Description
Book SynopsisThe easy way to succeed at urban gardening A townhouse yard, a balcony, a fire escape, a south-facing window even a basement apartment can all be suitable locations to grow enough food to save a considerable amount of money and enjoy the freshest, healthiest produce possible.
Table of ContentsIntroduction 1
About This Book 1
Conventions Used in This Book 2
What You’re Not to Read 2
Foolish Assumptions 3
How This Book Is Organized 3
Part I: Urban Gardening 101 3
Part II: Gardening Basics 4
Part III: Places and Ways to Garden 4
Part IV: Growing Plants in the City 4
Part V: Growing to Perfection 5
Part VI: The Part of Tens 5
Icons Used in This Book 5
Where to Go from Here 6
Part I: Urban Gardening 101 7
Chapter 1: Gardening in the City 9
Knowing the Basics of Soil Prep 9
Finding the Many Places to Garden the City 10
Growing All Kinds of Plants in The City 11
Trees and shrubs 12
Edibles 12
Annual flowers 13
Perennial flowers and roses 13
Lawns and groundcovers 14
Exploring the Down and Dirty of Growing 14
Weeding and mulching 15
Watering 15
Pest patrol 15
Chapter 2: Reaping the Benefi ts of Urban Gardening 17
Enjoying Local Produce from Urban Food Gardens 18
Looking at places to grow food 18
Checking out urban food gardening projects 19
Creating Healthy Cities 22
Reducing pollution 22
Making cities more livable 25
Improving the neighborhood 26
Chapter 3: The Urban Microclimate 27
The Sunny City: Working with the Sun and Warmer Urban Temperatures 27
Taking advantage of seasonal solar angles 28
Dealing with solar glare 29
Minimizing the Heat Island Effect 29
The Windy City: Working with Seasonal Urban Wind Patterns 32
Taking Macroclimate and Microclimate Conditions into Account in Your Garden 34
Knowing your hardiness zone 34
Considering your own microclimatic conditions 35
Part II: Gardening Basics 37
Chapter 4: Getting to Know Your Soil 39
Determining Your Type of Soil 40
Understanding the different soil types 40
Figuring out what you have 41
Checking Your Soil’s Drainage 42
Performing a percolation test 43
Mastering the metal rod test 43
Discovering Your Soil’s pH Level 44
Finding Out What Lies Beneath the Soil 45
Doing a little digging (literally and fi guratively) 46
Protecting yourself from soil contaminants 46
Chapter 5: Feeding and Fertilizing Your Soil 51
Organics 101: Plant Matter 52
Adding a Little Something Extra to Build Soil Fertility: Animal Manure 54
Making Compost and Growing Soil 56
Composting safely in the city 56
Choosing a container 57
Building your pile 58
Troubleshooting common composting problems 59
Composting with worms 60
Giving Your Plants and Soil a Boost with Fertilizers 62
Getting to know the “big three” in commercial fertilizers 62
Wet versus dry fertilizers 63
Applying a side dressing of fertilizer 65
Chapter 6: Getting Your Hands Dirty: Planting How-To 67
Planting Annual Flowers and Veggies 67
Starting with a raised bed 68
Deciding whether to buy seeds or transplants 70
Making a seed-starting schedule based on frost dates 71
Growing your own seedlings 73
Picking out transplants 74
Planting your annual or vegetable garden 75
Planting Trees and Shrubs 78
Buying a tree or shrub 78
Digging the hole and planting 79
Getting your trees and shrubs off to a good start 82
Planting Perennial Flowers, Bulbs, and Roses 83
Buying and planting perennial flowers 84
Buying and planting bulbs 84
Buying and planting roses 86
Part III: Places and Ways to Garden 89
Chapter 7: Creating an Outdoor Room 91
Analyzing Your Outdoor Space 92
Fencing In Your Space 92
Planning Your Outdoor Room 93
Creating Your Garden Entrance 93
Installing moon gates for a Zen-like feel 94
Showing off your space with garden arbors 95
Opting for other types of entry features 96
Defining the Uses for Your Outdoor Room 96
Creating a Focal Element 97
Using a unique plant 98
Creating serenity with a water feature 99
