Urban Gardening: You Can Grow Food, No Matter Where You Live Posted on Nov 30, 2010 in DIY Projects, Urban Gardening, Farming & Homesteading
Gardening is regaining popularity as a pastime for all types of people across the world, with gardens popping up in the most unexpected places. While the traditional image of a garden may not exactly fit into the reality of most urban environments, the fact is you can grow your own food whether you live on a rural farm or in a tiny Manhattan apartment. Urban gardening is all about using space wisely to regain a closer connection with your food and beautify your home or neighborhood. There are a handful of different types of urban gardens, and the ones we’re going to focus on here are indoor gardening, container gardening, community gardening and guerilla gardening. Perhaps you’ve got a tiny townhouse yard, a balcony, a south-facing window – or perhaps you live in a basement apartment that won’t support anything but mold. You can still grow enough of your own food to save a considerable amount of money and enjoy the freshest, healthiest produce possible. Container gardening allows urban residents with small yards, patios or balconies to grow practically any plants in practically any container that will hold soil. One of the most fun parts of growing food in containers is that you can get incredibly creative with coming up with new uses for old junk. Wine barrels, used tires, feed sacks, kiddie pools, buckets, leaky watering cans and even shoes are among the items intrepid container gardeners use – and that’s just the beginning. Raised beds make a great alternative to containers and allow you to grow a lot more. Like containers, they can be placed on hard surfaces like concrete slabs or rooftops and are great for smallish spaces or yards where the soil quality isn’t so great. Raised beds are freestanding structures typically made from wood, stone or concrete that are filled with soil and compost. Most often, they’re constructed of planks of wood screwed or nailed together in sizes typically ranging from 3’ x 8’ to 5’ x 20’ and are between 8” to 3 feet in height. They keep soil warmer, provide better drainage and require less maintenance than traditional gardens.
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Beginners and experienced urban gardeners alike will also enjoy FreedomGardens.org, an online social community of gardening enthusiasts “digging their way to a free and secure food future”. Okay, so growing pumpkins, corn or zucchini indoors probably isn’t all that feasible. But, any window that gets at least 6 to 8 hours of sunlight a day can support leaf crops like lettuce, endive and arugula as well as small-crop tomatoes, peppers, root crops and even bush beans. Growing vegetables indoors requires different soil requirements, watering, pollination, and pest control techniques than doing so outdoors. You must also consider things like air circulation and ambient temperature. You may need supplemental lighting – cheap shop lights from the hardware store work just as well as expensive grow lights. If you’re a total novice and growing veggies in your kitchen window seems intimidating, try herbs first. Chives, basil, parsley, oregano, cilantro, peppermint and rosemary are among the herbs that do well indoors and they’ll add lots of fresh, pesticide-free flavor to your meals.
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