How to grow the most in limited space

Most Urban Homesteaders Start out growing in the city with a sense of frustration, wishing they had more land and one day hoping for the time when they can purchase some land in the country. But as the journey begins to manifest itself, Urban Homesteaders quickly realize that the aspirations for moving to the country can't match the joy reaped from challenges produced in the city.

It's difficult to grow vegetables in the city, because the lack of space is the number one nemesis. Living and growing in an urban environment has forced me to challenge the very way I think about producing a harvest. The cool thing about this approach is that it is all unorthodox. You don't have to follow a strict set of guidelines. Growing under these conditions will push creative juices to flow, some result in total failure and others will result in bountiful crops. This year I took one of my raised beds and decided that I was going to do hay bale gardening in them. The picture portrays two hay bales inside of  3' x 6' raised bed. In this particular raised bed I am growing Bush beans, Garlic, Melons and yellow squash. The 1st hay bale has some miniature heirloom melons growing in them. The second hay bale has the yellow squash. Spaced evenly around the perimeter of the bed are garlic bulbs that are growing strong. Evenly distributed in between each garlic bulb  are highly prolific bush beans that don't require a trellis.

My motto is to grow veggies where weeds would grow instead. My opinion is unless you are trying to grow an award winning Swiss chard or some other fabulous plant, crop your veggies as tight as possible and reap the benefits. The tricks to growing the most in limited space is constantly being developed. If your reading this and your on the fence about not having enough room to grow. I challenge you to get a planting pot and see just how creative you can be.

Garlic, Onions, Cucumbers and Winter Veggies Growing Strong

These past few weeks have been extremely busy so many changes have taken place in a very short period of time some things I will post later will be my new hawk, new puppy and oh boy, my all of a sudden new rabbitry. I feel like the Swiss Family Robinson around here. But all the while as these things have been taken place my Winter veggies are really enjoying this cold crisp weather. I planted some garlic some time ago and I have some great shoots especially from this elephant garlic. Its mammoth. I also have set several Sweet onions around the garden and they are growing very strong. Zone 8 is proving to be very good for having a garden through the year. into the spring. The cucumbers have been the big hit around here. This Japanese variety does not do well in the heat. It developed all kinds of problems due to the humidity. But we didn't give up. We planted again in Sept-Oct and amazingly it took off. Today is the Saturday after thanksgiving and its 30 degrees and this beaut is still setting flowers. I recommend this variety to everyone who wants to extend there growing season. Although a little tricky at first you have to time it just right so that the temps are not high during the day and cool at night. This would easily be a Cucumber for the spring, mid to end of summer and fall in the north. Also my kale is growing beautiful leaves along with my collards and Bibb Lettuce. We are just so happy around here. Happy Holidays!!

Cool Weather Crops Growing Strong Zone 8

This fall I planted Bibb Lettuce aka (Butter Lettuce) I fell in love with this variety after eating it at one of our favorite Vietnamese joints. The texture is soft and the texture is silky and my bunch is doing very well this fall.

Earlier this spring we planted onions and garlic in containers and although they produced text book shoots they really never developed into the onions and garlic we thought they would. Could it be that there was not enough room? Maybe the temperature during the day? I don't know. But one thing is for sure they didn't develop. This fall I planted my Onions and Garlic in the raised beds and they are taking to their environment very well. But I'm a bit worried that green shoots will just be green shoots. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this one.

Garlic and Onions are growing

Alot of my excitement from being a novice is looking at what I have done and saying "Ok what now?" I don't fully understand how growing garlic works. However, from all of the research I have done I do realize that I would have a little more trouble growing them in the ground compared to growing them in pots. So I took the path of least resistance and used the pots.

My Garlic and onions have sprouted shouts and are growing like a wild fire. Hopefully they grow and produce more garlic or whatever it is they do. Right now I am researching how to harvest, because what I gather is that I have to harvest them at the right time. I hope I get this one right. Because I absolutely love garlic.

Growing Garlic

We decided that we would grow garlic in buckets this year. From what we gathered bucket gardening is beneficial because there is alot that we can control which is in direct contrast to growing things directly in the ground. The only issues we have had thus far is the occassional weed that has been lying dormant in our compost or fresh unearthened dirt. Nevertheless the benefits of container or bucket gardening is being able to micro-manage every stage of the vegetables growth. Im not a botanist by any means but I can tell what is a weed and what is not when I grow things in my containers and for that matter my raised beds. So if the garlic do well this year I am going to be the biggest advertiser of growing garlis in containers. Im using a one gallon plant container maybe larger to grow the garlic. I set the garlic in a few weeks back and watered and now they are starting to sprout. I bought garlic specifically meant to plant instead of using our own. Hopefully it works. I love garlic.