My tiny urban garden

[PhillyGardener]

Things are really starting to green up in my little front yard garden, so I thought I would share a few photos. It's going to be very crowded in about a month, but I'm used to tip-toeing around a small garden and am prepared to pull plants to make room if needed...we'll see

Here's the garden as of yesterday. I use that little ledge behind the trellis for small herbs and such:
[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/2012-05-19150005.jpg[/img]

I just finished my tomato cage made from old bamboo poles. It seems relatively sturdy, and it was free so I guess if it doesn't work out, nothing lost. I'll have to do some serious pruning on all of my tomatoes anyway, to keep them to a manageable size:
[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/2012-05-20140538.jpg[/img]

My bush baby zucchini and container variety tomato:
[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/2012-05-20140607.jpg[/img]

Cucumber trellis/ladder:
[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/2012-05-20140626.jpg[/img]

Yarrow is in bloom:
[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/2012-05-20140558.jpg[/img]

My favorite variety of sedum in bloom:
[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/2012-05-19150019.jpg[/img]

Anyone else gardening in a tiny space?

[tumana]

Wow! Great garden, PhillyGardener. I like how you built all the cages and supports. Good job!

[luvthesnapper]

Here's my real small garden. These are about to come out, and the tomatoes are going in. They actually look better than this photo. It had some heavy sun on it that day, and was drooping.



[img]https://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd154/tonytwotime_2007/Garden%20Pics/SN852134.jpg[/img]

[PhillyGardener]

Nice! You're in Delaware I see, so not too far from me. Is this a balcony garden?

[luvthesnapper]

It's my side porch. It's ground level. I have some soil container plants as well, though these are hydroponic. Man, I wish I lived in Philly. There would be no question where I was at 7:05. I can hear my girlfriend now, "he's at the phillies game, of course......"

[Amy Is Growing]

Nice work PhillyGardener. I like your recycled cages. I am also gardening in a small space. I started a raised bed in my boyfriend's backyard, which is a very small condo backyard. He made my raised bed for me out of recycled dunnage from his job. I wanted to use as much recycled material as I could. I work in my family business, which is a fence company, and he is an ironworker. Construction is kind of wasteful sometimes. The dunnage he brought home would have ended up in the trash, and come to find out, it made a beautiful garden box. I will try and add a picture, but I'm not sure I know how. Anyway, I'm not used to using such small spaces, but it's a welcome challenge. It's helping me learn a lot. We are moving soon, where I will, according to the boyfriend, be able to grow anything my little heart desires and have a small herd of goats and maybe bring my horse home. But until then, I'll make the best use I can out of what little space we have.

I have a question for you. In one of the pictures, you have a bush baby zucchini with a cage. Any tips for growing them up and not out? This will be my first attempt growing zucchini in a bed and with some sort of support. Thanks![/img]

[luvthesnapper]

I will try and add a picture, but I'm not sure I know how.

You can upload any photo you take to photobucket, and then just link to the image on forums, like this one. It's easy, and free.

[PhillyGardener]

Nice work PhillyGardener. I like your recycled cages. I am also gardening in a small space. I started a raised bed in my boyfriend's backyard, which is a very small condo backyard. He made my raised bed for me out of recycled dunnage from his job. I wanted to use as much recycled material as I could. I work in my family business, which is a fence company, and he is an ironworker. Construction is kind of wasteful sometimes. The dunnage he brought home would have ended up in the trash, and come to find out, it made a beautiful garden box. I will try and add a picture, but I'm not sure I know how. Anyway, I'm not used to using such small spaces, but it's a welcome challenge. It's helping me learn a lot. We are moving soon, where I will, according to the boyfriend, be able to grow anything my little heart desires and have a small herd of goats and maybe bring my horse home. But until then, I'll make the best use I can out of what little space we have.

I have a question for you. In one of the pictures, you have a bush baby zucchini with a cage. Any tips for growing them up and not out? This will be my first attempt growing zucchini in a bed and with some sort of support. Thanks!

Thanks! I built that cage on a whim. I didn't have one tall enough for an indeterminate tomato, and I looked over at my pile of bamboo poles (there used to be a bamboo stand where my veggie plot is now) and had an aha moment

Re: the cage for the bush baby zucchini, I've never tried to grow this stuff in a pot. All I know is that zucchini gets HUGE and I've heard caging it with an upside-down tomato cage can contain some of the crazy growth. I had an old broken one on hand so it was perfect for this purpose. I've also thought about staking it somehow, as others have done, but I do have a little room for it to sprawl over my flowers and mulch, so I'll probably just let it go nuts and see what I get. If you google "staking zucchini" though, you should get more ideas. I think most people who do it recommend a specific variety and use those aluminum fence posts with lots of holes/ridges and some old panty hose or plant tape to secure the vine.

I will be sure to post updates in a month or two, when the monster zucchini takes over! Did I mention I have one in my garden bed, too? I gave it 2 square feet, plus room to sprawl over the edge of the bed. We'll see...

[PhillyGardener]

It's my side porch. It's ground level. I have some soil container plants as well, though these are hydroponic. Man, I wish I lived in Philly. There would be no question where I was at 7:05. I can hear my girlfriend now, "he's at the phillies game, of course......"

Ha! What's keeping you from moving north a few dozen miles?

