Back porch farming

I got the idea to plant arugula and greens in hanging pots from an urban farm in New Orleans where I volunteered for a week in the spring. The greens grew great in their greenhouse and they were able to grow twice as much since they used upward space as well as table space. I figure my small back porch won't be able to accommodate everyone and a garden unless I hang it above us. It's a great idea. (check out this video if you're interested in learning more about what's going down in NOLA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMLGXVHv_bQ). 

In my head I was envisioning literally the whole porch lined with pots. Reality: 4 pots in the back right corner.

I found out (from my friend at Boston Gardner) that these greens NEED shade. so this back right corner is the perfect (and only) place for them. I don't think ill be able to grow them along the whole perimeter of the porch after all.

Beyond the hanging pots, I wasn't expecting to grow much outside of the garden. Yet, somehow the Pleasant St. Garden is overflowing to my back porch. Or maybe I'm just somewhat hooked at this point. I find it quite amazing that you can grow pretty much anything in pretty much any type of container. When I ran out of terra-cotta pots I found myself dumping clothes out of plastic bins, stealing food bins from housemates and raiding the tupperware cabinet. those sufficed very nicely. the small ones will need to be upgraded but it'll do for now. On my bike ride back from Trader Joe's earlier this evening I spotted a bin on the sidewalk that must have been in a "free" pile. Totally snatched it. I'm on the lookout because I have so many seeds left, I have a mint plant needing a home, I'd like to get my hands on some kale, and I need to move some of these guys to a more roomy living space.

Lettuce in the big bin, collard greens in small bin/plastic tupperwares and 2 pots, basil (the little guys) in pot and the mystery plant from Boston Gardner in the small pot.

In order to plant all of these things, I'm realizing you need a lot of soil. I had to make a run to the nearest TrueValue and grab some soil. This is how I transported it home. Like a true urban farmer, I suppose.

Any suggestions or anything at all...please share!

Welcome to the Pleasant Street Garden :O)

For over 10 years now I have been torn between what to do with our small plot in front of 120 Pleasant Street in Brookline Massachusetts.  Just to tell you a little history about this yard, my aunt used it as a Chinese vegetable garden over 20 years ago.  Since she moved the yard has not been maintained.  Over grown weeds and bushes made it an eye sore.  I was not proud of our yard.  I decided to cut the bushes in half so people can see the ugly yard.  The bushes grown in nicely and only two of my Alberta Spruces survived.  An Oak tree began to grow back into the middle where it once was.  I wanted to keep this for shading for the building.

For a couple of years I have been asking my tenants if they wanted to help with the garden.  Meredith kindly approached me to see if I would let her plant something in the front.  I said to her absolutely, and we had an initial meeting about what to do.  We both agreed we wanted to grow our own vegetables and be less reliant on high priced stores.  We wanted to control the pesticides and the materials we used.  

So we decided to split up the yard where the Oak is beginning to grow and the Alberta Spruce still resides.  I was responsible to building the fences and landscape timber.  It was fairly easy because my sister had purchased things and left them in my basement.  We began to collect old desks, pots, wire, and rods from the basement.  

I made a run to Home Depot where I purchased 30 dollars worth of seeds and grabbed 6 big bags of organic soil.  I purchased 5 4x4x10 landscape timber and had landscape fabric I found in the basement.  The chicken wire was made out of plastic to block our the raccoons, skunks, squirrels, and rabbits.  We purchase a tested for the soil and found we needed to increase the PH level, so I added some lime to the soil.  We decided to use raised beds with new soil to be safe.  I need to test the soil again to check the PH levels.  I use to manage a pool and PH was so important to balance the Chlorine levels.

As you can see my son is helping dig holes with the hole digger for our door.  I used one 25 foot roll and where it stopped I decided to put a landscape timber for the first post.  I think we spent close to 300 dolalrs for this vegetable garden.  I hope it pays off with a bountiful crop in 90 -200 days :O)