By Michael Nolan

I toyed with titling this post, “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” because I realize I’ve been away for most of it, but I thought I’d go with the less obvious.

I am back in full force though and I hope to continue sharing with you all for a long time to come!

At the start of June I relocated rather abruptly to the other side of town and aside from the obvious adjustments that such a move requires I was feeling rather lost when it came to my garden.

You may remember I had planted several different heirloom tomato varieties as well as green beans, cucumbers and several other veggies that I was quite excited about. When none of them made the trek with me I was at a loss.

Not only did I feel as though I had nothing to share with my gardening blog readers (especially here at UGC), I also felt as though I had left the definition of urban gardener at my prior home since I now live in what is called a ‘garden home’ in a large development . As the weeks progressed though I started to realize that Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanessa Richins

An old railway in Furness, England had become a seedy location.

As the project website describes, “The land and buildings proposed for development have been derelict for almost 30 years and until a recent clean up, had been used as an area for fly tipping, arson, under age drinking and drug abuse.”

All that has changed now.

A new urban garden is about to be opened to the public. With monetary help from several different groups, the railway was turned into a beautiful area that will be for the community to use. Access work needs to be done before it will open, but they will hold escorted tours for anyone interested on every Thursday afternoon in October.

The website says that the garden has three main features:

1. The Read the rest of this entry »

By Cindy Naas

Although our gardens are slowing down now (at least in some parts of the country) there are still vegetables waiting to be picked and stored or used.

I love this time of the year, and storing squash is one of the great pleasures of the fall garden.

Filling my root cellar with various types of squash makes me feel ready to settle in for the long winter.

Squash don’t need to be brought in right away unless you live in a rainy area, in which case you’ll need to get them off the ground. Preventing mildew is really the only reason to bring squash in before the first frost. If you grew them nestled in straw, this won’t be a worry.

Harvesting - Use a sharp knife and cut them from the vine leaving about 1 inch of vine attached to the squash. Rinse squash off outside to Read the rest of this entry »

By Cindy Naas

It’s nearly that time of the year, much as I hate to say it.

It’s time to start thinking about putting the garden to bed for the winter.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind as the days get colder. By using some of these ideas, your soil or planters will be in great shape for planting next spring.

1. Mulch - Yes, even in a vegetable garden, winter mulching is a good idea. Giving the soil a good covering of manure or compost will add needed nutrients to the soil and will also prevent some weeds from taking over the space. Spread manure or compost about 2 inches deep.

2. Compost - if you have the room, starting a small compost pile directly on the earth will do great things for your soil. Allowing a compost pile to Read the rest of this entry »

By Cindy Naas

I’ve been traveling a bit this summer, and one of the things I most enjoy doing when visiting a new city is to see just how visible urban gardeners are.

I’ve found some amazing rooftop gardens, have been delighted by finding all sorts of veggies tucked into more formal floral gardens, and have even found a guerrilla garden planted in the middle of a traffic roundabout.

People are taking urban gardening to heart, and that is good news!

I want to know what your cities look like. Which city has the highest number of urban Read the rest of this entry »