Table of Contents

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Conventions Used in This Book 2

What You’re Not to Read 2

Foolish Assumptions 3

How This Book Is Organized 3

Part I: Urban Gardening 101 3

Part II: Gardening Basics 4

Part III: Places and Ways to Garden 4

Part IV: Growing Plants in the City 4

Part V: Growing to Perfection 5

Part VI: The Part of Tens 5

Icons Used in This Book 5

Where to Go from Here 6

Part I: Urban Gardening 101 7

Chapter 1: Gardening in the City 9

Knowing the Basics of Soil Prep 9

Finding the Many Places to Garden the City 10

Growing All Kinds of Plants in The City 11

Trees and shrubs 12

Edibles 12

Annual flowers 13

Perennial flowers and roses 13

Lawns and groundcovers 14

Exploring the Down and Dirty of Growing 14

Weeding and mulching 15

Watering 15

Pest patrol 15

Chapter 2: Reaping the Benefi ts of Urban Gardening 17

Enjoying Local Produce from Urban Food Gardens 18

Looking at places to grow food 18

Checking out urban food gardening projects 19

Creating Healthy Cities 22

Reducing pollution 22

Making cities more livable 25

Improving the neighborhood 26

Chapter 3: The Urban Microclimate 27

The Sunny City: Working with the Sun and Warmer Urban Temperatures 27

Taking advantage of seasonal solar angles 28

Dealing with solar glare 29

Minimizing the Heat Island Effect 29

The Windy City: Working with Seasonal Urban Wind Patterns 32

Taking Macroclimate and Microclimate Conditions into Account in Your Garden 34

Knowing your hardiness zone 34

Considering your own microclimatic conditions 35

Part II: Gardening Basics 37

Chapter 4: Getting to Know Your Soil 39

Determining Your Type of Soil 40

Understanding the different soil types 40

Figuring out what you have 41

Checking Your Soil’s Drainage 42

Performing a percolation test 43

Mastering the metal rod test 43

Discovering Your Soil’s pH Level 44

Finding Out What Lies Beneath the Soil 45

Doing a little digging (literally and fi guratively) 46

Protecting yourself from soil contaminants 46

Chapter 5: Feeding and Fertilizing Your Soil 51

Organics 101: Plant Matter 52

Adding a Little Something Extra to Build Soil Fertility: Animal Manure 54

Making Compost and Growing Soil 56

Composting safely in the city 56

Choosing a container 57

Building your pile 58

Troubleshooting common composting problems 59

Composting with worms 60

Giving Your Plants and Soil a Boost with Fertilizers 62

Getting to know the “big three” in commercial fertilizers 62

Wet versus dry fertilizers 63

Applying a side dressing of fertilizer 65

Chapter 6: Getting Your Hands Dirty: Planting How-To 67

Planting Annual Flowers and Veggies 67

Starting with a raised bed 68

Deciding whether to buy seeds or transplants 70

Making a seed-starting schedule based on frost dates 71

Growing your own seedlings 73

Picking out transplants 74

Planting your annual or vegetable garden 75

Planting Trees and Shrubs 78

Buying a tree or shrub 78

Digging the hole and planting 79

Getting your trees and shrubs off to a good start 82

Planting Perennial Flowers, Bulbs, and Roses 83

Buying and planting perennial flowers 84

Buying and planting bulbs 84

Buying and planting roses 86

Part III: Places and Ways to Garden 89

Chapter 7: Creating an Outdoor Room 91

Analyzing Your Outdoor Space 92

Fencing In Your Space 92

Planning Your Outdoor Room 93

Creating Your Garden Entrance 93

Installing moon gates for a Zen-like feel 94

Showing off your space with garden arbors 95

Opting for other types of entry features 96

Defining the Uses for Your Outdoor Room 96

Creating a Focal Element 97

Using a unique plant 98

Creating serenity with a water feature 99

Going with a man-made feature 100

Turning Recycled Materials into Chic and Useful Garden Art 101

Using yard sale items 101

Repurposing materials (Reusing junk) 103

Considering Interactive Garden Art 104