[PhillyGardener]

My plants have leafhoppers, and now that I know what to look for, I think some of the "aphids" I thought I'd found were in fact leafhopper larvae/nymphs. So now I have aphids, leafhoppers, AND I discovered some tiny caterpillars (brown, probably a larval stage of something) that have been taking bites out of things. Oh and some weird sucking white mites on my cilantro. They almost look like white ticks...so odd. So LOTS of pests to deal with. I have a box of 1,500 ladybugs on hold at the local nursery and will be releasing them Saturday night, plus I'm keeping up with my Neem oil treatments every few days.

I saw this little winged guy this afternoon. Any idea what it could be?
[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/1337813819643.jpg[/img]

Staying on the bright side, here are a few update photos. It's amazing what a difference 4 days can make in some plants! I fertilized the day before it rained, which turned out to be a terrible idea because now the fertilizer clumps by the drip line are growing mold. But I'm hoping some of the yellower looking ones will perk up a bit in the next few days.

The cucumbers are going nuts all of a sudden. None of the female flowers have been pollinated yet that I can tell, but hopefully soon:
[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/1337813723896.jpg[/img]

Another National Pickling cuke on a ladder:
[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/1337813584261.jpg[/img]

Lemon cucumbers, one purchased and one seeded into the garden:
[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/1337813837514.jpg[/img]

Marigolds with leafhopper damage. Yep! They love the marigolds.
[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/1337813642126.jpg[/img]

Baby bush beans:
[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/1337814186902.jpg[/img]

Bush baby zucchini is already bigger!
[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/1337814329778.jpg[/img]

[PhillyGardener]

I released a container of ladybugs last night to help with the aphids, thrips, leafhoppers, and spider mites. The aphids are few and far between after 3 neem oil treatments, but the leafhoppers have been tasting a bit of everything, thrips showed up when the cucumbers bloomed, and the spider mites seem a little too happy all of a sudden. I was skeptical, since last time the ladybugs I ordered were mostly dead, and the ones who survived didn't stay long. But this time I woke up to a ladybug party! They were everywhere, on nearly every vegetable and flowering plant. Many of them had climbed to the top of the tomato cages and trellis to mate. Let's hope once the ladybug debauchery is over, enough of them stick around to keep the pests in check! I had so much fun watching these little bugs I thought I'd share some photos.

On the sedum and yarrow, which I hope will convince them to stay:
[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/1338125525301.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/2012-05-27105545.jpg[/img]

On the marigolds. Here you can see damage from leafhoppers:
[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/2012-05-27105535.jpg[/img]

On the beans:
[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/2012-05-27105525.jpg[/img]

Patrolling a bush bean flower:
[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/2012-05-27105510.jpg[/img]

On the zucchini:
[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/2012-05-27105500.jpg[/img]

All over the top of the trellis:
[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/2012-05-27105356.jpg[/img]

On the cucumbers:
[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/1338125131606.jpg[/img]

[luvthesnapper]

Hey, I didn't see your last post. I've been thinking about moving for sometime now, but I'd be leaving all my business behind. Still thinking about it alot though.

I thought I was ahead of the game this year! Your beans are farther along than mine.

Somebody get that last pair of ladybugs a room...

[img]https://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd154/tonytwotime_2007/SN852148.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd154/tonytwotime_2007/SN852149.jpg[/img]

[PhillyGardener]

Hey, I didn't see your last post. I've been thinking about moving for sometime now, but I'd be leaving all my business behind. Still thinking about it alot though.

I thought I was ahead of the game this year! Your beans are farther along than mine.

Somebody get that last pair of ladybugs a room...

Hey, it's Philly, it's not the first time I've seen something like that out in the open!

There are certainly things I love and things I hate about city life. Sometimes I want to move out of the city so I can have more room, peace and quiet, and privacy. But I love being able to walk to restaurants, shops, cafes, the park, etc and have the choice not to own a car. It's pretty liberating.

On a garden-related note, I just went back out to survey the plants (can't help myself) and saw this lacewing larvae climbing up my plant label. Yeah!

[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/2012-05-27120854.jpg[/img]

[mtmickey]

PhillyGardener, what kind of seedum is that? It is beautiful. Your garden looks great!

[PhillyGardener]

Everything has really exploded these last couple of weeks. The cucumbers have reached the top of the trellis and I'm going to have to figure out a way to extend their growth! The zucchini are doing well, beans are going nuts, peppers finally getting pollinated.

The only things doing poorly are my tomatoes. I have 4 plants total: 2 container varieties and 2 indeterminates. One of each is in the raised bed, and one of each in large pots. On all four plants I have a total of about 6 tomatoes Oh well, I'm getting plenty from everything else...

[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/2012-07-01124224.jpg[/img]
The garden as of this afternoon

[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/2012-07-01124353.jpg[/img]
Green beans

[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/2012-06-30112153.jpg[/img]
Yesterday's haul. I got 2 more cucumbers this morning

[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/2012-06-30170841.jpg[/img]
What happens to 99% of the cucumbers I pick. Mmmm, pickles.

[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/2012-07-01124437.jpg[/img]
Pepperoncini peppers

[img]https://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo9/abnormalsanon2/Square%20Foot%20Garden/2012-06-20072351.jpg[/img]
My first 8 ball zucchini, picked about 10 days ago. Picked another today.

Just goes to show that no matter how small the space, it's possible to grow something!

[Dillbert]

wow!

it may be a small space but you're doing spectacular!

congrats!

[PhillyGardener]

Thank you! It's the first time I've planted in the ground--every other year it's just been containers. This has been a fun learning experience. I'm already thinking about what I'll do differently next year

[farmerlon]

Great garden!