants in their gardens because they are available nearby. While gardeners, who live in proximity to tree crops (e.g., pine plantations), have reduced access to wild medicinal resources; therefore, their effort is concentrated on maintaining native plants. These results reflect a relationship between accessibility to medicinal plants in the landscape and the management practices in the home gardens, a neglected driver in explaining the richness and composition of the medicinal plants in home gardens so far. Thus, we contributed evidence in support of the environmental scarcity compensation hypothesis. Finally, our study supports the idea that home gardens appear to function as a springboard for plant domestication.

Temporalities of learning: lessons from a socio-material study of allotment gardening practice

ABSTRACTPractice-oriented, socio-material investigations have surfaced the emergent nature of professional knowing and the significance of things for organising such knowing. However, in these accounts, one significant organising actor is largely overlooked: time. This paper foregrounds time, exploring how different temporalities orchestrate knowing in practice. The empirical study for this article is not of professional practice, but the work of allotment gardening and it is, in part, this attending to everyday practice which unsettles routinised ways of seeing and allows unnoticed actors such as time to emerge. The use of Actor-Network Theory sensibilities further disrupts habitual ways of seeing, as the practice of gardeners on an English allotment site is shown to be distributed over a multitude of socio-im/material actors, mobilising five temporal regimes which order learning. This article theorises that such temporal patterning is particularly enabling for learning and indicates that attending to temporality extends the parameters for understanding learning beyond the case of the everyday, to professional knowing and learning more generally.

Comparative study on the motivations that drive urban community gardens in Central Eastern Europe

Abstract The aspiration of launching urban community gardens is spreading in Central Eastern Europe (CEE). The joy of common work and spending meaningful time in well-designed gardens could bridge the gap between local community members. At the same time, this is how common understanding and social responsibility can be established. The aim of this paper is to compare existing practices of urban gardening in the Central and Eastern European region and investigate their opportunities and limitations. Five capital cities (Budapest, Bratislava, Prague, Warsaw and Zagreb) were chosen for this research with benchmark method to analyse aims, main motivation and end-user beneficiary from urban gardens.

Investigating Migrants Adaptation Process through Gardening Practices in Community Gardens

Investigation approach to migrants' adaptation process in host countries has always been placed specific, in order to understand the whole connections to all aspects of life. In Melbourne, community gardens have been a place where immigrants start their interaction with others. The literature argues that the gardens can foster social inclusion, while at the same time providing space to preserve their cultural identity. This paper will investigate the adaptation of migrants within the garden setting, by considering the extent to which cultural practices in gardening affect their ability to adapt to the host country (Australia). The findings confirm a complex relationship between historical garden practices/culture and the reality of practices in community gardens.

Comparison of Nutritional Status of Pre-school Children from Households with Home Garden and Without Home Garden in Wondogenet Woreda, South Ethiopia

Objective: Malnutrition is a worldwide prevalent problem. Under-nutrition segment of the condition is common in the developing world. Under-nutrition, because of being the result of multiple interlinked factors it needs intervention from different angles. Agriculture, home garden production, is one of the ways to address under-nutrition through food-based approach. Pre-school children are risky for under-nutrition. Though they are expected to benefit from the home garden products, their nutritional status was not assessed in consideration of home garden practice of households where they reside. Therefore, this study was aimed to compare nutritional status of pre-school children from households with and without home garden in Wondogenat Woreda, South Ethiopia. Patients and Methods: Comparative community based cross-sectional study was conducted on a total of 430 pre-school children selected using simple random sampling technique. Z-score of anthropometric status was generated using WHO Anthro. Entire data was analyzed SPSS version 20. Frequencies and proportions of basic information were calculated. Independent sample t-test was used to compare z-score mean value of nutritional status of the pre-school children. Results: From households with home garden 41% of the children were stunted, 28% were under-weight and 8% were wasted. From households without home garden 44% of the children were stunted, 30% were underweight and 8.8% were wasted. Mean of weight for age Z-score (p<0.0001), height for age Z-score (p<0.026) and weight for height Z-score (p<0.0001) of children from households with and without home garden was different. All forms of under-nutrition are prevalent both in households with and without home garden. Mean values of weight for height, height for age and weight for age Z-scores of pre-school children from households with and without home garden are different.

Examining botanical transculturation of Japanese style gardens to the use of native species

Selecting Pinus radiata and Pinus mugo rather than Pinus densiflora represents a new mode of botanical transculturation from landscape architect Ken Nakajima, a renowned traditional Japanese Landscape Architect from Tokyo, for the Japanese Stroll Garden (Kaiyu-shiki-teien) at Cowra, New South Wales (NSW) (1975-1986). Nakajima consulted with nurseries, following a process mediated from a botanical transculturation that enabled exotics from Asia, America and Europe precedence over native species due to taste over suitability. This paper outlines the commercial movement of plants from Japan to Europe and the Western World via the 19th century Japonism fashion, populated by the nursery industry to an intermediate utilitarian period where professionals/ enthusiasts approached Japanese Gardens from a scholarly modality to authentic landscape garden practices. Cultural assimilation from botanical transculturation ideology works both ways as referenced in Ken Nakajima's work at Cowra, Europe and America, enabling an exchange of botanical plant knowledge and practices, with knowledge of the 'Sakuteiki' manuscript defining an approach to native vegetation, incorporating an ecological point of view.

