Urban-style organic gardening blog about growing your own food with limited space and creative resources.
Two London supermarkets are supporting the production of safe, healthy food by sourcing food locally, or growing it themselves. Jennifer Glasse reports from the British capital about the latest efforts in food sustainability, a term often associated with the developing world.
Growing your own food is exciting, not only because you get to see things grow from nothing into ready-to-eat fruits and veggies, but you also don’t have to worry about the pesticides they might contain, and you definitely cut down on the miles they—and you—have to travel.
If you’re up to the challenge—and it really isn’t much of one—growing your own food can be so rewarding. And so much cheaper! Just be sure to choose the right planter or container, learn how to maintain it properly, and go find yourself some seeds! (Or starter plants.)
Here’s a starter list of all the crazy things even urban gardeners, without space for a garden, can grow at home.
1. Apples can be grown in a container; you can also grow them on the balcony or other small space using a technique called espaliering.
2. Kumquats
3. Avocados (plenty of extra tips online if you search)
4. Blackberries
5. Blueberries (sometimes helpful videos are available online)
6. Pomegranate
7. Cherries
8. Figs
9. Pears
10. Dwarf oranges
11. Grapefruit
12. Tangerines
13. Meyer lemons
14. Limes
15. Bananas (look for container gardening tips online)
16. Pineapple
17. Papaya
18. Guavas (several varieties)
19. Hops—yes, as in the ”spice” ingredient in beer. Turns out they’re easy to grow!
20. Aloe Vera
21. Strawberries
22. Tea (well, herbal tea)
23. Quinoa!
24. Tomatoes
25. Summer squash
26. Other squashes, like acorn and pumpkin
27. Hot Peppers
28. Sweet peppers
29. Cucumbers
30. Small cantaloupe
31. Jenny Lind melon (an heirloom cantaloupe)
32. Golden Midget Watermelon
33. Basil
34. Oregano
35. Parsley
36. Rosemary
37. Chives
38. Catnip
39. Thyme
40. Sage
41. Parsley
42. Kale
43. Mesclun greens
44. Spinach
45. Swiss chard
46. Lettuces (plenty of options there, from micro-greens to head or loose-leaf)
47. Mustard greens
48. Collard greens
49. Arugula
50. Carrots
51. Beets
52. Potatoes
53. Sprouts
54. More sprouts: mung bean and lentil sprouts
55. Wheatgrass
56. Kohlrabi
57. Turnips
58. Rutabagas
59. Celeriac
60. Parsnips
61. Jerusalem Artichoke
62. Sugar snap peas
63. Rhubarb (not ideal in a container, but it can work)
64. Mushrooms (again, more tips online if you look)
65. Pole Beans
66. Aaaand… asparagus, although some disagree that it does well in a container. Try it if you’re ok with a risk!
Source: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/sixtysixthings-growhome-containers-withoutgarden.html
It’s obvious Ann Forsthoefel of “Aqua Annie” is excited by aquaponics, the growing of plants fed by nutrients from fish, which in turn provide a source of food when they reach maturity. “There are so few inputs compared to growing crops in the soil,” she said. With her gardens, she’s constantly building up the soil that is depleted at the end of each growing season. The beauty of aquaponics, she said, is that there isn’t that constant work because the fish are giving nutrients to the plants. Read her full post on Cooking Up a Story: http://cookingupastory.com/aquaponics
by Abby Quillen of CustomMade.comWhen the latest salmonella or e-coli outbreak dominates the headlines, it’s comforting to know exactly where your food comes from and how it’s raised. And because vitamin content is depleted by light, temperature, and time, freshly picked produce grown near your house is more nutritious than conventional produce, which is transported an average of 1,494 miles before it reaches the grocery store.
