Homestead in the Urban City

[msta999]

These people have it all going on. 1/5 acre and they produce 6000 lbs of produce a year. Solar cooker, power, water,...etc.....
Here is the video:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=28846 72

[tufhelp]

I can only hope that we'll be nearly as prolific. Very inspiring!

[Quietgentleman]

There's a bare lot a couple houses down from me and I'm hoping the owner will let me use it for a garden. The way it is now it grows up in weeds and the city mows it and charges for it. So I wrote a letter to the owner hoping I could trade taking care of the lot for use of it as a garden. I can get all the compost i want from the city so its just a matter of a lil hard work to shape it up into a nice garden. With this and the plot at my house I should be able to produce enough for me and be able to help my sisters out. Ok so I using them for the canning but hey it all works right. LOL

QGM

[aprilconnett]

That sounds like an awesome plan!! I hope the owner goes for it!

april

[MotherCharlotte]

I've seen this Path to Freedom before, actually. It's quite inspiring, and isn't their yard just beautiful! I wish I had even that much land available to me to do some gardening. Unfortunately we are living in a rented townhouse right now, with a tiny backyard that has a tall fence all around and gets almost no sun. I grow herbs, and I did manage to grow a nice pot of tomatoes last year--until one of our neighbours' 3 kids came into the yard and stole them all, then smashed them in the parking lot. Little bastards. >:(

This year I asked my 90-year old grandmother (who lives in the same area of town) if we could use part of her yard to grow a vegetable garden this year. She obviously can't keep up with her big yard anymore anyway. I'm pretty excited to actually be growing some real vegetables this year, far from the grasp of our resident neighbourhood brats (oh, I know they would steal anything I grew this year too, they are always trying to get into our yard).

Maybe in the future we will find a way to move to a rental with a bigger yard. It's so hard to do anything in this place, which is a condo--the management nearly craps themselves if you so much as hang laundry outside.

[Dawgus]

I've seen that one before too, they're doing a wonderful job! I found another one thats pretty interesting a while back. These people live in NY on less that 1/14 of an acre and do quite a bit, its pretty impressive as well.

http://thirtyfivebyninety.blogspot.com/

[msta999]

Dawgus,
great link, thanks for posting it.

[Winston_Smith]

Pretty cool. The years that we lived in the inner city we heated our house with wood. I found the city's yard waste drop off had tons and tons of wood and much of it was already cut to size to fit our stove. All I had to do was split and stack it. I got some strange looks from the neighbors but I sure wasn't trying to heat a 3,500 sq ft hundred year old drafty house on natural gas. We tried some container gardening with mixed results. The one thing I will say for living in the city is you can scavenge just about anything if you're patient and know where to look.

[CarolAnn]

MotherCharlotte - I've had those same kids living next door to me, I think! (Or maybe yours are the children of those that bugged me, as mine were quite a while ago!)

There is a child deterrent that you may try. It's called Tree Tanglefoot. It's icky-sticky goo that gets on small hands and clothes, and does not wash out or off very easily. It's for bugs, but parents that don't control their children soon find the backbone to correct them when they come home smeared with goo! *;D *I used it on an an apple tree trunk, but you could put it on planters, gates, pass-through areas they are prone to touch.

Hey -it's a non-toxic bug deterrent! You don't HAVE to admit it was two legged bugs you were after! *;)

PS - it also works well for Halloween pumpkin smashers! They may still smash your Jack o'lantern, but everyone will know who the guilty party is - by his icky-sticky hands next day!!

[Deberosa]

MotherCharlotte - I've had those same kids living next door to me, I think! (Or maybe yours are the children of those that bugged me, as mine were quite a while ago!)

There is a child deterrent that you may try. It's called Tree Tanglefoot. It's icky-sticky goo that gets on small hands and clothes, and does not wash out or off very easily. It's for bugs, but parents that don't control their children soon find the backbone to correct them when they come home smeared with goo! *;D *I used it on an an apple tree trunk, but you could put it on planters, gates, pass-through areas they are prone to touch.

Hey -it's a non-toxic bug deterrent! You don't HAVE to admit it was two legged bugs you were after! *;)

PS - it also works well for Halloween pumpkin smashers! They may still smash your Jack o'lantern, but everyone will know who the guilty party is - by his icky-sticky hands next day!!


I love your practical solutions to problems Carol Ann! I've had to deal with such neighbor kids also - what a pain when they are taught that they own the whole world! I'll have to get in a supply of that stuff.

