Issue Preview: Green Award Winner

Presenting Chicago's Gary Comer Youth Center Green Roof, which last year produced more than 1000 pounds of food, including strawberries, carrots, lettuce, beans, peppers, herbs, potatoes, and spinach. Designed by Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects as a working garden for the youth attending the Center's after-school programs, the garden is a hub for creative lessons that emphasize growing culturally-significant, locally grown organic fruits, herbs and vegetables on the rooftop garden. An entrepreneurial project, Comer Rooftop Crops, sells produce to restaurants to develop educational and career opportunities for a youth-employment program. The two-foot depth of engineered soil with a mixture of organic and inorganic soils and nutrients allows for significant food growth. Maintenance walkways which provide access to each row are made of plastic lumber that is recycled from plastic milk containers. See more in our September issue!