An even more delicious reason to celebrate homegrown food is the flavor. Gourmet chefs use the freshest ingredients they can find for a reason. The first time I cooked one of the eggs laid by our hens, I couldn’t believe how large and yellow the yolk was or how delectable it tasted. And it’s easy to appreciate novelist Barbara Kingsolver’s zeal for sun-ripened garden tomatoes. “The first tomato brings me to my knees,” she writes. “Its vital stats are recorded in my journal with the care of a birth announcement.”
When I started gardening and making more things around the house and yard, I noticed a side effect: I felt better. It’s not surprising. Digging the dandelions out of a raised bed, brewing an India Pale Ale, and peeling potatoes fall in line with the sort of daily activities most important for maintaining a healthy body weight, according to research conducted by Dr. James Levine at the Mayo Clinic. In Levine’s study, people were fed an extra thousand calories a day. Those who did the most daily non-exercise activity (as opposed to deliberate exercise for fitness) gained the least weight.
Growing up in Colorado, I was fortunate to spend a lot of time hiking and camping. Gardening has given me an even more intimate connection with the natural world, since now I must work with it as a co-creator. And it has given my two young sons a wonderful relationship with plants and seasonal rhythms. They love the garden and beg to help plant seeds, pull weeds, and harvest. Every time one of them asks me if it’s pea or fig season yet, or recognizes an edible plant in someone’s yard, I smile. Those may seem like simple things, but for me as a kid, produce was something that was shipped across the country and delivered to a refrigerated section of the grocery store.
It’s no coincidence the urban homesteading boom coincided with a worldwide economic recession. If you build your soil, save seeds, and tend your garden well, you can save hundreds of dollars on organic produce each season by growing your own. Keeping chickens can also save you money. We estimate that our eggs cost $3.35 a dozen (in organic chicken feed) at the most, compared to $5 to $7 for similar eggs at the health food store. However, we were lucky to inherit our chicken coop, so others may have to include that expense as well.
Cooking from scratch saves us the most money. It’s not just that making stock, microbrews, and bread products from bulk ingredients is cheaper than buying them. As we’ve become better chefs, we’re also not as apt to go to restaurants, which used to be a huge drain on our finances.
In the memoir Paradise Lot, Eric Toensmeier and Jonathan Bates recount how they transformed their backyard—one-tenth of an acre of compacted soil in Holyoke, Massachusetts—into a permaculture oasis where they grow about 160 edible perennials. What was once a barren lot is now habitat for fish, snails, frogs, salamanders, raccoons, opossums, woodchucks, bugs, and worms. “Imagine what would happen,” Toensmeier writes, “if we as a species paid similar attention to all the degraded and abandoned lands of the world.”
Most of us don’t have the skills or desire to garden on the scale that Toensmeier and Bates do. But by planting a few vegetables, herbs, or fruit trees, we create habitats for birds, butterflies, and pollinators. And by composting kitchen waste, chicken manure, and fallen leaves, we improve the ecosystem that supports all life.
Author Matthew Crawford traded his job at a Washington think tank for a career fixing motorcycles because working with his hands made him feel more alive. “Seeing a motorcycle about to leave my shop under its own power, several days after arriving in the back of a pickup truck, I don’t feel tired even though I’ve been standing on a concrete floor all day,” Crawford writes.
We’ve all experienced the thrill that comes from making or fixing something. In her book Lifting Depression, neuroscientist Dr. Kelly Lambert explains that association. “When we knit a sweater, prepare a meal, or simply repair a lamp, we’re actually bathing our brain in ‘feel-good’ chemicals,” she explains. Lambert contends that in our drive to do less physical work to acquire what we want and need, we may have lost something vital to our mental well-being—an innate resistance to depression.
I can attest to what Lambert says. Almost nothing is as satisfying as appraising a finished scarf or jar of sauerkraut, or cutting the first slice off a loaf of homemade bread. I have no doubt that creating something with my hands every day—even a meal—is imperative for my mental health.
