I grew up in the mid-west. Lots and lots of flat, open never ending flat. We industrious human have cut down just about anything and replaced it with endless acres of corn, wheat, soy, and umm…corn, wheat and soy. I grew up with a father than had a personal farm of a quarter acre, goats, chickens, pigs etc. I have always loved growing things, especially things you can eat.
I have always wanted a garden of my very own, when I moved to Boston I faced a unique problem. I live in a tiny little apartment, my front yard is a road, my back yard…I don’t have a back yard. There was however a small, pathetic, and rocky square of soil tucked next to the paved street, and the concrete sidewalk. It was roughly a square yard (around a square meter). The soil was…not there. Even the weeds were having a hard time growing, it was full of rocks, and god knows what else (anyone ever change oil onto this soil, lead, mercury, who knows).
I didn’t give up, the first thing I did was go get some seeds. I started my seedlings months before it was nice enough to plant stuff outside. I laid out some shelves near a nice big bay window (who am I kidding, the ONLY window in my place), and kept them well watered. They were sitting on top of a big radiator, so that kept them warm during the cold cold night. They shot up like rockets. I planted green onions, zucchini, peppers, and tomatoes. The food I eat the most.
Once it got a little warmer out I took a hammer (I didn’t have any garden tools) to the soil to see what was under the surface. It wasn’t good, rocks, glass, and more rocks. Raised beds were my only hope. Down the street I found an abandoned wood pallet. The planks from that pallet made a nice little border to hold the dirt I purchased from the garden center. I was not comfortable eating food that grew in nasty soil so I put a good 7 inches of soil down on top of the nasty rocky soil. I have no idea if this will keep me safe from soil nasties, but if I wanted anything to grow I would need some better soil.
Once it got a bit nicer (no more frost danger) I took my tiny baby plants outside and gently planted them in my square yard. I immediately had a problem, too many plants, not enough space. How to solve my problem? I just planted them all right next to each other. I had no idea what that would do to my yields, but hey this was an experiment right?
To my great surprise not only did my plants like their new home, they started to grow like crazy! Eventually I was forced to “thin the flock” by plucking a few of the plants, they were shading each other out. For the most part, however, I was able to get away with a very very high density of planting.
A so it went, the tomatoes, and squash constantly were fighting over space. Next year I will be sure to have some sort of rack for the tomatoes to grow on, they grew up and over everything in there path. Surprisingly this did little to the other plants, they stubbornly grew up through any space not covered with tomato. The peppers and green onions especially seemed to like the slightly shadier environs.
And now as summer slowly fades into fall the best part of my little experiment has come to fruition. FRESH GARDEN PRODUCE EVERY FREAKING DAY! I come home every day to the MOST DELICIOUS tomatoes, peppers, squash and green onions. Seriously, the best tomato you have ever tasted at the store, is crap, compared to anything you grow yourself. Picking a ripe red tomato out of the warm sun, wash, sprinkle a little salt on it and prepare for a party in your mouth. Sooooo goooood.
I have made zucchini muffins, a bunch of dishes with the tomatoes, used the green onions to season a bunch of meals, and am going to make salsa from the peppers. I have started giving away tomatoes to friends. Like crack, once they have a taste they all come back for more. The best part about this garden is that the damn thing keeps pooping out food. I am going to get another couple pounds of tomatoes out of it, and a lot more peppers and green onions (the zucchini got some sort of fungus and dies this week, but not before kicking out a bunch of food).
This garden is so small that just about anyone could find this much space. I spent about 30 dollars on the whole thing, and have gotten about 10 pounds of squash, a bazzilion tomatoes, bunches of green onions, and a bushel of peppers. More than paying back my investment. I used no fertilizer, or pesticides. If you live in a concrete jungle, and have not even a small little square of land, you could do this same project in some large pots and get probably an even better yield.
This inspires me. I’ve seen so many people starting to grow food this year. Next year I’m going to join the flock and grow some… Thanks!
Everyone’s zuc’s were hit with something funky late in the season. There are some natural fungicides out there. Check at an Agway next year because you have to treat early (like when you bring the seedlings outside) to avoid problems in the summer.
Other suggestion is to use that fence to steak up your tomato plants.
If you’ve had any tomato disease, do not compost the bad tomatoes in your plot of land. The disease will come back next year (via the compost) and will get worse. You really don’t have any room for crop rotation, but you might want to do a little rotation, or soil amendment.
Thanks Rebecca! That’s some good advice for next year. I also came to the conclusion that the fence would be the tomato holder for next year, and yes I will be adding in some compost and new soil in, as you say its a very small patch, so I have to watch out for over use.
Thanks :)
You should try lemon cucumbers on that fence – they will climb readily the only downside is that they may block the sun.
Upon the cement blocks 5-gallon plastic buckets are especially good for vine-type crops such as cucumbers, beans, even tomatoes or a watermelon plant.
Drill a few holes to allow drainage out the bottom and do not over-water.
Well done. Has anyone else on your block picked up on what you are doing?
You could pack in a lot more, especially lettuce. The more packed in my veggies are, the less weeds I get.
Why didn’t you completely dig up the old rocky soil? I would have thought that any contaminants would leech from the old soil into your new topsoil.
We’ve found that clay pots, especially terracotta, have a tendency to crack and split, so tried out some different solution. This past year we ended up using some rubbermaid roughneck storage containers with great success. They can grouped to form a sort of modular garden, or stacked if you had space for some shelving, and seem to last forever. We even used a large container to grow potatoes!
my zucchini’s always get powdery mildew later in their life. So I just plant another Zucchinni bush not long after the last one has started to flower. that way we keep getting them for a longer season.
Props for zucchini muffins, perhaps the apex of human achievement.
what a great idea and inspiration for all those that don’t even try to grow anything citing their small garden.
maybe you could try and use some of that fence space by planting some chilli peppers in hanging baskets?? compact pepper varieties such as apache are perfect for growing in small containers.