A garden sundial 104

Music in the garden 105

Chapter 8: Containing Your Gardening 107

Surveying Container Options 107

Cool commercial containers 109

Hanging, balancing, and other interesting containers 110

Bathtubs, birdcages, bicycles, and more 111

Selecting Soil for Your Container 112

Planting a Container 113

Prepping your pots 114

Planting your containers properly 114

Jazzing Up Your Containers 116

Placing containers for visual interest 116

Coordinating colors 117

Cool container combos 117

Taking Care of Your Container Plants 119

Watering 119

Maintaining your containers 120

Moving containers 122

Chapter 9: A Garden with a View: The Rooftop Garden 123

Finding Out the Rooftop Gardening Basics 124

Why grow up? Reviewing reasons for planting on the roof 124

What’s your type? Choosing a green roof or roof garden 125

How much is enough? Looking at your limits 126

What’s next? Getting started and developing a plan 129

Designing a Rooftop Garden or Green Roof 131

Structural considerations: Making sure your roof won’t cave in 132

Managing rainwater 133

Deciding what to grow 135

Planning electrical service and lighting 137

Transporting materials 137

Staying In Bounds with a Rooftop Container Garden 138

Chapter 10: Going Vertical in Your Garden 141

Discovering the Benefits of Growing Vertical 141

Facing the Challenges of Growing Vertical 142

Rethinking Your Space: Up, Down, and All Around 143

Getting Plants to Grow Up 144

Vertical structures: Providing a place to climb 144

Growing vertical veggies and fruits 150

Giving Containers a Lift 151

Understanding the special considerations for vertical container gardening 151

Choosing vertical containers 151

Chapter 11: Apartment Gardens 155

Balcony Gardens 155

Using containers on your balcony 156

Creating a picture frame garden 158

Using flowerbox planters 159

Indoor Gardening 161

Creating an indoor herb garden 161

Growing under lights indoors 163

Practicing indoor plant care and watering 164

Chapter 12: Community Gardening and Urban Farming 165

Community Gardening 101 165

A brief history of community gardening 166

How community gardening works 167

Starting a Community Gardening Program 167

Selecting a site 168

Developing your site 168

Organizing the garden 169

Managing the garden 169

Urban Farming = Urban Renewal 169

Benefits of gardening together 171

Avoiding down zoning 171

Marketing Locally 172

Selling produce at farmers’ markets 172

Participating in farm-to-school initiatives 172

Selling to local restaurants 173

Hosting harvest festivals 173

Creating community gatherings and celebrations 173

Sharing a Garden 174

Gardening with roommates 174

Volunteering for others 175

Hiring out as an urban farmer 175

Planting a row for the hungry 175

Going from Pavement to Parks 176

Reclaiming urban green space 176

Creating urban parklets 178

Part IV: Growing Plants in the City 179

Chapter 13: City Setting, Country Food 181

Making a Veggie Garden Plan 181

Choosing a site for your vegetable garden 181

Sizing up your garden: How big is big? 182

Laying it all out 183

Keeping Your Veggies Happy 183

Feeding 184

Weeding, mulching, and watering 185

Raising the Top City Vegetables 185

Leafy greens 186

The tomato family: Eggplants, peppers, and other relatives 186

Melons, squash, and other vining vegetables 188

Root vegetables 189

Peas and beans 190

Cabbage, broccoli, and more 192

Easy herbs 192

Extending the Season 194

Succession planting: Lettuce forever! 195

Intercropping: The space between 195

Protecting plants in cool weather 196

Chapter 14: The Annual Flowering of the City 199

Understanding Annuals 199

Siting Your Annual Flower Garden 200

Figuring out whether your garden can

support sun- or shade-loving annuals 200

Prepping and planting 201

Considering color 201

Thinking about texture and fragrance 202

