Urban Gardening is great for the environment and your health, it’s also a soothing hobby. Once everything’s setup you’ll be saving on groceries and enjoying improved health. What follows is a basic guide to help you jump in!
Step 1. Preparing Your Garden
If you have a pre-existing gardening area we suggest you approach it as though it may be contaminated. Paint that has peeled off nearby houses, engine exhaust, pesticides, and all kinds of other nasty things can work their way into soil over time, polluting the ground. In order to counteract these effects, it’s best to dilute the soil you have by adding some good stuff: compost, grass clippings, aged manure, shredded leaves, etc.
An alternative method to in ground is raised bed gardening. This approach lets you create a soil environment from scratch, controlling each and every ingredient that goes into it. It also tends to keep the soil warmer which supports many types of plants. These can be built from scrap material you may already have laying around the house like lumber, brick, or concrete blocks. Be creative. The end result is a box, so we’re not talking about rocket science here and it doesn’t have to be perfect. Our only suggestion is that the sides of your raised garden should be about 8 to 12 inches above the ground around it.
A third option, for those of you with really limited space could be to set up what is called a “container garden”. These consist of large flower pots, buckets with drainage holes in the bottom, or planter boxes. Don’t feel limited by style here, literally anything can become a planter: used tires, old plastic swimming pools, milk jugs, pop bottles… If you don’t mind looking a little cluttered you can really cut down on costs here by recycling old buckets. You get the picture. Just make sure you add some drainage holes to the bottom and place them in some sort of catch dish to hold any remaining water. And remember that 8 to 12 inches is the optimal depth for the root growth of most plants.
Advice from Mike Lieberman (Blogger and Urban Gardening Enthusiast): Just get started. Do something. Don’t wait for the perfect time, place or conditions because they don’t exist. Now is the perfect time, so get started.
Tip: You can purchase amazing, inexpensive, 100% recycled garden pots from Seeds of Change.
Step 2. Choosing Your Dirt
Potting soil mixed with organics (compost, shredded leaves, grass clippings, etc) is usually a good starting point. Whether this is mixed in with existing dirt in your garden area or used to fill recycled containers depends on your situation. If you are using a container, however, leave about an inch of room between the dirt and the rim of your planter.
Tip: Starting your own compost is easy, great for the environment, and will really help your plants to flourish.
Step 3. Choosing Your Plants
If you are short on outdoor space, there are some great plants that grow indoors like culinary herbs (rosemary, cilantro, basil, parsley and chives), arugula, tomatoes, peppers, bush beans, and lettuce. You’ll just need to place them on windowsills or other areas of your home that receive ample sunlight.
Tip: Grow lights can be an invaluable asset if your space doesn’t get a lot of natural lights but don’t let them run up the electric bill. Watch out for cold nights and cover your plants to keep them alive.
Step 4. Planting Your Vegetation
When you’re choosing seeds you have a tonne of options. Almost every vegetable can be grown in a container, which means they can all definitely be grown in a garden area. Tomatoes, lettuce, broccoli, carrots, you’re imagination is the only limit here. Most seed packets come with specific details like optimum sun exposure, watering directions, etc. so we will spare you the specifics. Regardless, seeds should be planted roughly a half inch below the surface. And if you just can’t wait for a seed to sprout, you can always head over to a nursery and pick up some plants to re-plant into your own space.
Ask around for what types of plants work in your area of the world, keep an eye on the weather patters and be sure to plant during the right season (or start indoors at a smaller scale first).
Tip: If you are really tight on space, remember that different kinds of herbs can be grown in the same container. They get along really well.
Step 5. Watering Your Plants
Do the planet a favour and skip the sprinklers, they are wasteful and can be quite expensive. Instead, it’s best to water your plants by hand with a recycled milk jug or watering can. In addition, a layer of mulch placed around the plants will help keep the soil hydrated.
Tip: Over-watering is the fastest and most common way to kill your plants. Avoid this by letting the soil dry our before you take out the water again.
Step 6. Protecting Your Garden
A fence is a very effective way to protect your garden from both human and mammalian intruders. For the latter, extending the fence 6 inches into the ground and reinforcing it with wire mesh will ensure that critters won’t be able to dig their way in.
Tip: Thorny bushes or hedges can make really great natural fences if you aren’t a fan of man-made ones.
If you need some more inspiration and something pretty to look at, check out urbanhomestead.org. It’s a website that chronicles the homestead of the Dervaes family. They grow enough food to sustain themselves and are able to sell the leftovers to local restaurants. It’s more than plants though, they’ve got chickens, goats, ducks, and even bees. Oh, and they brew their own biodiesel! How’s that for inspiration…
Want to take your self-sufficiency one step further? Learn how to raise chickens in your own urban space, many cities allow for them and eggs are a great source of protein. Chickens also keep harmful bugs away from your plants. Pair that with a garden and you’ve got two food groups taken care of.
