Small Gardens Still Pack A Punch

You don’t need acres and acres to plant a sustainable vegetable garden for your family. In fact, if you’ve got a patch of sun in your postage size yard, or space for a terracotta pot on your porch or your apartment stoop, you’ve got space for a garden. 

As my own gardens have grown in and become more shady, it was hard to find a spot this summer for our beloved tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. But I shifted things around on the back deck and found a home for three varieties of tomatoes and peppers in basic pots. Like the Obama’s, who have renewed the interest in backyard victory gardens in countless families across the nation, my family supports the idea of growing food locally and naturally (and for yourselves). 

At my office in downtown Raleigh, a fellow tenant has planted a beautiful garden in the small greenway between the parking lot and the brick foundation. It’s pretty surreal to see Otho’s lush city garden growing heartily in the shadow of the tall RBC Bank high rise. 

I think the ambient heat of the parking lot makes his garden grow double-time to mine. His tomatoes, pole beans, collard greens, cucumbers, peppers, and herbs seem to grow right in front of your eyes. I love to check it out each morning to see if the unusual pieces of chipped pottery and found items he’s dotted throughout the garden to make it interesting are less visible than the day before. 

I was also pleased to discover that Raleigh will be joining the national campaign, Plant A Row for the Hungry, that encourages all gardeners to grow extra produce to donate to the hungry and homeless. The first annual Raleigh campaign is being launched today by Logan's, who’s working in partnership with the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. Read more about it and see if there’s any way your family can contribute. 

• Are you growing any vegetables this summer?
• Got them planted anywhere unusual?