Growing flowers for cutting 203

Growing Annuals in Containers 203

Choosing Annual Flowers for All Seasons and Soils 205

Cool spring and fall flowers 205

Summer flowers 207

Flowers for every soil 209

Caring for Your Annuals to Keep a Continuous Flower Show 210

Watering 210

Weeding 211

Fertilizing 211

Deadheading 212

Pruning 212

Keeping them up 213

Using Succession Planting to Maintain Your Annual Flowers 213

Chapter 15: Perennial Flowers, Roses, and Bulbs in the City 215

Getting to Know Perennials, Roses, and Bulbs 215

Finding a Permanent Planting Spot 216

Considering sun, soil, and exposure 216

Going with containers 217

Choosing Perennials Fit for City Living 218

Sun-loving perennial flowers 219

Shade-loving perennial flowers 221

Growing and Maintaining Perennial Flowers 222

General care and maintenance 222

Providing a little extra support 223

Divide and multiply 224

Enjoying La Vie en Rose 224

Selecting the best city roses 225

Growing and caring for roses 226

Lighting Up Your Garden with Bulbs 227

Finding a spot for bulbs 228

Finding the best spring flowering bulbs for the city 228

Determining the best summer flowering bulbs for the city 229

Caring for bulbs 229

Chapter 16: Growing a Tree in Brooklyn 231

Selecting City-Friendly Trees 231

The best deciduous trees 232

Evergreen tree options 234

Growing Some Shrubbery 235

Looking at ways to use shrubs in your yard 235

Discovering some great city shrubs 236

Keeping Your Trees and Shrubs Fit 239

Watering and fertilizing 239

Pruning 101 240

Growing City Fruits 242

Finding the best fruit trees for the city 243

Keeping those tree fruits growing 244

Keeping Berry Bushes in the City 245

Choosing the best city berries 245

Staying berry healthy 248

Chapter 17: Lawns and Ground Covers 249

Selecting the Right Grass 250

Cool-season grasses 250

Warm-season grasses 252

Seed versus sod 253

 Caring for Your Lawn 255

Looking at city mowers 255

Mowing correctly 256

Maintaining your lawn 257

Patching up paradise 259

Ground Cover Alternatives 259

Lawns versus ground covers 259

Cityside ground covers 260

Planting and caring for your cover 261

Part V: Growing to Perfection 263

Chapter 18: Weeding and Mulching Your Plants 265

Winning the War on Weeds 265

Identifying weeds and knowing why you should care 266

Stopping weeds before they’re a problem 267

Controlling weeds once they’re large 269

Mulching 101 269

Types of mulch 270

Mulching correctly 273

Chapter 19: Watering Your Garden 275

Conserving Water 275

Knowing how much you need to water 276

Using less water 277

Harvesting Water 278

Installing a rain barrel 279

Utilizing gray water 279

Creating a rain garden 280

Delivering Water to Your Plants 282

Hoses and cans 282

Watering wands 282

Trigger nozzles 283

Soaker hoses 283

Drip irrigation 284

Sprinklers 286

A few other watering methods to try 287

Chapter 20: Controlling Urban Garden Pests 289

Knowing the Good Guys 290

Bringing in beneficial insects 290

Attracting birds to your yard 291

Encouraging bees to stick around 292

Being Proactive to Control the Bad Guys 293

Designing your garden to prevent problems 294

Deciding whether you really have a problem 294

Dealing with Insect Pests in Your Garden 295

Know your bug 296

Managing your pests without sprays 300

Using safe sprays 303

Spotting and Treating Diseases 304

Knowing whether you’re really dealing with a disease 304

Preventing damage in the first place 305

Being aware of some common diseases 306

Finding the safest sprays for diseases 308

Critters in the Bean Patch 309

Identifying animal damage 309

Figuring out which common city animals to watch for 310

Part VI: The Part of Tens 311

Chapter 21: Ten Tools for Urban Gardeners 313

Chapter 22: Ten Kid-Friendly Ways to Garden in the City 319

Chapter 23: Ten Tips to Manage a Sustainable Urban Garden 325

Index 331