Original post can be found at: NPR.org Homegrown Harvest: Britta Riley and Rebecca Bray tend to Brooklyn’s first window farm. This form of urban agriculture is catching on in cities around the world, as downtown farmers go online to share techniques for growing greens indoors. If you have a green thumb, a window and a serious Do-It-Yourself ethic, you...
Source: citylab.com The roof garden on the Stack House Apartments in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood. (Michael Walmsley/Vulcan Real Estate) At the Stack House Apartments in Seattle’s now-trendy South Lake Union neighborhood, residents can walk out onto a terrace and pluck a tomato right off the vine. In the South Bronx, an 8,000-square-foot...
This post is originally from munchies.vice.com If you walked along the Manhattan side of the East River sometime in the last 100 years and cast your eyes across the water, you likely saw it: a grimy white building adorned with a big, yellow “Domino Sugar” sign—an emblem of another time. At the height of its success, the Williamsburg factory refined over half...
How would you quickly describe yourself to others? I am a wife and a step-mom who is a kind hearted, quick witted goofball with a goal of making everyday full of laughter! How did you get started with your blog/instagram page/etc? I had an instagram page for a while but I hardly ever used it. About a year ago I decided that I wanted to start a home garden in...
StarTribune article and images from December 17 by Kim Palmer Season-extending structures are helping some Minnesota gardeners defy winter. Even in late November, Dawn Pape’s newest garden was a welcome sight for winter-weary eyes. In her Shoreview yard, under a blanket of snow, is a polycarbonate-topped, 2- by 8-foot box — or “cold frame.” Brush aside the show, lift the lid, and inside was...
Just came across this post over at jbbardot.com I think everyone should read. You can read the full article here. With the constant onslaught of GMOs, pesticides, and chemicals making their way into the food supply, growing food in your home garden has become less of a hobby and more of a necessity. Many people have now begun to grow a large portion of the fruits and vegetables they consume at...
“Britta Riley wanted to grow her own food (in her tiny apartment). So she and her friends developed a system for growing plants in discarded plastic bottles — researching, testing and tweaking the system using social media, trying many variations at once and quickly arriving at the optimal system. Call it distributed DIY. And the results? Delicious.” –http://www.ted.com ...
Source: ResilientCommunities.com “We have spent a fair amount of time discussing vertical gardening techniques and how beneficial it can be for those with limited space or access to fertile land for gardening. It’s entirely possible to create enough food to feed a couple of people using this technique in a space as small as a one bedroom apartment and perhaps more importantly, vertical gardening...
Heather Chapin from our Facebook page writes, “I have a tiny apartment and I’ve managed to grow 30 tomato plants, 3 flats of lettuce, peppers, green beans, sugar snap peas, avacado, basil, rosemary, potatoes and many more plants in just my kitchen and living room using the light that comes from three windows. Didn’t even have a grow light until just recently and I’ve had fresh...
and how to use Self-Watering Containers Whenever you are apartment gardening, you should always think about how you’re going to water you plants efficiently. The best solution to apartment gardening is by using self-watering containers. You can make them using recycled materials, so they are inexpensive. They also work really well. Find out how to grow your...
This question comes up every single year: Q. It’s June, did I miss my opportunity to plant for spring? A. Well, it kinda depends. It depends on where you live, what you wanted to grow, and how quick the plant takes to actually grow. Next time, you might want to do some more prep work, but for the time-being there are actually a handful of things you can plant right now! You may have already...
She called her thumbs black. She said that the gardening gene skipped her generation. That’s what Megan Blevins was telling me on Twitter during the winter. We Tweeted back and forth about it and I assured her that her thumbs need not be green, but they just needed to be opposable. (Two things about that sentence. 1) I can’t believe that I wrote “We...
Let me know if this story sounds familiar to you… You became interested in growing your own food because you want to know where your food is coming from. You wanted to learn more, so you got a stack of books to read and spent hours researching on the internet. All you have to show now is a headache and feel completely overwhelmed. You don’t feel any closer to starting your garden than before all the research. I know it does because you have told me this. There is a better solution. I know this feeling too.. …because...
In 2012, the content focus has change… …and I would like to get your thoughts. As the header image of the site says, this site is about “Practical container gardening tips to grow your own food.” Which is why I want to make sure that that is what is provided for you – practical tips. It’s easy for me to know which ones are the most popular. I really want to know which ones are the most useful to you, so more of those can be created for you. This is going to be my last post for a few weeks. As you are...
You were all happy to start your herb garden. You picked out your location and determined how much sunlight it gets. Your happiness turned to sadness when you realized that you only get 3-4 hours of sun. Those dreams of an herb garden were dashed. At least you thought so. In that shaded space, you can still grow your herb garden. Common herbs that grow well in the shade There are a few dozen herbs...
You’ve scoped out your garden space… …and determined how much direct sunlight it gets. Your garden gets less than 6 hours and you feel hopeless. Sorry to break it to you, but that means you can’t grow tomatoes. Don’t worry there are other vegetables you can successfully grow in that space. Shade loving vegetables The following vegetables will do just well in containers and the shade: The following vegetables will grow in small/medium sized containers — and — they like being in the shade. –...
You’ve scouted out the location for your garden… Figured out how much sunlight your space gets… And have decided what you are going to grow. Now it’s time to finally get your seeds started and aren’t sure what to use. That’s why, I wanted to share 5 items that you can start your seeds in. Strawberry containers. If you are growing...
Which herbs should you start from seeds? You can experiment and find out on your own… …or you can read the rest of this post and save yourself the hassle. If you want to save time and energy, continue reading. Some herbs require too much of your time There definitely is something fun about starting from seed. You get to take care of the seedling and watch it grow until you finally use. Like a child of yours. No doubt on that. But there are some herbs that are too much work and require too much of your precious time to start...
I am fan of Local Blu and see that you are too! Local Blu has taught me about the importance of growing your own food. I’ve used what I’ve learned from Local Blu to help maximize the small space that I’m gardening in. And I’d like to help you do the same. So here are some ways you can get started learning how to grow some of your own food despite the lack of space: Subscribe to the Urban Organic Gardener Newsletter. See the form below? Enter your email address and to learn more about apartment vegetable gardening,...
I am fan of The Living Kitchen Wellness Group and see that you are too! Sarah and Tara have taught me that you need to understand your body and what you need to be eating. I use that same philosophy in my urban garden. I need to understand the conditions of the space to know what I can grow to maximize the small space without spending lots of time. And I’d like to help you do the same. So here are some ways you can get started learning how to grow some of your own food despite the lack of space: Subscribe to the Urban Organic Gardener...
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