Going with a man-made feature 100
Turning Recycled Materials into Chic and Useful Garden Art 101
Using yard sale items 101
Repurposing materials (Reusing junk) 103
Considering Interactive Garden Art 104
A garden sundial 104
Music in the garden 105
Chapter 8: Containing Your Gardening 107
Surveying Container Options 107
Cool commercial containers 109
Hanging, balancing, and other interesting containers 110
Bathtubs, birdcages, bicycles, and more 111
Selecting Soil for Your Container 112
Planting a Container 113
Prepping your pots 114
Planting your containers properly 114
Jazzing Up Your Containers 116
Placing containers for visual interest 116
Coordinating colors 117
Cool container combos 117
Taking Care of Your Container Plants 119
Watering 119
Maintaining your containers 120
Moving containers 122
Chapter 9: A Garden with a View: The Rooftop Garden 123
Finding Out the Rooftop Gardening Basics 124
Why grow up? Reviewing reasons for planting on the roof 124
What’s your type? Choosing a green roof or roof garden 125
How much is enough? Looking at your limits 126
What’s next? Getting started and developing a plan 129
Designing a Rooftop Garden or Green Roof 131
Structural considerations: Making sure your roof won’t cave in 132
Managing rainwater 133
Deciding what to grow 135
Planning electrical service and lighting 137
Transporting materials 137
Staying In Bounds with a Rooftop Container Garden 138
Chapter 10: Going Vertical in Your Garden 141
Discovering the Benefits of Growing Vertical 141
Facing the Challenges of Growing Vertical 142
Rethinking Your Space: Up, Down, and All Around 143
Getting Plants to Grow Up 144
Vertical structures: Providing a place to climb 144
Growing vertical veggies and fruits 150
Giving Containers a Lift 151
Understanding the special considerations for vertical container gardening 151
Choosing vertical containers 151
Chapter 11: Apartment Gardens 155
Balcony Gardens 155
Using containers on your balcony 156
Creating a picture frame garden 158
Using flowerbox planters 159
Indoor Gardening 161
Creating an indoor herb garden 161
Growing under lights indoors 163
Practicing indoor plant care and watering 164
Chapter 12: Community Gardening and Urban Farming 165
Community Gardening 101 165
A brief history of community gardening 166
How community gardening works 167
Starting a Community Gardening Program 167
Selecting a site 168
Developing your site 168
Organizing the garden 169
Managing the garden 169
Urban Farming = Urban Renewal 169
Benefits of gardening together 171
Avoiding down zoning 171
Marketing Locally 172
Selling produce at farmers’ markets 172
Participating in farm-to-school initiatives 172
Selling to local restaurants 173
Hosting harvest festivals 173
Creating community gatherings and celebrations 173
Sharing a Garden 174
Gardening with roommates 174
Volunteering for others 175
Hiring out as an urban farmer 175
Planting a row for the hungry 175
Going from Pavement to Parks 176
Reclaiming urban green space 176
Creating urban parklets 178
Part IV: Growing Plants in the City 179
Chapter 13: City Setting, Country Food 181
Making a Veggie Garden Plan 181
Choosing a site for your vegetable garden 181
Sizing up your garden: How big is big? 182
Laying it all out 183
Keeping Your Veggies Happy 183
Feeding 184
Weeding, mulching, and watering 185
Raising the Top City Vegetables 185
Leafy greens 186
The tomato family: Eggplants, peppers, and other relatives 186
Melons, squash, and other vining vegetables 188
Root vegetables 189
Peas and beans 190
Cabbage, broccoli, and more 192
Easy herbs 192
Extending the Season 194
Succession planting: Lettuce forever! 195
Intercropping: The space between 195
Protecting plants in cool weather 196
Chapter 14: The Annual Flowering of the City 199
Understanding Annuals 199
Siting Your Annual Flower Garden 200
Figuring out whether your garden can
support sun- or shade-loving annuals 200
