Garden Space
24 Aug 2010 1 Comment
in Gardening, Uncategorized Tags: Food, Gardening, Growing Food
One of the excuses that some people come up with for not gardening is that they think they dont have the space for it. You would be amazed at how much food can be grown in a small area. Not only can growing your own food save you some money, it can also be a great family project. Many children no longer know where food comes from, so it is a wonderful experience for them to grow a plant from seed and harvest their own food.
So if you live in town and have a postage stamp size yard, what do you do? Well first of all there is a movement of people gardening in their front yards. Why have a wide expanse of grass that you have to water and mow, and no one goes out to enjoy it or use it? There doesnt seem to be much point in all of that. So instead turn it into your Vegetable garden! That way you fill up the space with all kinds of beautiful green plants, you can feel good watering it because you will be getting something out of it, and you will have all kinds of fresh food to eat!
This photo is from here, which shows even more pictures of this productive front yard.
And another one here
Some people don’t even have a postage stamp sized yard, some of you live in apartments, or condos. So what do you do? Well some food can be raised in containers, but if you are looking for a bit more space than that, there are some new pages showing up online to connect people that have extra gardening space with those that are looking for space. This is a wonderful way to meet like minded people, and be able to grow some of your own food. A Few sites that I found along these lines are: http://www.urbangardenshare.org/ , http://hyperlocavore.ning.com/ , and http://www.sharingbackyards.com/ . Wouldnt this be a great way to teach your children where food comes from, and get them out in nature? Especially if you do live in an apartment/condo and they might not have a lot of outdoor space to go explore.
Ok, so now you have your space, what do you do with it? What is the most efficient use of your space? First of all you have to decide what types of foods you want to grow. They all require different amounts of space, and types of space. One method of gardening I have come across in my years of exploring is called ‘Square Foot Gardening’. Now I have not had the chance to try this out, but I would really love to try it some day! To learn a little more about it, you can visit their website at http://www.squarefootgardening.com/home . He has written a full book on his method and how to grow all different kinds of vegetables with it. There are endless methods to try out with gardening, and a lot of it is just personal preference. If you are new to gardening I would highly recomend going to your local library and checking out all kinds of books on the topic, and just get a feel for different ways of growing vegetables and start using the ones that speak to you the most.
So no matter what your situation is, never think that you can’t have a garden based on the space you have available to you. Just spend a little time doing research and you will find that people are growing food in ALL kinds of different spaces!
Aug 24, 2010 @ 21:20:33
I was successful with 3 containers in SW Oregon. But here, just too many deer and squirrels. Saw an awesome idea in South Africa with multiple liter pop bottles in metal loop holders on a pole. Water from the top and let it drip down. The guy also raised worms and made “worm tea” to water with. He was growing strawberries this way. I’d like to at least have fresh greens and cherry tomatoes.