These days, before we buy something impulsively, my husband and I are more likely to ask ourselves some simple questions. Can we make, fix, or do this ourselves, and is it worth the time and energy? Sometimes the answer is no. For me, canning and making clothing are not worth the effort. But just asking these questions makes our family more intentional about how we live and work, and what we buy.
As a society, we’re often encouraged to make decisions based on two variables: time and labor. When it comes to household tasks, it’s usually seen as preferable to save both time and labor. While making a stew will take longer and require more physical work than buying a can, the process is enjoyable and good for the body. In addition, the homemade variety is healthier, tastes better, and brings greater satisfaction. Equations look different when you add in all of the variables.
I hardly think of my family as urban homesteaders anymore, because the parts of the lifestyle that once seemed foreign and daunting, such as gardening, composting, and cooking from scratch, are now routine. They help us stay connected and make our lives feel richer. It’s powerful to produce some of what we need to survive, especially food.
7 Reasons to Join the Urban Homesteading Revolution
Infographic by CustomMade
Source: http://themetapicture.com
Images: imgur
So WHY did I quit my job? It certainly wasn’t an easy decision. I had spent just over a decades worth of my time engulfed into my career. I owned a small business and cherished the relationships I had built because of my job so leaving and closing the doors forever seemed a bit robust at first. It was something I had been thinking about for a while, but then all of a sudden it just came to me and an overwhelming sense of peace came over me and I knew that “my calling” was to be home.
So if “my calling” was to be at home, and to pour everything I had into being a full time “mommy-homesteader”, was it going to work? Where would I struggle? How would I make the transition from career woman to living my life full-time on our urban farm? Would I eventually give up my shoe collection all together and find myself wearing my hair in a bun everyday? What was going to become of the person I had been for the last 10 years? All of these were questions that I had and have since learned the answer too.
My Kids.
Obviously, this is one of the biggest perks of quitting my job and becoming a full-time homesteader. Being able to devote more of my time and energy to them has been better for all of us. I feel like a better mother, and better caretaker. I am truly INVESTED in my children. From the moment they wake up in the day, until everyone gets tucked in, I am there. I find myself having more patience. I truly have been able to slow down to enjoy every moment with them though-out the day.
Homeschooling.
Homeschooling has become very important to me over the last few years as I’ve been more and more concerned with the problems of our broken school system. I feel at peace knowing that I’ll be able to homeschool my youngest daughter now that I am a full-time stay at home mom. I feel privileged to be able to teach my daughter in a way that I know will suit her best, and she’ll be in a safe and loving environment without the struggles that come along with being in a public school. With a “faith-based” curriculum, I’m confident I can teach our daughter all that I can about how this world works and give her the basic tools to start creating a wonderful life for herself.
Saving $.
I’m not kidding, I actually SAVE money by not going to work everyday. That $5 latte on my morning drive to work, the constant refilling of the gas tank, not having to buy new shoes and work apparel constantly…it all adds up. No buying lunch while I’m work….Not to mention the money I’ve saved on rent/ utilities/ and overhead costs associated with the small business I owned.
Better Health.
Staying at home during the day to tend to my home, garden, and farm chores has been good for my health. When I stopped feeling like I had an obligation to be somewhere all of the time, I began to learn to focus my day around things that were important to me. Things like cooking, cleaning, making a home, tending to our chickens and goats during the day, talking to my plants, teaching my children different aspects of running a homestead, exercising, and preparing healthy meals for my family. I learned to slow down, and just enjoy the day as it came to me. I learned to prioritize what was truly important and what was best for my family. Less stress makes for a better day and when you cut out the demands of a job away from home, it’s nothing but natural to feel as if a weight has been lifted off of your shoulders. It’s so relaxing to be able to take a deep breathe and just enjoy your surroundings, your home, your garden, your family.
Quality of Life.