Prepping and planting 201
Considering color 201
Thinking about texture and fragrance 202
Growing flowers for cutting 203
Growing Annuals in Containers 203
Choosing Annual Flowers for All Seasons and Soils 205
Cool spring and fall flowers 205
Summer flowers 207
Flowers for every soil 209
Caring for Your Annuals to Keep a Continuous Flower Show 210
Watering 210
Weeding 211
Fertilizing 211
Deadheading 212
Pruning 212
Keeping them up 213
Using Succession Planting to Maintain Your Annual Flowers 213
Chapter 15: Perennial Flowers, Roses, and Bulbs in the City 215
Getting to Know Perennials, Roses, and Bulbs 215
Finding a Permanent Planting Spot 216
Considering sun, soil, and exposure 216
Going with containers 217
Choosing Perennials Fit for City Living 218
Sun-loving perennial fl owers 219
Shade-loving perennial fl owers 221
Growing and Maintaining Perennial Flowers 222
General care and maintenance 222
Providing a little extra support 223
Divide and multiply 224
Enjoying La Vie en Rose 224
Selecting the best city roses 225
Growing and caring for roses 226
Lighting Up Your Garden with Bulbs 227
Finding a spot for bulbs 228
Finding the best spring flowering bulbs for the city 228
Determining the best summer flowering bulbs for the city 229
Caring for bulbs 229
Chapter 16: Growing a Tree in Brooklyn 231
Selecting City-Friendly Trees 231
The best deciduous trees 232
Evergreen tree options 234
Growing Some Shrubbery 235
Looking at ways to use shrubs in your yard 235
Discovering some great city shrubs 236
Keeping Your Trees and Shrubs Fit 239
Watering and fertilizing 239
Pruning 101 240
Growing City Fruits 242
Finding the best fruit trees for the city 243
Keeping those tree fruits growing 244
Keeping Berry Bushes in the City 245
Choosing the best city berries 245
Staying berry healthy 248
Chapter 17: Lawns and Ground Covers 249
Selecting the Right Grass 250
Cool-season grasses 250
Warm-season grasses 252
Seed versus sod 253
Caring for Your Lawn 255
Looking at city mowers 255
Mowing correctly 256
Maintaining your lawn 257
Patching up paradise 259
Ground Cover Alternatives 259
Lawns versus ground covers 259
Cityside ground covers 260
Planting and caring for your cover 261
Part V: Growing to Perfection 263
Chapter 18: Weeding and Mulching Your Plants 265
Winning the War on Weeds 265
Identifying weeds and knowing why you should care 266
Stopping weeds before they’re a problem 267
Controlling weeds once they’re large 269
Mulching 101 269
Types of mulch 270
Mulching correctly 273
Chapter 19: Watering Your Garden 275
Conserving Water 275
Knowing how much you need to water 276
Using less water 277
Harvesting Water 278
Installing a rain barrel 279
Utilizing gray water 279
Creating a rain garden 280
Delivering Water to Your Plants 282
Hoses and cans 282
Watering wands 282
Trigger nozzles 283
Soaker hoses 283
Drip irrigation 284
Sprinklers 286
A few other watering methods to try 287
Chapter 20: Controlling Urban Garden Pests 289
Knowing the Good Guys 290
Bringing in beneficial insects 290
Attracting birds to your yard 291
Encouraging bees to stick around 292
Being Proactive to Control the Bad Guys 293
Designing your garden to prevent problems 294
Deciding whether you really have a problem 294
Dealing with Insect Pests in Your Garden 295
Know your bug 296
Managing your pests without sprays 300
Using safe sprays 303
Spotting and Treating Diseases 304
Knowing whether you’re really dealing with a disease 304
Preventing damage in the first place 305
Being aware of some common diseases 306
Finding the safest sprays for diseases 308
Critters in the Bean Patch 309
Identifying animal damage 309
Figuring out which common city animals to watch for 310
Part VI: The Part of Tens 311
Chapter 21: Ten Tools for Urban Gardeners 313
Chapter 22: Ten Kid-Friendly Ways to Garden in the City 319
Chapter 23: Ten Tips to Manage a Sustainable Urban Garden 325
Index 331
