When I worked in the "green industry", more and more people asked about and eventually came to me about how to garden in an urban setting. This was well before it was the hip thing to do. Growing plants in pots and gardening in small spaces is something my family has been doing for many generations, dating back to when the west (read California) was first settled. Luckily, that is one of the genes I am glad I received from my ancestors. My granny was an avid gardener, my uncle is one, and I am, and now my daughter is showing an interest to be as well. It's in our blood.
That was probably why when I had to get a real job I chose a garden center, and proceeded to stay in that industry for almost 15 years.
Whew! Ok so there is my history and the intro all in one!
As urban gardening has become more and more popular, a million new products have come out to make small gardening and raising your own food. What they don't provide is what to buy or how to do it.
Sure, a fancy, built in watering plastic container that professes to not only grow your plants to be huge, always healthy and invincible but will give you state-fair sized produce and program your iphone to boot.
Right.
Let's get to the dirt (laugh) of the matter.
There is a way to garden in a small space that requires a little investment and a lot of results. You can use pots too, and we will go into that, but first, for those who rent and have a small space of yard to play with, but don't want anything permanent or the investment of permanence.
So here is what I do, right, wrong or indifferent, it works for me. And it works in the midwest as well as in the Pacific Northwest.
Preparation:
Find a space that is in the sun. Sun = at least 6 hours. 4 is ok, 6 is better, more is even better. The earlier the frost can get melted off, the earlier the soil warms up, the more light the plants can get to the better.
If you have decent soil, dig up as much space as your back can handle. In Kansas, we had 2 raised beds that were 3 foot by 8 foot by 12" more or less with a little space on the outside edge. Here in the PNW, we rent, so even though the soil is amazing, I wanted something moveable.
For a raised bed, use 2 by 12 timbers in whatever wood you can afford. DO NOT USE CHEMICALLY TREATED WOOD! This is BAD!
If you want to have kids born with 6 eyes and 3 arms who walk sideways or more seriously if you want to have yucky chemicals coursing through your body wreaking havoc on your organs, then by all means, go for it.
If you want something super long lasting, invest in cedar. I'm poor. I used untreated pine.
Make sure the area is flat-ish. It does not have to be perfect, but you want the timbers to be more or less level. If you wait until the ground is moist, building the frame then jumping up and down on it makes it sink and level, if you do it in key places.
Building the frame. Besides the timbers you will need metal corners. Make no difference if they are inside or outside corners. Inside, you get just pretty wood to look at, outside, it's interrupted by metal.
If you feel artistic, you could paint the outside of your bed in a mural or something fun. Or give the kids paint brushed and paint and say go for it. Put some polyurethane on it though so it sticks around for awhile. No worries. Poly is used for all kinds of surfaces we eat on.
Once the bed is built and stomped on, fill with soil. If you look in the paper or on craigslist, a lot of times you will find free fill dirt. It's not perfect, but it works and is cheap. Use buckets, a truck or find a neighbor with a truck. SUV's are good too, you can just line the back with trash bags taped together and over the seat and side panels to create a barrier.
For a non-raised bed, dig up a good amount of space. Remove any debris, big chunks of soil that you cannot squeeze and crumble, roots etc.
For both, add compost. I personally like mushroom compost and cotton boll compost. Yes, they stink, but they are wonderful for the soil. Mix about a 3 to 1 ratio. 3 parts soil to one part compost.
I'm lazy. For the 3' by 8' space I dumped 1 bag of cotton boll and 2 bags mushroom.
Whew! The hard part is done. Go sit down for a second and have a beer, 'cause beer makes it better and is super good for keeping hydrated. Water works too. Lemonade? Ice tea?
So now that you have rested for a second, go to the store. Make sure you are still covered in dirt and sweat to make it look like you were truly working hard. You look more like an official gardner that way.
Heck, go barefoot. Then you'll look like you live on a farm and know what your doing! And of course, you will because I'm gonna tell you!
