Urban Gardening: The Crash Course, pt. 1

How does your garden grow? Mine's a bit of a mess, but thanks to a lot of rain this spring, it appears we'll get a bumper crop of yellow squash, at the least.

Not long after the last thesis draft was sent off and the remaining stuff was just paperwork, I decided this would be the year I got serious about gardening. The last two years, I've borrowed a tiller from the guy down the street, tilled up a small patch of dirt at the end of the driveway, and planted a few random vegetables, none of which ever yielded anything we could actually eat. However, until either drought withered them or our absence on vacation allowed spoilage, we did get at least a few relatively healthy plants, so I knew theoretically that gardening in that spot was possible.

However, in reading about urban gardens, one of the most common problems for new gardens is the presence of lots of heavy metals in the soil, a result of exhaust fumes and other airborne pollutants sedimenting over many years. SO, I decided the fastest option would be to build raised beds out of fresh soil. I started by ordering 8 cubic yards of R3 topsoil mix from B&B Topsoil Mine, which was right around $150 delivered. In case you're bad with numbers, 8 cubic yards is a heck of a lot of dirt! Way more than $150 would buy you at Lowe's. I then built low raised beds out of 1"x12"s with metal L-brackets, and small 2"x2"x36" corner posts. The small posts not only provide extra stability for the brackets and screws, they also give you a handy place to attach wire, in case of marauding rabbits.

About a billion wheelbarrow trips later, we have four raised beds (two 12' long, two 8' long), planted in peppers, tomatoes, squash, beans, corn, broccoli, and strawberries. I rotated my plantings a bit, so that the squash plants would come to maturity at slightly different times throughout the summer; as they finish yielding, they will go into the compost and I will start planting fall crops. I missed the early spring plants, such as potatoes and carrots; hopefully, I can pick them up as late crops after the summer heat drops off a bit. I intend to try and keep something growing the entire year, even if it's just greens and a cover crop.

One thing I've realized about Durham, or at least my little part of it: we seem to be able to grow crops on about the same zone schedule that used to be used for Georgia. I put out stuff WAY before a lot of my printed information said it would be viable, and aside from one threat of frost that didn't materialize, it's been fine. And if I'd been prepared to cover them properly, they could have survived several light frosts, I'm sure. SO, I've decided to stop reading quite so much, and go with my gut a bit more on planting times.

To be continued...