Urban Gardening

             For those of you living in the heart of a city or living in an apartment on an upper floor you will need to be creative in your thinking about how to grow your own food. There are a few different options and it mostly depends on what fits your personality.

             First, a community garden is ideal. If you can find an abandoned lot and get permission to use it you can recruit other like minded neighbors and share in the bounty and the work. You can also find a person with a house and a yard that might be willing to allow you to farm on their property. This is often called yard sharing, you can talk to people you know or put a post on our website or other community forum to meet someone. Many elderly or busy people will be willing to allow the use of their property as part of their contribution. See our community garden section for more details.

             Another option is container gardening, you can grow many things in containers and create a virtual garden right on your patio and in your window sill. Even with our property I still keep several plants growing in my garden window year round. Mixed salad greens, basil, parsley are just a few that can be grown in smaller containers that can be kept on any window sill. Tomatoes, spinach, beans, peas, even cucumbers can be grown in containers. Even small animals, like meat rabbits can be kept indoors in cages for use as food. You can also compost see worms and composting for more information.

             The most important thing to keep in mind is that you have options. Even if all of this seems impractical for your situation you can still choose to support small local farmers and purchase food through your local CSA. Many CSAs will even deliver right to your door step or even your office. Also, if you have a local independent grocery store let them know you want locally grown organic food. Encourage your friends to let them know too, they are more at liberty to change their buying habits to meet their customer’s desires.

Just never give up, if you want to grow your own food, find a way. Email us your creative solutions.

A window garden is an option if you live in the city.

Self reliance in a concrete jungle

What are my options if I don’t have dirt?

The Suburban Home Farm

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