-
Gardening While Renting: An Early Farewell to Year Two
This was the second year that I’ve been attempting to garden while renting. I shared about the beginning of this year’s garden back in April. I had high hopes for my few little plants I was able to plant in my tiny place. This year hasn’t gone as planned in a large number of ways and my little garden is no exception. Gardening While Renting Year Two Recap For this year’s garden I chose to plant some things that I thought would be fun to grow. Dill Beets Kale Seed paper with a mystery plant I made a bunch of mistakes right from the start, such as not paying attention…
-
How Your Garden Helps the Planet: Composting
We’re continuing our series on how your garden helps the planet this week by looking at composting. If you missed our other posts in this series, check them out here: How Your Garden Helps the Planet: Lawns How Your Garden Helps the Planet: Trees, Plants, and Garden Design. What is Composting? Composting is the process of taking your organic waste and turning it back into nutrient-rich soil. Compost is a fantastic addition to your garden beds or pots and you can make your own compost whether you have a yard or a small space under your kitchen sink! Gardening Know How states that “to understand the composting process, it helps…
-
How Your Garden Helps the Planet: Lawns
It surrounds our homes and buildings, lines our roads and sidewalks, and covers our parks. But have you ever wondered why or how we ended up with a flat green mat covering the dirt in our outdoor spaces? I hadn’t really thought much about it until watching the movie Biggest Little Farm. In the film, the plot that is eventually transformed into lush, productive land teeming with life begins as a former monoculture farm operation that has sapped the life and energy from the soil. It was inspiring to see what could be done, made me wonder what could be achieved on my little bit of land, and also made…
-
Gardening While Renting: The Start of Year Two
I’ve always loved the thought of having my own vegetable garden, but since I’m a renter without my own plot of land, I wasn’t sure it was possible. Last year, I decided to take advantage of my current front stoop and have my first attempt at gardening while renting. You can read all about how that year went in my recap post for the gardening while renting series. While I didn’t yield a huge harvest (as you can imagine in less than one square foot of space!) I still found gardening incredibly rewarding. That’s why I am diving in and giving it another go this year! Deciding to Plant Again…
-
Lessons Learned from Gardening on the Front Stoop
This year, with much help from Krista, I started my first ever garden on the front stoop of my rental unit. Read the journey from beginning to now in my previous posts:Gardening While RentingTaking Over the Front Stoop I was excited to see what I would be able to produce in my very limited, small space, though my expectations were not very high. I was approaching the entire gardening adventure as an experiment to see what was possible. Where things went right Lettuce My lettuce plant grew amazingly well! I had a steady supply of little bunches of lettuce shortly after it was planted. The plant grew tall instead of…
-
Taking Over the Front Stoop
Let the Gardening Begin! Once I started dreaming of having my miniature veggie garden on my front stoop, I immediately began searching what vegetables grow best in the shade. There are tons of lists out there such as this one, 26 Vegetables to Grow in the Shade, from Rural Sprout. If I’m honest, I was hoping to avoid too many salad greens, which happen to grow really well in the shade. Salad and I have a love-hate relationship because 17 years ago when I became vegan, salad was all anyone knew what to feed me…so back then I ate my full! But Krista convinced me that eating them pulled out…