Starting in February (in most parts of the U.S.) plant from seed....
Peas
onions
carrots
lettuce or other greens
beets
radishes
potatoes
garlic
Broccoli
cauliflower
cabbage
brussel sprouts
any other veggie you like that grows UNDER the ground.
It is important to remember you need to be able to work the soil. If it is frozen solid as a rock, obviously you are not planting anything. Wait till March or whenever your soil is workable.
In April/May AFTER the last frost...
Tomatoes
Peppers
green beans
squash
eggplant
berries
cucumber
corn
pumpkin
watermelon
cantaloupe
or any other veggie that grows its fruit ABOVE ground. You can also do a second crop of lettuce if it is done with its first round, and you can plant a bumper crop of peas and beets too.
With all seeds, follow the instructions on the back of the packet except spacing. Ignore spacing. Yes, it is important. But you have a small amount of space and lots of things you want to eat and grow.
Arrangement:
This is where the layering comes into play.
Start with the back of the bed in Feb/March
Peas first. One row along the back, a second row alternating where the first seeds lie about 2-3" from them. Onions. As they grow, the vines wrap around the stalks and are supported. Plant as close to the peas as possible. They grow under, peas grow above. Next, radish, carrot, beets, etc. Make rows about half as close as packet says. Stay a minimum of 4-5 inches though. Sprinkle seeds in furrows you make with your finger. With beets, space them out about 1-2 inches apart. Sprinkle leafy greens (lettuce etc) on top in between rows.
Wait and grow your stuff. You will pull/harvest most of the under the ground stuff minus maybe the onions by May.
Plant your tomatoes and other leafy veggies in the spaces left by the first crops. If you have a section completely harvested (radishes, beets) then use that space to plant your beans. If you are not doing a bumper crop of peas, plant in between the plants so by the time the beans are big enough to produce, the peas will be done and dying and you can yank them. Leave a few onions for next year, let them get big and dig them later. If you are planting vining stuff (eggplant, pumpkin, squash, cucumber, watermelon, cantaloupe etc), do so at the edges of the bed and teach the vines to come away from the bed itself, freely taking over your yard. If you plan on attempting to grow corn, put those toward the back between the bean seed. You can use pole beans and get them to vine up the corn stalks or if you need additional support, 2x2's and chicken wire across the back work well.
Care:
Water daily if it does not rain. Fertilize with superphosphate, kelp meal, fish emulsion or any other naturally occurring substance. No chemicals. Chemicals are bad.
We will go over bug issues in another post, 'cause this one is getting really long.
So the long and short of it is, plant all your favorite things that grow under the ground first, grow above the ground next and sturdy stalks use as support for vines like peas and beans, spreading vines ont he edge to take over the yard. In your new 3' by 8' space, there is enough to feed a family of 3. Trust me, I did, with very little purchased from the store and some large amounts (tomatoes) shared with the neighbors.
Enjoy your fresh, organically grown veggies. In the city. Of course.
If you want something super long lasting, invest in cedar. I'm poor. I used untreated pine.
Make sure the area is flat-ish. It does not have to be perfect, but you want the timbers to be more or less level. If you wait until the ground is moist, building the frame then jumping up and down on it makes it sink and level, if you do it in key places.
Building the frame. Besides the timbers you will need metal corners. Make no difference if they are inside or outside corners. Inside, you get just pretty wood to look at, outside, it's interrupted by metal.
If you feel artistic, you could paint the outside of your bed in a mural or something fun. Or give the kids paint brushed and paint and say go for it. Put some polyurethane on it though so it sticks around for awhile. No worries. Poly is used for all kinds of surfaces we eat on.
Once the bed is built and stomped on, fill with soil. If you look in the paper or on craigslist, a lot of times you will find free fill dirt. It's not perfect, but it works and is cheap. Use buckets, a truck or find a neighbor with a truck. SUV's are good too, you can just line the back with trash bags taped together and over the seat and side panels to create a barrier.
