Become an Urban Gardener

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Almost any urban (or suburban) lot has some space that can be worked into a fine garden, even on rock-ridden or sloping land.
Almost any urban (or suburban) lot has some space that can be worked into a fine garden, even on rock-ridden or sloping land.
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As the urban garden begins to mature, regular fertilizing, weeding, and watering insure a beautiful addition to the landscape.
As the urban garden begins to mature, regular fertilizing, weeding, and watering insure a beautiful addition to the landscape.
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Old flowerbeds are excellent places for growing table delicacies.
Old flowerbeds are excellent places for growing table delicacies.
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Attractive as any row of roses: lettuce.
Attractive as any row of roses: lettuce.
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Sugar Snap peas.
Sugar Snap peas.
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Squash.
Squash.

By the spring of 1981, more Americans were tending gardens than during any other peacetime period in our recent history. A 1983 Gallup survey reveals that 42% of American householdsover 35 million families–raise some or all of their own vegetables. The reasons for such a pervasive trend? Well, the rising cost of living and a growing conservation ethic seem to have combined to make gardening a more attractiveand often downright necessary–family activity. Folks everywhere who want to take a hand in producing their own food for less expense are plowing up their backyards and sowing seeds for everything from artichokes to zucchini.

And yet, thousands of other families did not put in gardens last year . . . and possibly won’t again this year. The reasons most often cited by non gardeners for their inaction are insufficient knowledge and a lack of available land. The average suburban or inner-city home has no room for a vegetable plot, they say. Furthermore, such individuals often claim that it’s terribly difficult for beginners to acquire the know-how that can transform them from greenhorns into green thumbs. These ideas, of course, are just plain wrong: Most city and housing development lots do have at least a small corner that could conceivably be turned into a productive urban garden, even if the terrain is sloping, hilly, or a bit rocky. Moreover, urban dwellers don’t have to worry about spoiling the aesthetic value of what little land they have, since a well-tended vegetable gardenwith its neat rows of mulched plants and fragrant herbscan be quite an attractive spot.

The problem of lack of knowledge is easily remedied, too. Fledgling horticulturists can check their local libraries and bookstores for references on the subject. Most communities also have quite a few veteran growers in residence who are almost always willing to assist beginning urban gardeners. In addition, all countiesurban and ruralemploy agricultural extension agents who have a large supply of helpful (and often free) literature on recommended crop varieties, methods of pest control, and tips for canning and freezing. Most extension agents will also help gardeners make chemical test analyses and set up fertilization schedules.

What follows in this article, then, is a collection of hints and suggestions geared to the first-time gardener who may be just a bit bewildered by the technical advice often found in gardening manuals. Furthermore, my “primer” is designed to cover the problems an urban vegetable grower would be likely to face (but most of the information is general enough to apply to just about any garden plot).

Urban Garden Design 

  • Published on Mar 1, 1984
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