Dealing with Garden Pilfering

Every gardener regardless of garden location experiences some type of loss due to pilfering.  In most cases the culprits are of the four legged or winged variety.  In some locations more so urban than rural the home gardener may also encounter pilfering by the two legged thief.    Yesterday's post discussed turning the front yard of a residential home in an urban setting into a edible garden. 

Converting Front Yard to Edible Garden

All of my gardens have been in urban settings with the exception of this garden which technically is rural but more like a small urban dead end road setting.  I have made a few posts on the growing trend of urban gardening.  Those living in urban areas are growing in traditional row gardens, on balconies, containers and on their windowsills.  If you look around most urban properties there are

Popularity of Urban Edibles

In a recent post I discussed briefly urban gardening. Urban gardening and landscaping has always been a popular except now the focus is turning towards growing edible plants. Growing urban edibles is now becoming quite popular as folks realize they can grow a variety of flower, herbs and small vegetables in small urban spaces. Why is growing urban edibles becoming more popular?The idea of

A Gravity Fed Self Watering System

Keeping container plants sufficiently watered can be a problem especially on hot days or days you are away from home. I found this great video from a permaculture designer. The balcony garden plants water themselves, using 2,000 year old desert technology. The water travels from a rainwater collection tank through tubing to buried unglazed terra cotta wetpots via gravity then is distributed to

A Few Container Gardening Tips

Quite often urban gardeners are forced to grow in containers due to lack of ground space. The ground space may simply be non-existent as in apartment buildings or unavailable to use as in row housing, rental houses and residential areas governed by Home Owners Associations (HOA). While each container is small in comparison to a raised bed or traditional row garden it is surprising how

Balcony Gardening

Yesterday I introduced the topic of urban gardening. Urban gardening presents several issues because in most cases it falls into small space gardening. In some of these cases no actual ground is available for traditional row gardening and while raised beds may be an option for some those living in apartments and row housing may not be able to use raised beds due to restrictions of the tenancy.

Urban Gardening

image courtesy of The Graphic FairyWhen most people think of gardens they think of a large plot with neatly arranged rows of fruits and vegetables perhaps with a fruit tree or two. This method is known as traditional row gardening and while still popular for those with extra space, it is going by the wayside for urban gardening where other methods are proving to be more productive. High

Backyard Chickens (3)

The past couple of days I posted the first and second of an exclusive interview by Green Apple with Toronto Chickens regarding keeping backyard chickens. While this debate rages in communities across Canada it is important to realize that keeping egg laying chickens in your back yard makes good economical and ecological sense. Those growing their own produce do so to have fresh, organic

Backyard Chickens (2)

Yesterday I posted part one of Green Apple Pie interview with Toronto Chickens in November 2009. Here is part two of the interview. The speaker's face has been obscured with two chicken eggs in order to protect her identity. She raises chickens in her own backyard in a residential neighbourhood of the City of Toronto, ON. It's important to point out that as of March 7, 2010 she still had her

Backyard Chickens (1)

The debate over allowing people to raise chickens in their backyards continues across Canada. There is no hard, fast rules over keeping chickens with some communities such as Victoria, BC and Niagara Falls, ON allowing residents to have backyard chickens while other communities forbid them. Yet other communities such as Toronto, Calgary, Waterloo and other larger centers are still debating the

Urban Farming Detroit, Michigan Edgeton Community Garden

In many intercity communities there is vacant land from buildings being torn down. Some enterprising individuals have taken it upon themselves to establish community gardens as a way to help themselves and others in the community. W.D.Gardner (alias) of eastside Detroit, Michigan is one such individual. He is trying to establish gardens in his community in the hopes of providing food for his