Growing food in the city

[SunnyAlberta]

Hubby and I are going to convert our existing perennial beds to ones that can give us food. We are in zone 3B. Can you recommend books for me to look at about optimizing our space?

Any tips?

And tell me the truth... will chickens destroy our lawn and gardens? How do we manage that?

 

[AlienChick]

The chickens WILL destroy your garden!
We just planted some veggies in several locations and we put plastic netting around a couple of the plots and we put electric fencing around the large garden.
Our chickens free range over our farm, so they don't do any damage to the grass.
However, if confined to a smaller area, chickens can dig, scratch, and eat up a lawn down to dirt in no time.
A good gardening website/forum that can help you out is "The Easy Garden" and I'd recommend starting there.
Good luck with your garden!!

 

[California_chickie]

yeah< the chickens WILL destroy your garden for sure if you let them free range all the time. However, with a little bit of planning, you can contain your chickens, manage them, and actually have them help some of your crops (with compost, scratching, soil aeration, etc) I know you're not in CA, but I personally love Sunset Magazine for all their gardening ideas & urban homesteading tips.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I bought the book "Square Foot Gardening" and Mr. Bartholomew has some great ideas and suggestions. While I am not following everything that he says to the letter, I am following his priciples. Our soil here in Wyoming is very poor - no organics, lots of rocks, some clay, mostly sand ... basically rotten granite... so I have chosen to garden in raised beds. That way I can put wire mesh down under the bed before filling with a soil mix and I have been able to keep out the gophers and mice.

 

[SunnyAlberta]

Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[Dara77]

Good Luck on your garden! Almost my whole backyard is garden and I've been doing it for three years here in town, I'm finally getting three hens in a few days, my urban farm is almost complete, lol! I learned most of my stuff online from Gardenweb or Idigmygarden (Baker Creek heirlooms seeds forum) and trial and error. This is my first year to try corn and so far so good, knock on wood! I've discovered I can't grow regular summer squash or zuchinni organically here, because of the vine borers, so I finally gave them up and am focusing on other things more now. I am trying a different squash supposed to be more resistant, and letting my dad grow the others, he can where he is. I'm really into beans and tomatoes, lol. You will learn what works for you and what doesn't. Focus on getting your soil good and that is the best thing I can tell you.

 

[onebigglo1]

Check out your local library if you have one. Mine has all kinds of books on gardening and they are free to use.

 

[SunnyAlberta]

Check out your local library if you have one.

Focus on getting your soil good and that is the best thing I can tell you.

More good ideas. Thanks! I just joined a community garden project and will have the opportunity to learn from experienced folks, plus I've bookmarked several web sited devoted to gardening in my zone.

 

[rufus]

Gardening in the city is a bit of a challenge. Don't plant corn, tomatoes, or any other identifiable crop. Stick with root vegetables. Garden thieves are not big on digging and heavy labor. To most city people, turnips, carrots and sweet potatoes just look like weeds. Okra is a good crop because most people do not recognize it nor do they know how to eat it.

Rufus

 

[Dara77]

Gardening in the city is a bit of a challenge. Don't plant corn, tomatoes, or any other identifiable crop. Stick with root vegetables. Garden thieves are not big on digging and heavy labor. To most city people, turnips, carrots and sweet potatoes just look like weeds. Okra is a good crop because most people do not recognize it nor do they know how to eat it.

Rufus

My garden is not fenced and I've never had anything stolen by people, squirrels yes, lol. But I am in a small town but it's still a pretty busy neighborhood. And I grow tomatoes every year