[Quietgentleman]

Hey now ladies I ressembled one of those lil brat kids when I was a wee sprout. ;) I was known to rob a tomato or strawberry or plum or the occasional watermellon. But I did have sense enough not to take the last one or ruin anyones hard work. Now that I'm supposable grown up my garden is raided by the local neighborhood kids. Heck thats the main reason I plant peas is so they can. I look on and can see myself in my moms garden enjoying those early spring treats through these kids. The sad part is I'm the only one in my neighborhood that even plants a garden. But every year while I'm planting some curious lil one will stop by and look stare and finally I will ask if he or she would like to plant something. This year my 8 soon to be 9 year old nephew is just chomping at the bit to go to gardening. Now all we need is the weather to straighten up and stay warm for more than a day or two and we'll have it made.

QGM

[MotherCharlotte]

Quietgentleman, I wouldn't mind if any of the neighbourhood kids wanted to sneak something from my yard to eat...but they took all the green tomatoes off a heavily laden plant (there were at least two dozen) merely to smash them for some kicks. They're brats because their mother never does anything about their behaviour...when I politely went to talk to her and asked "Have you seen any of my tomatoes by any chance?" she said with a sneer, "Oh, those were your tomatoes I saw smashed in the parking lot? MY kids didn't do that. I believe it was YOUR kids." Um, whatever, I have SEEN her kids sneak into my yard, I have SEEN them steal tomatoes, I have SEEN them break the latch on our gate! And I have heard them cussing at my husband when he told them to go away...Furthermore my girly nine year old daughter isn't really the tomato smashing type... ::)

Okay, I just wanted to vent about that.

You're right though most kids would love the chance to be involved with a gardening project. I still remember when I was about 10 and my dad let me plant a row of carrots in his garden...it was one of the highlights of my childhood! :)

[MotherCharlotte]

Carol Ann, I've never heard or seen Tree Tanglefoot, but it sounds like a great idea! ;D

[alma]

Thank you so much for sharing these sites with us. love, alma

[Steve_L]

I would do that, my house is on a large lot... but the #$%#$ builder put the house on a mix of rocks and hardpan with a thin layer of topsoil, just deep enough to support grass. It was a roll out lawn.

Stupid neighbors won't let me have goats and chickens.

[Bruenor]

I would do that, my house is on a large lot... but the #$%#$ builder put the house on a mix of rocks and hardpan with a thin layer of topsoil, just deep enough to support grass. It was a roll out lawn.

Stupid neighbors won't let me have goats and chickens.

I have a smiliar problem in my yard. A thin layer of topsoil, and then hard clay. The backyard takes forever to drain, and it's hard to dig anything large then a timble sized hole. What I'm doing instead is building some raised beds, and filling them with topsoil from a local landscaping company. Yeah, its more expense than what I would want, but I plan on living in this house for years, so it will be worth it.

[aprilconnett]

Bruenor,
I've had to do the same thing. Hard packed red clay is the devil to for gardening. So, I did raised beds. I wanted to fill them with my own home-made compost, but, I couldn't get enoughy made. Have spent a small fortune in compost for the raised beds, but I feel it will be worth it.

[Steve_L]

So, how raised is a raised bed? Can you point to some info? I really need to grow something.

When I was growing up, I could grow all kinds of stuff at my mom's house. Corn, potatoes, tomatoes, peaches, oranges, avacados...

Everything I plant here dies. Heck, even my Marygolds are turning brown. If it wasn't for the weeds, I wouldn't even have a lawn to mow.

[msta999]

This is my first experience with raised bed gardens, but most of it is coming up. I was told I planted too early, but I think now is the time. If you plant radishes, they will come up, grow like wild. The biggest thing you have to worry about here is the bugs. They are little worms that eat the plants under the ground. I don't know if they are everywhere, but I have been told about them. That is why I bought my soil and compost from Lowels. The dirt was a little expensive @ 2 bucks a sq ft, but the compost was only 1 buck a sq ft and I mixed them 50/50 in 2X6 raised beds.
My neibor grew zucchini and squash last year, said they grew better than anything else and lettus was good also.

[lateaprildawn]

Hello all, That video and others on you tube have been a real inspiration for me too.

I have a pretty average size garden in the uk. Its about 12 yards wide and 25 yards long. This year I hope to beat all my previous growing methods.

I have made quite a few raised beds, most are simply 5ft X 10inches long planks nailed to form a square. Some disabled friends have made beds that stand 2 foot high of the surrounding soil so they can be seated whilst gardening.

I am very lucky to have really good soil, but even so I have to remember you cant keep on taking nutrients from your soil with out putting some back.If you are starting with poor soil, raised beds are ideal if you are able to buy or trade a few cubic yards of good soil . Make a raised bed with it to grow for this year and at the end of the season dig this soil into a poor area of your own soil.

Part of my garden is paved over yet this is one of the most productive parts. I grow tomatos in thick walled plastic sacks, not forgetting to plant lettuce and salad stuff round the base of the plants.

