Thursday, January 16, 2025

Urban Gardening Techniques

By Tim Gamble
     Between Shadows and Light.

Urban gardening has become increasingly popular as people seek to grow their own food in limited spaces, enhance local biodiversity, and connect with nature in the Big City and other urban environments. Here are several techniques useful for urban gardening:

1. Small Plot Gardening - If you are lucky enough to have a small lawn, even less than a quarter of an acre, then you can use small plot gardening techniques to grow a surprising amount of you r own food. Check out my article from 2024 on Small Plot Gardening, which gives 16 practical tips. , I also recommend the books Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre (Amazon link) and The Mini Farming Bible: The Complete Guide to Self-Sufficiency on ¼ Acre (Amazon link), both by Brett Markham. You will be shocked by how much food you can grow even in a small backyard! Techniques like lasagna gardening, raised-bed gardening, and square-foot gardening fall under this category.

2. Container Gardening - A lot food can be successfully grown in pots, buckets, and other containers, including all herbs, all lettuce varieties, all greens (spinach, collards, turnip, mustard, etc.), tomatoes (both regular size and the mini ones), carrots, beets, peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, squash, and zucchini. Even some dwarf fruit trees can be grown in containers. The only drawbacks are that container gardens need more frequent watering than regular gardens, and plant size may be limited by the size of the containers you are using. You don't need actual land to grow a container garden, as they can be grown on patios, balconies, windowsills, or even indoors with the use of grow lights (Amazon link).

3. Guerilla Gardening - Have a strict HOA? If your home owners association doesn't allow gardening, your best option is probably to move the hell away from there. Why are willingly giving other people control over your life and paying them for it?!? Your next best option is to hide your garden with guerilla gardening. Survival Lily did a great video "10 Best Survival Crops for Guerilla Gardening!" (YouTube link) giving some great food crops that can be "hidden" amongst your normal landscaping and flower beds, keeping them out of sight of nosy neighbors. To her suggestions, I would add that most loose-leaf lettuces, spinach, and herbs can be similarly incorporated into your flower beds without drawing too much notice. Finally, you can hide your garden indoors or on your back patio with container gardening.

4. Microgreens and Sprouts - Growing microgreens and sprouts indoors has become quite the urban trend in recent years. Microgreens and sprouts are fast-growing, can be done year-round, and are highly nutritious. Microgreens need light (Amazon link), but sprouts can grow in darkness. Use shallow soil for microgreens or just jars for sprouts. Search YouTube for videos demonstrating growing microgreens and sprouts. You can also buy microgreen growing kits (Amazon link).

5. Consider joining a community garden. Community gardens are plots of land that are gardened collectively by a group of people. Each person or family may be assigned a particular plot within the larger piece of land, or the whole garden may be worked collectively. Rules vary. You can find more information and locations of community gardens in your area on the American Community Gardening Association website (website link).

6. Start your own community garden! If there is not a community garden in your area, forming one would make a perfect project for your church, synagogue, YMCA, scout troop, or other civic organization. The idea of community gardens became popular with the push for "Victory Gardens" during WWI, the Great Depression, and WWII, then fell out of favor. It is time to bring back that concept in a big way.

7. Vertical Gardening - Vertical gardening is simply utilizing vertical space by growing up rather than out. This technique maximizes space and is ideal for small areas like walls or fences. Examples include using trellises and lattices for climbing plants like beans or cucumbers, hanging baskets for herbs or even tomatoes, and wall planters (Amazon link) for all sorts of plants. Check out the Association of Vertical Farming (website link) for more information.

8. Rooftop Gardening - As the name indicates, rooftop gardening is gardening on flat or slightly sloped rooftops, such as on apartment buildings, as well as warehouses and other commercial buildings. If you don't own the building, you will probably need to get permission first. Ensure that the roof can support the weight of soil, plants, and water, and protect the building with proper membranes. Rooftop gardening has become popular in recent years. Find out more by searching "Rooftop Gardening" in YouTube.

Urban gardening not only provides fresh food but also offers psychological benefits, community building, and environmental advantages like air purification and habitat creation for urban wildlife. Tailor these techniques to your space, resources, and local climate for the best results.

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Ad:  Plant Science for Gardeners: Essentials for Growing Better Plants (Amazon link) - Excellent book for serious gardeners (or those that want to be). 


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