Neighbourhood characteristics and urban gardens in the Toledo metropolitan area: staffing and voluntarism, food production, infrastructure, and sustainability practices

ABSTRACTUrban gardens are important sources of sustenance for communities with limited access to food. Hence, this study focuses on food production in gardens in the Toledo metropolitan area in Northwest Ohio. We administered surveys to 150 garden managers from November 2014 to February 2015 in our attempt to better understand how neighbourhood racial composition and poverty levels are related to staffing and voluntarism, food production and distribution, the development of infrastructure, and the adoption of sustainability practices in urban gardens. The results from 30 gardens are presented in this paper. We used Geographic Information Systems to map the gardens and overlay the map with 2010 census data so that we could conduct demographic analyses of the neighbourhoods in which the gardens were located. Though the gardens were small – two acres or less – up to 46 varieties of food were grown in a single garden. Gardens also operated on small budgets. Food from the gardens was gifted or shared with friends, family, and neighbourhood residents. Gardens in predominantly minority neighbourhoods tended to have fewer institutional partners, less garden infrastructure, and had adopted fewer sustainable practices than gardens in predominantly White neighbourhoods. Nonetheless, residents of predominantly minority and high-poverty neighbourhoods participated in garden activities and influenced garden operations. Volunteering and staffing were racialised and gendered.

Proper selection of substrates and crops enhances the sustainability of Paris rooftop garden

Rooftop gardens are a promising way to supplement the growing demand for local food production, and are especially relevant in large cities with acute space constraints. However, they face the challenge of achieving viable food productivity while minimizing their impacts on the environment, two priorities that often oppose one another. Also, the actual impacts of management practices, which are deemed environmentally friendly in principle, are rarely quantified. Therefore, evaluations that encompass all components of urban gardens and a comprehensive range of environmental issues are necessary to reveal potential trade-offs and provide guidance in the design of these systems. In this study, we evaluated the environmental and economic impacts of rooftop gardening practices, focusing on crop and substrate selection, which are key parameters in system design but whose consequences have seldom been evaluated so far. Life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) were used to analyze a case study in the center of Paris (France). The production systems considered involved crop rotations of tomato and lettuce each grown in three different substrate types: compost and wood chips; compost, wood chips, and earthworms; and conventional potting soil. Despite the large environmental burdens of compost production, systems with compost performed better environmentally and economically than the system involving potting soil, specifically having 17–47% less greenhouse gas emissions per kg of product. Across systems, length of cultivation and yield appeared to be the most influential determinants of the environmental impacts. Within the compost systems, the most impactful component was the material used for garden infrastructure, and substrate production for the potting soil systems. This is the first study that considers compost as a substrate, weighs its benefits and impacts, incorporates it into a complete garden, and compares it to potting soil. Our results demonstrate that careful system design could significantly abate environmental impacts. They provide critically needed information to people implementing urban rooftop agriculture and considering the trade-offs involved in each decision.

PECULIARITIES OF PROFESSIONAL SKILL FORMATION IN VINNITSA TEACHERS’ SEMINARY

The article reveals the history of the formation of Vinnitsa male seminary in the early 20th century using the archival sources. Educational curriculum and programs of the teachers’ seminary have been analyzed, in particular the syllabus of the course «Pedagogy». Peculiarities of the professional skills formation in the seminary are considered. The peculiarities of conducting practical classes for seminary students, which promoted the development of teaching skills in the teaching and education of elementary school students, are analyzed. The acticle characterizes the topics for written works of the course ‘Russian language and literature’which aimed at teaching the students consistent and eloquent story-telling, skillful descriptions and logically correct presentation of their arguments. It has been proved that along with theoretical studies and the observation of exemplary teaching in Vinnitsa male seminary, students' practical work in the exemplary school had special significance for the formation of their skills. The great educational effect of the subjects of aesthetic education (compulsory for all pupils) such as singing, graphic arts, music, theory and practice of gardening, handicraft, carpentry and physical education, introduced in the seminary curriculum has been shown. It has been proved that the pupils of Vinnitsa male teaching seminary were best trained for conducting classes in primary schools, they were well-aware of the curriculum and textbooks of the schools and were competent enough about the basic subjects taught in elementary schools. It has been distinguished that a significant feature of Vinnitsa male teacher's seminary was the practical familiriazing students with the educational work of public schools in exemplary schools that operated at the seminary. It has been proved that the graduates of the teachers’ seminary were mainly peasants who knew the life of the rural population, its spiritual and material needs well, what, in turn, contributed to the successful formulation of the educational work. The hardship of the material situation of the seminary, the lack of general educational system, and the lack of awareness of the teacher’s role in the progress of society by the state officials prevented development of pedagogical education in Podillia.

Changing household water consumption practices after drought in three Australian cities

One of the major challenges of moving toward more sustainable and water sensitive futures is to change people's everyday water consumption habits. The experience of the Millennium drought in Australia (1996–2010) and water restrictions introduced during that time intervened to change everyday water practices in specific ways creating durable change in some practices and mutable change in others. Drawing on focus groups with 62 people, in three diverse Australian cities, a rich picture of diverse water practices emerges. Using a specific social practice framework we explore the key practices of garden watering and showering and tease out the elements in each – we discuss how and why there has been more innovation and change in garden practices than shower practices. We argue that sustained water restrictions drive material change in households and these material changes appear to be more effective in changing water use than transforming water saving competencies or meanings alone. Further, we show that the commitment and resistance to water saving has a spatial context – data from three different cities allowed us to see how location, climate and policy responses interweave with everyday practices. The implication of our research is that policy interventions should be 'fit for purpose' according to social practices in spatial context.