I’d say not only has my quality of life gone up, but so has the lives of my family members. Because I am less stressed and more focused on goals and priorities I have within my home, everyone wins. I’ve become more spiritual, and happier because of my decision to stay home and truly devote my time to this family and our homestead. More gets accomplished around here now, which brings along an incredible amount of self-satisfaction. At the end of the day, being home has made me a happier, healthier, and more spiritual person.
Read the rest of the article here: http://www.themoreonesows.com/2014/10/why-i-quite-my-job-to-be-full-time.html
“An obese mother-of-two who lives on benefits says she needs more of taxpayers’ money to overhaul her unhealthy lifestyle. Christina Briggs, 26, says she hates being 160 kilos but she can’t do anything about it because she can only afford junk food. Meanwhile, exercise is out of the question because she doesn’t have the funds to join a gym.”
Unemployed Christina gets £20,000 in benefits a year and lives in a council house with her two children by different fathers, Helena, 10, and Robert, two.
She left school as a teenager after falling pregnant with her daughter following a one night stand.
The family feast everyday on takeaways, chocolate and crisps as Christina says they can’t afford low fat foods. As a result, the mother is currently a dress size 26.
She has been warned by her GP that her health is in danger because of her size – medical complications relating to obesity include heart disease and diabetes.
Christina is desperate not to leave her two children without a mother and doesn’t want her size to take her to an early grave.
But she insists ‘it’s not my fault – healthy food is too expensive’.
She feels her only hope is for the government to give her more money so she can afford to buy fruit and vegetables and join a gym.
She also believes she should be paid to lose weight as that would give her the motivation to fight the flab.
She told the magazine: ‘I need more benefits to eat healthily and exercise. It would be good if the government offered a cash incentive for me to lose weight. I’d like to get £1 for every pound I lose, or healthy food vouchers.
‘If the price of healthy food was lowered that would help, too. I need help, but I need it from the government.’
She added that she can’t get a job to gain more money because she’s needed at home to care for her children, especially as her daughter has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and issues with her kidneys.
She explained: ‘There’s no way I could get a job. I don’t feel bad about the taxpayer funding my life and my child’s medical problems, because I don’t treat myself or buy anything excessive. I just get enough money to live on – the taxpayers should help fund my diet.’
Is she too poor to be healthy? Comment below.
From AvantGardens
“Compost is a mixture that consists largely of decayed organic matter and is used for fertilizing and conditioning land. Home composting reduces the need for water, fertilizers, and pesticides and encourages a higher yield in crops. Consisting of nutrient-rich brown and green material, compost creation is low-maintenance and can be done on both small and large scales.”
Creating your own compost will save you money and is easy to do! With compost starters like Ringer® Compost Plus available to help organically speed up the process, you can start reaping the benefits of your own compost in no time. Your plants and the environment will thank you.” – This infographic, brought to you by Avant Garden Decor, home of Gardener’s Blue Ribbon® vegetable gardening products, shares intriguing facts regarding home compost production and its benefits.
Not all light is the same by Michelle Moore
Plants respond differently to different colors of light. Light on either end of the spectrum, blue light or red light, have the greatest impact on photosynthesis.
Blue light, referred to as cool light, encourages compact bushy growth.
Red light, on the opposite end of the spectrum, triggers a hormone response which creates blooms.
Orange and reddish light typically produce substantial heat, however, some lights are able to produce full spectrum light without the heat.
Grow lights come in all shapes, sizes and price ranges.
As a general rule, inexpensive lights to purchase tend to be the most expensive to operate and the least effective. While price is not necessarily an indicator of performance, many of the efficient grow lights require ballasts as well as specialized fixtures.
Image of vegetable being grown indoors under artificial light is via fortikur.com.
Check out SeedsNow.com if you’re looking to grow organic vegetable and herbs from seed. They have a huge selection of seeds that grow well using indoor hydroponic systems!
Click here to read more about what GMOs are. It’s really easy for you to grow all kinds of vegetables, herbs, and sprouts inside. All year long! Invest in a grow light and you’ll be happy.
