Urban Utilization of Plant Nutrients

Abstract

As the world population increases, more people are choosing to make their homes in the desert environments throughout the world. As new population centers develop, there is a great demand for city parks, golf courses, and other recreation areas. The landscaping of new home sites and all types of recreation areas require large quantities of plant nutrients for their successful establishment and maintenance. Interest in home gardening is at its highest level since the Victory Garden Era of World War II. Victory Gardens were encouraged to offset the shortages in commercial production, processing, and transportation of fruits and vegetables during the war years. The current high interest in home gardening is attributed to the increasing cost of food which has resulted from higher energy and labor costs in producing, processing, and transporting food. In urban areas, next door neighbors often do not get acquainted with each other. However, if neighbors have home gardens, they have much in common to talk about, to share, to compare, and to exchange in terms of information, ideas, plant materials, products, successes, and failures. The present interest in home landscaping and gardening has created a great demand for plant nutrients in desert environments and also in humid regions (Hayes 1977).