Edible Estates. Someone had the same idea as me.

[SSimon]

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/e...ontainer.html\

Great link on veggie container gardening. I think I just found a new project.

[Godiva]

That link goes to an error page.

Vegetable gardening in containers. Not specifically about hanging baskets but would apply.

[Godiva]

There's also something called Vertical Gardening that can use a double trellis sturucture with dirt inside a wire form to grown "up a wall". Or just a simple trellis or series of stakes, etc. Great for containers or tight landscape spaces.

More on hanging baskets.

[SSimon]

Originally Posted by Godiva

That link goes to an error page.

Vegetable gardening in containers. Not specifically about hanging baskets but would apply.

Yep, that's the link that I had seen. Didn't clip and paste correctly. This project is a go. Just need to make sure I hang the baskets so as not to tear the shakes off my house. I'll need to find studs, I'm assuming. Hopefully they're spaced typically so that my hanging garden has some symmetry. Looking forward to this.

I went to my first farmer's market last week. I found one located on the way to our land. We will now bring the cooler and ice to keep the produce fresh until we get home any time we go there. I roasted a bunch of different squashes and made an arugula salad. Huge difference in flavor.

[PriuStorm]

Originally Posted by Godiva

Guy named Fritz Haeg had the same idea as me only a lot earlier. Turn front lawns into edible gardens. He calls them Edible Estates and has a book coming out.

"Fritz describes the lawns on the street outside people’s house as “a no man’s land, a kind of hostile territory where nobody is really welcome.” His idea is to transform these unused spaces into vegetable gardens. Fritz is concerned with the global issues of land use and food production, he says, “the ultimate goal is to have everyone that comes in contact with the project, in whatever way, to reconsider how they occupy their land.” Did you know that if lawns were a crop they would ran as fifth largest in the United States on the basis of area? With Edible Estates Fritz is demonstrating that one person can make a public gesture of producing food in the most local way possible, on your own front lawn. What if keeping up with the Joneses meant you had a better tomato bush or a bigger plum tree?"

"According to Haeg, landscaping accounts for 20 to 50 percent of all residential water use, with the average lawn using more than 325 litres of water daily. If harvested, the 30 million acres of lawn in the United States make would make grass the fifth largest crop in that country. With land use and food production being two of the most significant global challenges today, Haeg’s goal is to have everyone who comes into contact with the project reconsider how they occupy the land."

Water Saving Backyards.

And he practices what he preaches. He's ediblized the yard of his geodesic dome house.

This sounds similar to Freedom Gardens.

Turning your lawn into a garden isn't entirely a new concept... Back in WWII, there were Victory Gardens

From this site:

Victory gardens were vegetable gardens planted during the world wars to ensure an adequate food supply for civilians and troops. Government agencies, private foundations, businesses, schools, and seed companies all worked together to provide land, instruction, and seeds for individuals and communities to grow food.

I wish I could remember the site, but once I found a site of a regular family in a regular standard lot somewhere in the Los Angeles area, who steadily (over the course of several years) converted every plantable inch of land into food gardening, including removing a cement patio, building a pergola to support perennial vines like grapes, installing trellises on fences and vertical garage walls for climbers, etc. They started out supplying just their own food needs, but eventually grew so much (and organically, too) that they began supplying local restaurants with fresh produce. It was a terrific site, had pictures of each year's garden layout... wonderful for ideas and very inspirational. I think it was like a 5500 sq. ft. lot.

[Godiva]

I know it isn't a new concept. But the guy pushing it is trying to motivate people to return to the Victory Garden concept. Or if you wish, the typical front yards of the first half of the 20th century. Expansive front lawns were mostly for the elite until the 50s.

Could the family have been the Foti Family of Lakewood, CA? Looks like it was started in 2006 so the family could have extended it in the last two years. Perhaps they liked the front so much they also expanded to the back yard?

I'm lucky. I don't live in a "planned" community. In my neighborhood (and my parents') you can do anything you want in your front lawn. Some do have lawns. Also some trees and/or flowers. I used to have nothing but grass (with a worn path diagonally from the corner to my front door because the postman was too lazy to use the path from the sidewalk) and some oxalis along the front of the house in a planter. That planter now holds miniature roses and geraniums. I also have a brick wall across the front that also acts as a retaining wall with roses across. The front path from the sidewalk is now brick and there are brick pathways surrounding the front "yard". There is a fountain in the center of this. So the area where a lawn would traditionally go is much smaller. I've tried two different ground covers that don't require mowing and the weeds have taken over both. When I'm working I just don't have time to weed. And the area was never successfully "defoliated" when the front yard was done. Just weed whacked an turned with a rototiller. Both times. The only way to control it is manually, turning with a shovel and pulling all vegetation by hand. I've explained this to every MALE I've hired. And I still end up with the same sh¡t. So I'll be doing it myself when I get the time. Perhaps Christmas after a few good rains. Maybe after I retire. Which is now 9 years away. (Just saw the financial planner. Instead of retiring at 58 I'm now retiring at 62)


