Being a political animal in the center of the District of Calamity (sic), I was bemused by Democrat presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg’s put down of farmers.
As that callous quip grew into a full borne controversy, critics pointed out how scientific and refined is modern agribusiness. It is much more refined than the crude characterization of subsistence farming.
At the same time, I have been educating myself about urban gardening techniques. I have quickly learned that there are a variety of gardening method: container gardening; permaculture; hydroculture, aquataculture, aeroculture et ali. These techniques range from being quite thrifty to rather pricey.
Before one begins, it helps to discern what are one’s objectives. I am not looking to get a photoshoot for Better Homes and Gardens. I have a small space, so I am not going to dig up all of my “postage stamp” of a back yard. In fact, I want to keep some grass. I do not plan to feed the world with my yield, but in most cases supplement my cuisine and have some strategic ornamentals.
Two other factors which dictate my druthers is that once the planting occurs, I hope to contain my daily drudgery to fifteen minutes a day. In addition, I need to start my gardening on a shoe-string budget.
I have pretty much discerned that it would be best for me to do container gardening. But even that choice has various permutations. I already have a sill planter which acted as a pepper pot. I have a planter with mint (aside from the mint which grows wild in the front yard). I have a container that has been growing stunted hops for five years, but perhaps it will do better now. The two Seedsheet containers (from Sharktank) did not produce much, but the planters could be useful.
While I do have southern exposure sunlight, much of that space is taken by sidewalk. With some reordering, I believe that I could have a green wall, accomplished by a converted door shoe organizer that would be great for herbs.
When a neighbor was renovating to flip the townhouse, I acquired a wrought iron security door, which I recognized would make for a good planter table, raised with some cinder blocks. Since that is heavy duty, I should be able to do some global buckets (wicked planters) and bucket planters on the eastern light end of the property.
The northern exposure side has hosted the compost pile and an improvised table for holding small planters.
My sitting area is the western exposure. Presuming that there is sufficient sunlight, that may be where hop trellises are situated. I am also toying with the notion of growing microgreens with a bag method.
If I were able to get my hands on a wood pallet, I would consider trying to convert it into a standing planter. The idea is intriguing but I am hesitant at how to get my hands on one, and my lack of handyman acumen at converting it. It’s wonderful to conceptually knowing how to do it, but having the tools and the skill set is another matter.
To better educate myself, I will attend a day long urban gardening seminar. The some of the topics seem interesting, but I bet that I’ll have to blend in wearing tie dye and “Imagining whirl peas” mindset. At least it will provide an opportunity to exchange ideas and gauge if I am being overly ambitious with the methods of my madness.
I live in a small townhome in practically the center of the District of Calamity (sic). Since my quarters are so “intimate”, I have sought to utilize my urban back yard as an extension of my living room. When the weather is warm, I tend to spend my evenings sitting outside.
In the past, I have made some tentative steps to garden. For years, I have maintained a small, in ground compost pile. Due to the presence of vermin, the only foodstuff which I compost are coffee and tea grounds. Lately, I have started to supplement the compost with eggshells. I can see the contrast between the good soil in the compost area and the clay on much of the rest of the yard.
For the past couple of years, I have cultivated a few plants. The pepper pot was pretty successful. I also managed to keep some herb plants alive, albeit without transplanting them out of the starter containers.
This spring, I am inspired to create more of an urban garden. Buoyed by the tantalizing taste of really fresh produce and considering the space limitations of a packed refrigerator, I hope to have some crops which supplement our groceries.
I want to eat more salad. Aside from liking the crunch of fresh vegetables, I know that it is healthier for me to have more fresh greens. My beloved likes bag salads mainly comprised of Iceberg lettuce or and baby carrots, both of which I find bland and have a short shelf life.
As an adult, I discovered that I liked spinach, as long as it was fresh (NEVER in a can or frozen) and that it worked as a mixed salad. But when we bought bagged baby spinach, it persistently got buried in the produce drawer and went bad. Personally, I like arugula, but that is something which others would pick out of a salad. I also enjoy sprouts, but that does not suit my other half. Thus, I see growing some greens as an opportunity to get more of what I like with less of a chance of storage spoilage.
I also have nurtured an interest in cooking, which has a nexus with gardening. I like to pickle but bristle at the grocery store price of Kirby cukes. I also had some price shock with dill. Buy growing them in a garden, it will be tasting fresh, presumably thrifty AND giving a sense of accomplishment. While I am not a huge tomato enthusiast, fresh ‘maters in a salad or a sandwich might please my palate.
One other objective which I think could be accomplished by gardening is having some cover. I have longed to get a bicycle for short city trips, but there is no place to put it. My shed is quite packed and there is no room in the abode. The last time I locked a covered bike in the yard, some thief hacked the chain off when stealing the wheels (and he had time to enjoy a cigarette and a cheap can of beer). Now that my satellite dish pole is redundant, I realized that it would make for a sturdy bicycle rack, but it would have to be obscured from street view.
When some handy guys helped with some home improvements, one of the guys heard that I homebrewed so he wondered if I would want some hop rhizomes. Since hops grow like gangbusters and they need a trellis for support, this might be a way to honor my homebrewing interest, do some fun gardening and provide camouflage during the growing season.
Even though I am interested in doing some gardening, I don’t want the pursuit to fully occupy all my free time. While the image of a city center rooftop garden, ala Green Card, might seem romantic, that is not my passion. My neighbor is a fanatical gardener, but she seems to concentrate on flora and her yard is cluttered with pots (of the garden variety).
After planting, I hope to limit maintenance to fifteen minutes a day.
Even though putting architectural dreams to paper is intriguing, the reality it is a long aways off for us. But that doesn't mean that the exercise of "Containing Yourself" is for naught. For me, it is being thrifty, thoughtful and unconventional in re-utilizing things in a way that furthers one's life.
Keeping such notions in mind, when I look at buildings, many times I think about the construction methods or the utility of a layout. When I see architectural plans for residential housing, I contrast it to the anticipated lifestyle and think about how I would modify it.
These Containing Yourself thoughts are not relegated to the future, but also the here and now. I have been know to collect some "Future Clutters", odds and ends that I believe will be useful for some future project.
For instance, when we switched out a dying refrigerator, I felt compelled to save the crisper drawers, the glass shelves and the plastic door shelves. The glass shelf can be overlayed on the stove to temporarily expend counter space in what we affectionately call our current "One Butt Kitchen" with limited counter space. The Crisper Bin will serve well as a container when using the immersion Sous Vide cooker. And I am toying with incorporating the door shelves as part of a vertical garden.
When the neighbor sought to flip the adjacent townhome, he replaced the security door. Initially, I thought that the glass on that door would be a good replacement for our broken pane, but it didn't quite fit. But I realized that if it were raised by some cinder blocks, it would make for a sturdy table for container gardening, especially with Earth Boxes (or Global Buckets).
My metanoia is to consciously incorporate the lessons of Containing Yourself of thriftiness, ingenuity, and unconventionality to improve my life today, without being overwrought or too clever by half.
To better educate myself, I will attend a day long urban gardening seminar. The some of the topics seem interesting, but I bet that I’ll have to blend in wearing tie dye and “Imagining whirl peas” mindset. At least it will provide an opportunity to exchange ideas and gauge if I am being overly ambitious with the methods of my madness.