Your turn! Are you growing anything indoors? Which grow lights have you found to be most effective?
A bus in Chicago helps bring fresh produce to residents of “food deserts.” Sandra Endo reports.
This is the movie the food industry doesn’t want you to see. FED UP blows the lid off everything we thought we knew about food and weight loss, revealing a 30-year campaign by the food industry, aided by the U.S. government, to mislead and confuse the American public, resulting in one of the largest health epidemics in history. From Katie Couric, Laurie David (Oscar winning producer of AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH) and director Stephanie Soechtig, FED UP will change the way you eat forever.
See the film and then join the filmmakers in taking THE FED UP CHALLENGE. Join us in our cause and go sugar-free for 10 days. Get details and sign up for updates here:
http://fedupmovie.com/fedupchallenge/ Worth the watch.
“Grow 40 plants in 4 Sq. Ft. Find out how to make an organic, sustainable, cheap, easy, and efficient grow tower. I built this for $6 and will grow 40 plants in 4 square feet. With the power of vermicomposting, this is a self fertilizing, and semi-self watering system. Great for patio gardeners or People tight on space.” MIgardener
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 home, and an increasing number do so without the luxury of vast amounts of land. Food can be grown in just about anything, and all it takes is a little knowledge and effort. Even if you only have an apartment balcony, there are techniques that can help you produce your own impressive harvest, and this article looks at 5 different ways to grow food in a limited space.
Vertical Gardening
Vertical gardening has become fashionable lately with many interior designers including a ‘green wall’ in office buildings, and they are often used to cover the exterior of museums and galleries to create a ‘living art’ feature. However, their true appeal lies in their effectiveness for growing food, and they are perfect for patio gardens, balconies, or for anyone wishing to maximize their vertical garden space. Most large DIY stores sell container kits that can be attached to a trellis and then attached onto a wall, or you could even make your own containers using 2 litre plastic bottles or empty plastic pots. For those without an outside space, Windowfarms sell a hydroponic indoor vertical gardening kit that feeds and waters itself, and manufacturers claim it can grow everything from herbs to strawberries in just about any climate.
Square Foot Gardening
Square foot gardening found popularity in 1981 when gardener Mel Bartholomew demonstrated how to grow a substantial amount of food in a container or vegetable bed measuring just 4ft x 4ft, and his technique has been emulated in homes all over the world. Square foot gardening involves dividing the space into 16 different squares and planting different seeds in each space. As each crop is harvested a different plant takes its place, and the tallest plants such as tomatoes and leeks are situated at the back. In his book All New Square Foot Gardening, Bartholomew recommends a soil mixture of peat moss, vermiculite, and compost to yield best results, and regular rotation of crops will ensure fertile soil. This method is perfect for new gardeners as it is easy to maintain and needs only a few materials to start up.
Growing Food in Pallets
Shipping pallets can be recycled into just about anything, and an entire culture has evolved around creating spectacular pieces of furniture using pallets and other pieces of wood salvaged from shipping yards. Pallets also make excellent vegetable planters and are perfect for shallow root vegetables and succulents. Once filled with soil, the pallets can be layered on top of each other and different vegetables planted around the sides and along the top to maximize growing space. They are also ideal for vertical gardens and can easily be fixed to a wall or fence.
Growing Food in Containers
Container gardening is the most popular choice for balcony or patio gardeners, but you are not limited to the usual plastic tubs. Attach a wire from one end of your space to the other and hang baskets filled with cherry tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, and herbs to make the most out of your air space. For a quirky touch, search your local thrift stores for some large size men’s work boots and use them to plant herbs and small veggies, or take an old freestanding bathtub and fill it with carrots, spring onions, lettuce, and kale. Other items that can be recycled to use as growing containers include car tires, laundry baskets, tin cans, and casserole dishes. Container gardens are perfect for those who live in cooler climates as they can easily be brought inside when the winter frosts arrive.
