If you're struggling, don't overlook the advantages of your own victory garden

It's amazing how much of your own food you can grow, even in small spaces.

Here's some resources to get you thinking and the wheels spinning:

Urban Gardening: You Can Grow Food, No Matter Where You Live
http://earthfirst.com/urban-gardening-you-can-grow-food-no-matter-where-you-live/

Farming the Concrete Jungle
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3297

Starting a Community Garden
(This is an excellent overall site with lots of practical tips)
http://www.communitygarden.org/learn/starting-a-community-garden.php

How to Turn Your Lawn Into a Garden
http://urbangardenmagazine.com/2010/02/how-to-turn-your-lawn-into-a-garden/

Grow $700 of Food in 100 Square Feet!
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/Square-Foot-Gardening-Food.aspx

Turn Your Yard Into a Luscious Landscape
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/Edible-Landscaping-Fruit-Plants.aspx

Get growing! And if you have some extra time and space, it's always nice to plant a row or two to donate to the local food bank.

We just bought our tomato and pepper plants yesterday. Summer squash is definitely going in. The asparagus has been up for a long time now.

I was amazed at the difference in taste. I'm going to plant 4X as much next time.

So easy and yummy, I don't know why I didn't try sooner. This year, I'm experimenting with some by growing them in bins using the straw method. I have some in the ground as well and we'll see which works out better.

You just up-end the basket and pull out the taters then shovel up the dirt and hose down the driveway. The bushel basket lets water through quite well so they won't rot.

I've got this crop in a 20' x 4' bed (about the fourth season in that location). I grow the blue potatoes. Damn do they look pretty mashed.

Russet and Kennebec. The Kennebec are the only ones that are lagging.

It is 'spring' sort of...we are still getting a freak snowstorm about every 5-10 days, so the growing is in fits & starts. I at least have the pine needles raked up into piles. Next thing is to build the raised beds, buy dirt, etc..

But I am just sooooooo ready to get out there and get it going! I have radishes, lettuce,brocoli, baby corn and baby pumpkins and zuchini and pole beans...all kinds of stuff! we are gonna have a bumper crop once it atually gets warm around here!

is a great book as well.

If hers works out well we may do the same by the end of the summer, since we have such a long growing season.

http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/

......right nextdoor to me (well, kind of) in Pasadena.

Lots of great resources there to share.

something is eating my bell pepper plants. I've sprinkled Bonide animal repellent (not harmful to animals) around my garden but that isn't keeping the critters away.

or is it bugs eating them?

Strangely enough they're not eating the lettuce or spinach - only the pepper plants. Tomato cages will probably be the best solution.

Ours are all in pots in the screened enclosure. She doesn't mess with anything except those and I have to keep squirting her with the water pistol.

lasting floral vermin repellent.

I've got three kinds of tomatoes, three kinds of sweet bell peppers, banana peppers, several kinds of lettuces, kale, cabbage, zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, strawberries, pumpkins, and lots of herbs, plus morning glories, marigolds, and two rose bushes. All of it is being grown in two 9x3 raised beds (the entirety of our "yard"), nine 5-gallon buckets, and six other assorted-size containers. We live RIGHT in the middle of our city. If we can do it, anyone can do it. :)

I would love to see pictures. You may inspire other urban dwellers.

I haven't uploaded my most recent ones yet, but I intend to do so within the next day or two. I received more plant seedlings from a friend who works for a CSA in the southern part of West Virginia, so I have lots more plants. Also, I've grown almost all of my plants from seeds I started about a month ago, so right now most of them are still pretty small. By the end of the summer, though, I'll be hauling in produce like crazy. My Big Boy tomato plants are already well over 2 feet tall and putting out flowers! :)

I, too, would really like to see them.

At one time I had two RBs about the size of yours plus a hanging garden off my back terrace. That was all I had and I grew 65 different herbs in that small spot!


Cher

on how you utilize the space.

But it sure is fun. I've made salads and casseroles from what I've grown.

Great OP!

for both the compliment and the recommendation. :-)

fresher more nutritious produce, learning gardening skills, better tasting produce, reduction of reliance on shipped and factory farmed food, exercise outdoors, more family memories and activities, sharing with neighbors over the fence, etc.

There are lots of ways to participate, even if you don't have your own land...grow in containers, help a neighbor in exchange for produce, help your parents, join a community garden, grow sprouts inside, etc.

It's time to plant!

And: www.ocfoodnotlawns.org

Thanks for the reminder prolesunited!

I've gardened for years, good times or bad. However, in lean times like these, my gardening area keeps getting bigger and I am more diligent about it.

Plus, I don't use pesticides or chemical fertilizers, so I can eat primarily organic without the cost. Plus, I'm a vegetarian, so what I grow is most of my diet in the summer. I've also taught myself how to can and we have a freezer. Still not up to putting up for the whole year, but it definitely helps.

some canning techniques I guess. Kudos on the organic route. I'm close to being there but might be spotted putting some That's It near my bean seedlings when they sprout in order to keep the slugs off. Been using an organic Gardener and Bloom fertilizer but mostly fish emulsion. A favorite spring salad we've been making from the garden:

shaved fennel
shaved maui onion
arugula (not a ton, less than the other ingredients)
salt, pepper, lemon juice, olive oil

Also awesome:

Shaved fennel
Avocado (from farmers market)
Grapefruit (from farmers market)
A light vinaigrette of some sort, pepper

Homesteading is exploding in popularity and it has been fun to re-learn or discover techniques our grandparents knew. There are lots of online communities that offer opportunities for learning, networking, sharing, etc. (I joined the one linked elsewhere in your thread and had fun until I learned how proprietary and controlling they were). For those in southern California, check out the classes, events, and gardens at The Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano www.theecologycenter.org

Not to ramble, but I attended a sourdough seminar (at the Ecology Center) two weeks ago and now have starter to keep alive. It's fun and there are tons of recipes online. This last weekend I made a blackberry sourdough muffin using 50% whole wheat flour, bread flour, and some flax meal. Tasted great...easy!

peppers never did well, cukes destroyed by vermin. hell, the bastards got everything last year. they even ate the peppers. just enough crappy pole beans for my cat. planting marigolds this year.
the farmers market is great too. and i freeze peppers + make corn to freeze.

since my garden production is staggered for eating. I never have enough of my own for canning, except for pickles.