Start with what’s around you.
Living in a city can often feel crowded, stressful and unhealthy. Sometimes we crave the escape of a nearby garden. Patrick Crouch, program manager of Earthworks Urban Farm in Detroit, says a garden can be as close as your balcony. “I don’t want to hear your excuses about how you don’t have any land — you can still grow something,” he says. “I start my plants and they’re in egg cartons I get from the recycling bin. You don’t need to buy a lot of fancy things.” Look around your home and get creative with these cost-saving methods.
Try low-maintenance fungi and plants.
Don’t go overboard. Growing your own food takes time, and you learn as you go. Crouch suggests starting with mushrooms, which many gardeners overlook. “You don’t even need [sun]. They’re full of protein and grow on waste,” he says, explaining that even throwing your used coffee grounds in the pot can help the fungi sprout. For beginner growers, he also recommends bean sprouts, which can be grown in jars, and garlic greens for salads that can be easily started by placing leftover cloves in a pot.
Use space-saving methods.
Afraid your downtown front yard isn’t big enough? As long as you have 1 square foot, you can grow food. The trendy square-foot-gardening method of urban growing helps city dwellers make the most out of their limited living space. All you need is a 4 foot by 4 foot box, planting soil and seeds. These raised beds can then be divided into a grid and house up to 16 plants per square. The Square Foot Gardening Foundation helps urban gardeners determine the best plants to maximize their harvest.
Grow vertically.
“Anybody who has a couple hours of sunlight, even on a windowsill, can be growing some food,” says Rachael Callahan, executive director of Common Good City Farm in the District of Columbia. “Vertical gardening is a very popular technique for urban growers.” By stacking planting containers, you can save enough space to grow all the common ingredients found in a salad, she adds. Callahan says herbs, strawberries, lettuce or any other vegetables with a short root system are great for vertical hangers on balconies, porches or even in your living room.
Experiment with new gardening technology.
No soil, no weeds, no problem. There are many evolving technologies in gardening that make it easier for residents in urban environments to grow their own food, says Greg Peterson, a faculty member at Arizona State University’s School of Sustainability and founder of urbanfarm.org. He offers tower gardening as an example: “It’s a hydroponic, aeroponic growing system that has a bucket of water at the bottom and a tower. You plant plants in the tower, and after it’s grown out, it’s like a Christmas tree.” Aeroponic systems do not use soil, he adds, and can be a simple way to grow food.
Make your own compost.
Slimy, squirmy worms are the key to easy and affordable composting in a small environment, Peterson says. Traditional hot composting requires at least 1 cubic yard of space — a luxury many city dwellers don’t have. To simplify, basic worm composting only requires a 5 gallon bucket with aeration holes, shredded newspapers, composting worms and food waste. So hang on to those carrot peels, eggshells and wilting lettuce leaves to create healthier soil.
Download a guide on your phone.
From how to keep chickens in a city to how to grow plants in close quarters, Peterson has published several guides for new growers. “Growing food is an art, one that is very easy to learn. We just need to know the rules as gardeners,” he says. Recently, Peterson developed an iOS compatible app called Urban Farming, so gardeners can download his guides.
Find inspiration.
Most urban cities have a community garden network. On the American Community Gardening Association website, you can search for gardens near you. But just look at surrounding green spaces the next time you go for a walk around the block. “You have to start by observing,” Peterson says. “You have to look around your neighborhood and see how people are being successful at it.”
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8 Ways to Start an Urban Garden originally appeared on usnews.com