Growing Food Indoors
Even those without an outdoor space can grow their own organic… READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE: http://www.jbbardot.com/5-ways-to-grow-organic-food-in-small-spaces-for-preppers-survivalists-and-every-day-folks/
This is a collection of images we’ve found floating around the Urban Organic Gardener facebook page. Hopefully this will give you some motivation to transform your yards into something like this.
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Grow your own food! Everywhere!
Urban Gardening Masterpiece! Photo Credit: crustyroll35
The strangest posts wind up causing some controversy.
It doesn’t make sense to me.
When I wrote about why having an emergency seed bank is important, I didn’t quite get the reaction that I’d expect.
I received emails, Facebook comments and Tweets saying that I couldn’t be more wrong about storing the seeds and that freezing them was a horrible idea.
I’ll admit that I have never frozen seeds before and then used them. It is a recommendation that I’ve seen countless time before.
So I did a bit of research and here’s some excerpts from sites:
Last year we planted a variety of different seeds that we had put in the freezer over 10 years ago and forgotten about and they came up just fine. They were just in ziplock bags. — via Survivalist Boards
Seeds dried to a low moisture content with silica gel and then stored in a freezer can usually retain viability for many years. — via HowToSaveSeeds.com
Freezing seeds will put the embryo into suspended animation reducing its need to consume the sugars that are encased in the seed. This increases it’s storage life immensely… — via Ready Nutrition
The main takeaways that I got in my research were the following:
How do you store your seeds for the short or long-term?
All you have to do is click here and use the discount code URBAN10 to get 10% off.
Here is a simple trick to make you the boss of the picnic. Create a refreshing watermelon smoothie with essentially no mess in 2 minutes.
A 7-month time lapse documenting the first full growing season at the Brooklyn Grange’s farm in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. At 65,000 square feet, it’s the largest rooftop farm in the world.
Brooklyn Grange – A New York Growing Season from Christopher St. John on Vimeo.
For more info, check out brooklyngrangefarm.com
Shot and edited by Christopher St. John
A big thanks to Ratatat for the music!
Song: Montanita – itunes.apple.com/us/album/classics/id354003618
This post was found from SeedsNow.com BLOG
If you want to have vegetables to eat this fall, then you need to start planting in summertime. This might be your first time growing a fall garden, & these vegetables are a great place to start because they can all be grown in containers!
1. Radishes– The trick with growing perfect radishes, lays in the soil. Literally. Keep the moisture level of the soil close to that of a wrung out sponge. Don’t feel limited to growing common varieties like you’d find in the store. Try varieties like Japanese Minowase or Hailstone White radishes!
2. Kale– Kale is not only beautiful, but very tasty. It will look great growing in a container! Keep the soil evenly moist and stop watering after the first frost. You’ll be on your way to making healthy and delicious kale chips in no time! To keep with the theme of fall colors, try growing the Red Russian variety!
3. Bok Choy– Don’t let your soil get too soggy, and try staggering their plantings so you’ll have a new one to harvest every week or so. They love being fertilized every few weeks with an organic, time-released fertilizer. They take less than 60 days to mature, and are great sauteed! Get Bok Choy seeds here!
4. Bunching Onions– The great thing about growing scallions or bunching onions in containers is that they are actually a perennial plant and will come back year after year if you leave a few behind. When you’re planting your bunching onions, don’t fill the pot completely full. As they grow, add a little more soil on top of the onions. The more plant that is under the soil, the more “white part” of the onion you’ll have at harvest time.
5. Brussels Sprouts– Plant your Brussels Sprouts in a deep pot, and place in full sun. One plant can produce up to 100 sprouts which is more than enough for several meals. Start your harvest from the bottom of the plant up, as the ones closer to the ground will mature first. Harvest when they are just smaller than a golf ball! We recommend Long Island Catskill Brussels!
Planters and urban gardening tools at Kennedy Greenway in central Boston, the site of the Occupy Boston encampment!