This is all I have now. The green is weeds before they've grown too high. There's a fountain in the middle where the stepping stones lead. If I can reclaim it from the weeds I can have a pretty substantial garden. I'm thinking this fall I can have major lettuce and spinach. Next summer cucumbers and melons. It's maybe 10 x 20 ft.

[hyo silver]

Originally Posted by Godiva

...the area was never successfully "defoliated" when the front yard was done. Just weed whacked an turned with a rototiller. Both times. The only way to control it is manually, turning with a shovel and pulling all vegetation by hand...

Weedwacking and Rototilling will only encourage the weeds by spreading their regenerative parts around. And bare ground will only encourage the faster growing varieties to colonise your yard first. I've learned by experience that weeding is more successful when it's soon followed by planting the species you want, and watering only those plants, not the whole area. I'm now experimenting with planting grass temporarily in certain areas I know I won't be sowing crops in just yet, with the sole purpose of keeping the weeds out. "Nature abhors a vacuum" applies very well to gardening.

[bac]

Originally Posted by SSimon

Are all your hanging container crops producing healthy yields?

Here's what I've harvested to date from planting in early June:

Red Tum Tom = 476
Yellow Tum Tom = just planted 3 weeks ago
Hot wax pepper = 10 (many on the plant now ... trying to grow them BIG)
Gypsy Pepper = 11
Yellow Pear Tom = 171
Red Grape Tom = 243
Seedless Cuc 1 = 12
Seedless Cuc 2 = 13
Straight 8 Cuc = 24
Sweet Pepper = 6
Jalapeno = 35

All the plants are still going strong. However, you can tell that the toms are heading toward the end of their life cycle. I'll harvest much more before the year is done! Four of my plants (all peppers) are in 5 gal buckets on the ground below the hanging plants.

Originally Posted by SSimon

Do you have pictures?

I'll snap a pic with my phone:

Originally Posted by SSimon

Have you had to do anything special or different with a container garden than you would with a land garden?

I'll have to confess that I've not done a regular garden. The only thing I've done to these plants is to water them 2x/day, and do a Miracle Grow plant mix 1x/week.

Originally Posted by SSimon

What crops can you grow in hanging baskets? I'm guessing crops like squash would be too large.

Again .... I'm still learning. However, I can attest to toms, peppers and cucumbers!

Try it ............... you'll like it!!

... Brad

[DaveinOlyWA]

hanging plants sounds like a good idea on many levels.

i do live in a housing gestapo, so gardening options are limited. i do have a very very small patch of ground on the side of the garage (walkway really) i can do what i want, but its fenced and very limited sun.

but i can hang plants on the back patio. plus when hung i can recapture the water runoff and recycle that.

[SSimon]

Hyo is right. Get something in there asap or you'll be fighting the weeds forever. And cease the roto tilling 'cause all this does is dredge up old seed bank and expose them to germinating conditions. If you're growing your veggies from seed, you may want to start the seed in pots until mature and in that way they can compete with the weeds that are already established. Trouble is, the weeds will be harder to control from going to flower and then seed as you won't be able to weed whack it without damaging your desired plantings.

Seems like you've got a really good weed seed bank going now. I'm struggling with the very same situation in my restoration work. In my neck of the woods, they sell cover crop to sow that out competes weeds and once under control, you can plant your desired crop. Not sure it would work where you are.

The life span of the weeds and the potential seeds bank will probably dictate how you tackle your problem.

Oh, I just thought of something. I'm still in a trial and error phase of this but I use corn gluten on my remaining lawn. What this stuff does is inhibit moisture uptake by young weeds seeds but it let's the mature plantings survive. Obviously this is a problem if you're using seeds to grow your veggies but if not, it may be a good solution. It's au naturale so you doggie won't get sick from it. And the storm water run off won't pollute your local waters with chemicals. (hopefully they don't find out in 10 years that it impairs wildlife. yikes.) It takes about three years to accrue in the soil and become effective. I'm on year two. The dandelion field in my front yard has reduced. You'll still have to control mature weeds with this stuff as it only works on seedlings.