By Vanessa Richins

Urban gardening has more to it than just plants these days.

Chicken farming is on the rise in cities.

An article in Newsweek explores the growing trend of raising chickens in urban areas.

They give, as example, Brooklyn real-estate agent Maria Mackin.

After her family visited a bed-and-breakfast in the Pennsylvania Dutch area, they were entranced when the cook was able to just go outside when she had run out of eggs. She and her husband convinced the owner to let them buy four chickens.

These days, Mackin is sure to order a new set of chicks every Easter. She shares eggs (and sometimes a chicken or two) with friends and neighbors. A local restaurant is able to Read the rest of this entry »

By Cindy Naas

I have grown pumpkins a number of times in my small city garden, and once we even grew them in containers.

My front yard had two giant pumpkins in the middle for a couple of months, which made for an interesting landscape feature.

This year, we didn’t grow our own, but I did manage to go out and buy a number of them to store.

Pumpkins are easily stored. I have a root cellar where it is dark and much cooler than the rest of the house. If you don’t have a place which can be used as a root cellar, consider using plastic storage bins with plenty of ventilation holes, and keep the bins in the coolest part of your house.

When you bring your pumpkins in, Read the rest of this entry »

By Cindy Naas

When I planted my first vegetable garden in the city, I was hoping for a connection between my dad’s farm and my children, and also wanted a few good tomatoes.

I hoped that I would be able to gain both from my few pots of cherry tomatoes and my small rows of lettuce.

What I really got out of it was a renewed love of gardening, a much keener interest in issues affecting farms and farmers, and some pretty basic lifestyle changes.

Here are a few areas in which urban gardening has affected my life:

A greener lifestyle: the city I live in has always pushed recycling since I moved here, and I was an enthusiastic supporter. However, I began to rethink how I recycled, and now everything I throw away is examined to see if it has a secondary use before being recycled in the blue bins for the recycling truck. If I can reuse something, that’s an even greener way to recycle, and I’ve gotten some good things for my garden, too.

A commitment to local farms: As the urban farming movement grows, the ‘eat local’ movement grows too. Many of us who Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanessa Richins

A campaign called “Eat the View” wants President-Elect Barack Obama to bring horticultural changes to the White House.

As they explain on their website, “Eat the View” is a campaign to urge President-elect Obama to replant a large organic victory garden on the First Lawn with the produce going to the White House kitchen and to local food pantries.”

They will present Obama with heirloom seeds and a petition about the victory garden.

If you are interested in helping, here are some of the ways they suggest joining the effort:

1. Start in your own community. Find a place nearby and start an edible garden.

2. Sign the petition on their website.

3. Participate in Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanessa Richins

An UGC reader asks:

“Suspecting an Obama win my husband and I decided months ago to planta garden this year. Already a fan of your blog I’ll look forward to checking in and learning as much as I can on how to proceed. Big question, though: How to keep the critters away? We have at least 15 deer grazing on our lawn every day, not to mention a dozen rabbits.”

Good question – but unfortunately there isn’t an easy answer. Both deer and rabbits can be pretty persistent, though there are ways to try to foil them.

A book I suggest reading is Deerproofing Your Yard & Garden
by Rhonda Massingham Hart. She discusses the nature Read the rest of this entry »