For a non-raised bed, dig up a good amount of space. Remove any debris, big chunks of soil that you cannot squeeze and crumble, roots etc.
For both, add compost. I personally like mushroom compost and cotton boll compost. Yes, they stink, but they are wonderful for the soil. Mix about a 3 to 1 ratio. 3 parts soil to one part compost.
I'm lazy. For the 3' by 8' space I dumped 1 bag of cotton boll and 2 bags mushroom.
Whew! The hard part is done. Go sit down for a second and have a beer, 'cause beer makes it better and is super good for keeping hydrated. Water works too. Lemonade? Ice tea?
So now that you have rested for a second, go to the store. Make sure you are still covered in dirt and sweat to make it look like you were truly working hard. You look more like an official gardner that way.
Heck, go barefoot. Then you'll look like you live on a farm and know what your doing! And of course, you will because I'm gonna tell you!
Starting in February (in most parts of the U.S.) plant from seed....
Peas
onions
carrots
lettuce or other greens
beets
radishes
potatoes
garlic
Broccoli
cauliflower
cabbage
brussel sprouts
any other veggie you like that grows UNDER the ground.
It is important to remember you need to be able to work the soil. If it is frozen solid as a rock, obviously you are not planting anything. Wait till March or whenever your soil is workable.
In April/May AFTER the last frost...
Tomatoes
Peppers
green beans
squash
eggplant
berries
cucumber
corn
pumpkin
watermelon
cantaloupe
or any other veggie that grows its fruit ABOVE ground. You can also do a second crop of lettuce if it is done with its first round, and you can plant a bumper crop of peas and beets too.
With all seeds, follow the instructions on the back of the packet except spacing. Ignore spacing. Yes, it is important. But you have a small amount of space and lots of things you want to eat and grow.
Arrangement:
This is where the layering comes into play.
Start with the back of the bed in Feb/March
Peas first. One row along the back, a second row alternating where the first seeds lie about 2-3" from them. Onions. As they grow, the vines wrap around the stalks and are supported. Plant as close to the peas as possible. They grow under, peas grow above. Next, radish, carrot, beets, etc. Make rows about half as close as packet says. Stay a minimum of 4-5 inches though. Sprinkle seeds in furrows you make with your finger. With beets, space them out about 1-2 inches apart. Sprinkle leafy greens (lettuce etc) on top in between rows.
Wait and grow your stuff. You will pull/harvest most of the under the ground stuff minus maybe the onions by May.
Plant your tomatoes and other leafy veggies in the spaces left by the first crops. If you have a section completely harvested (radishes, beets) then use that space to plant your beans. If you are not doing a bumper crop of peas, plant in between the plants so by the time the beans are big enough to produce, the peas will be done and dying and you can yank them. Leave a few onions for next year, let them get big and dig them later. If you are planting vining stuff (eggplant, pumpkin, squash, cucumber, watermelon, cantaloupe etc), do so at the edges of the bed and teach the vines to come away from the bed itself, freely taking over your yard. If you plan on attempting to grow corn, put those toward the back between the bean seed. You can use pole beans and get them to vine up the corn stalks or if you need additional support, 2x2's and chicken wire across the back work well.
Care:
Water daily if it does not rain. Fertilize with superphosphate, kelp meal, fish emulsion or any other naturally occurring substance. No chemicals. Chemicals are bad.
We will go over bug issues in another post, 'cause this one is getting really long.
So the long and short of it is, plant all your favorite things that grow under the ground first, grow above the ground next and sturdy stalks use as support for vines like peas and beans, spreading vines ont he edge to take over the yard. In your new 3' by 8' space, there is enough to feed a family of 3. Trust me, I did, with very little purchased from the store and some large amounts (tomatoes) shared with the neighbors.
Enjoy your fresh, organically grown veggies. In the city. Of course.
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