You can grow "up" as well. I grow strawberries and cherry tomatos in hanging baskets. (( that was mainly to stop my thieving labrador pinching them !! ;D

Best wishes,
April

[msta999]

I have heard a few talk about the hanging tomatos, so I just today put some seeding under the 200 watt bulb to get them started for a hanging tomato plant. I was thinking of mixing the big and cherry tomatos together in the same planter. Do you see any problem with this?

[lateaprildawn]

I have only ever grown the bush and cherry tomatos in hanging baskets, I am sure the tall vine tomatos would grow, but I think they need such a vast amount of water that the weight of the baskets could be an issue.

It does sound like an interesting experiment though :) and you have temped me to give it a try as well !!!!.

One thing that has worked well for me every year is to grow herbs in the same basket as my tomato's, basil and oregano especially .

I just need a few sphagetti trees and i will be all set for an italian feast ;D

best wishes,
April,

[msta999]

Well I bought the hanging basket and a hanger to put it on. I am thinking of using peat moss to grow the plants in, but I'm not sure it this is a good idea. The plants might pull out, if they get heavy. Maybe I'll mix Pmoss and dirt. Should hold the water good then, I would think.
The herbs thing sounds good, but we don't use any. Not sure how you would use them anyway.

[LeatherneckPA]

SteveL and Bruenor, you should check your local library for a book called Lasagna Gardening and also google search it. It's a no-till, no-box garden method that allows you the flexibility to move beds and veggies around the space from year to year as desired. And essentially you are just building your garden on top of whatever is already down. Doesn't matter what's under it at all.

As for neighbors not allowing chickens or goats, unless you have a "homeowner's association", I doubt that they have any say in the matter. Check with your zoning officer. In my case, I live in a residential area and so can not have livestock. But rabbits and chickens are not considered livestock. They are considered pets. Still can't do goats, but better than nothing.

[msta999]

You got me wondering about the zoning in my area and this is what I found on the Q&A:

Q: Can I raise and have chickens,
turkeys, pigs, sheep, goats, rabbits
or similar small animals on my
property?
A: Yes. Zoning code provisions allow a person to
have these types of farm animals for non-commercial
purposes in residential and rural zoned areas.
Structures used to house or feed these animals,
however, must maintain a setback of 30 feet from all
property lines.
You should also be aware that privately recorded
restrictive covenants in a plat might restrict animal
ownership. If you live in a subdivision that has
restrictive covenants, you will need to review those
covenants to see if your homeowners’ association
allows this activity. In the R-7200, R-8400, R-9600,
R-12,500, R-20,000 and WFB zones, you need a
minimum of 5 acres and a conditional use permit
if raising these animals is not for the primary
consumption of or use by the occupants of
the premises.

I new the zoning must be rather loose (we are county not city), the guy beside me has a shooting range in his garage.

[StephiLou]

So, how raised is a raised bed? Can you point to some info? I really need to grow something.

When I was growing up, I could grow all kinds of stuff at my mom's house. Corn, potatoes, tomatoes, peaches, oranges, avacados...

Everything I plant here dies. Heck, even my Marygolds are turning brown. If it wasn't for the weeds, I wouldn't even have a lawn to mow.


Hey Steve,

We have had good luck with cinder block gardens. Stacked 2 high. The soil "recipe" that we use is:

1 part compost
1 part sand (not playground sand - washed concrete)
1 part peat moss

The next year add one part peat moss & one part compost.

After that just add compost every year.

Don't forget to use the holes in the blocks and it is really easy to make a mini greenhouse out of this to get your plants going a little earlier

Good luck!

Steph

[JakeLeg]

homesteading in the city is a totally viable thing. i had a class at UPenn about 6 or 7 years ago that was in their urban planning and architecture dept. as a class, we purchased an old home at sheriff's sale, rehabbed it and sold it. the professor was big into urban homesteading. he would actually 'argue' (nicely) with me that urban homesteading is much more viable than rural - i'd argue that really means east coast cities which were designed before the automobile, as opposed to newer cities where an automobile is required. i lived in philadelphia for many years, and didn't own a car until i was almost 30 years old. i had a smallish row house where i gardened in the backyard. it was EXTREMELY cheap for me to live there. everything needed was relatively close at hand, mostly within walking distance, and certainly by bike or bus.

i've also seen some interesting inner city [raised bed] gardening websites. a nearby university recently held a symposium on urban farming - Spin Farming - which has a link here http://www.spinfarming.com/

edit to add: but it was our choice to leave the city to our rural area after having grown up in the sticks and wanting to get back there to raise our family.... urban homesteading IMO is doable if you can stand the urban population, which we collectively decided that we can not.