Chickens in the Suburban Backyard

The old joke is that urbanites and suburbanites think that their food really does come from the grocery store, but if that was ever true, it's not anymore. Since I've started this blog, I've been learning about gardens all over my neighborhood. I've recently been invited to attend a meeting of my local garden club and am looking forward to hearing the speaker discuss urban gardening.

One of the more unconventional grow-it-yourself stories in my neighborhood comes from a friend who is raising chickens in her suburban home. Currently, she has a mother and daughter (Roxey and Daisy). Previously, she had a couple (Duke and Daisy). Her community wasn't too keen on the rooster, so the pair were retired to a farm in Indiana owned by friends of mine.

Recently, my suburban chicken raising friend brought me some eggs:


Fresh eggs from chickens whose names I know



Mistakes I've Made (Already)

Almost Fatal Mistake with my Strawberries

I think I've settled on the reason why the strawberry leaves were turning brown through a combination of an elimination process of what it's not (under watering) and additional research.

My thinking is that since the strawberries have been watered quite a lot, by me and then by a huge downpour, it cannot be under watering. I considered overwatering, but then noticed that the leaves were turning dark and brittle. Even thought the plant got very wet in the recent storms, over watering would not create brittle leaves.

Trouble in Happy Berryland

I had put the strawberries, blueberries and cranberries outside on the balcony and decided to leave them there. It rained during the night and that left me with a problem with pooling water in their drainage trays:


Overnight rain caused water to pool in the
drainage trays

 You might think that's no problem, but take a look at my balcony (above) the spaces between the wood planks allow water to stream down onto my downstairs neighbor's patio.

An Interesting Question: Can a Person Live Off their Condo Garden?

I went to a business networking breakfast this morning sponsored by the Small Business Advocacy Council. I mentioned to the group that I started this blog along with my interest in local and community grown food.

One man asked me if I think I could based my entire diet on what I can grow on my condo balcony.

My initial answer was  no because I'm not a vegetarian, but it left me wondering if one planted correctly, could a person fulfill their fruit and vegetable daily requirments from what can be grown on a condo balcony, at least during harvest season.

Since much of my garden is comprised of herbs, I don't think I've planted correctly for such a project. However, you can grow tomatoes, lettuces, kale, eggplant, broccoli, zuchinni, eggplant, green beans, peas, peppers, onions in addition to several kinds of berries. You  can even grow root vegetables such as carrots with the right varieties in the right containers. Parmex carrots (pictured left) have short round roots and can be grown in a container that's as short as 12". It's also possible to grow a dwarf Meyer lemon tree indoors in a container. So, now I'm starting to think this is possible.

Strawberry Engineering

In a catch-up post from last week, I described my strawberry planting saga. I didn't mention my watering and drainage system in that post, so I'll do it here.

Strawberries can be planted in regular old pots, but that's no fun considering that there are these really cute strawberry planters with little pockets on the sides to accomodate new runners.

A typical terra cotta strawberry pot

The problem with strawberry pots is when you water the plants from above, the water often leaks out of the little pockets. This happens a lot early on when the pockets are relatively empty, before the plants and runners take up the room.

Swimming in Bush Blue Lake Green Beans. Extra Red Onions Swimming in a Beer Glass.

Not as nice as yesterday, but not too bad outside today, so the strawberries took another field trip to the balcony that will be their summer home. They seem to really like it, but it's supposed to storm tomorrow, so I'll probably bring them in again.

I'm swimming in Bush Blue Lake Green Bean plants. The seeds germinated well and the plants seem to grow in anything. I've got them all over the place. Some are even still living in the seedling kit tray and they're happy as long as I keep watering them. I'm looking for friends to take the extras off my hands.

The extra beans hanging out with
the extra red onions.

As you can see above, I also have extra red onions in a glass that need homes.

Nice Day Big Day

Today turned out to be a nice day and a big day for the condo garden. It was mostly sunny and in the low 60s. The wind died down by afternoon. So, I was weather inspired and there have been several additions to the garden.
I bought a bundle of California red onions which I planted with the spinach seedlings that grew in one of my seedling kits. I purchased a 30" window box planter with tray. The container is only about 8" deep and I only put in about 6" of potting soil, but this is supposed to be enough as the onions don't grow that far down and they're planted only 1" deep. I lost one of the spinach seedlings--may it rest in peace--during replanting.

California Red Onions and Spinach

Strawberries Go On A Fieldtrip

It's about 60 degrees and sunny, so I brought the strawberries outside. As the weather is going to deterioriate by tonight, this is probably more of a field trip than a permanent residence.

Strawberries enjoying a nice day on the balcony.

Catch-Up: Seedlings and Monsters

I started my condo garden in late March. I started this blog yesterday, Earth Day. So, I'm catching you up on my past progress (and regress).

After I got the first set of strawberries settled, I decided to start a seedling garden in one of those multi-cell greenhouse kits. I used the Burpee ecofriendly seed starting 36-cell greenhouse kit because the 36-cell configuration seemed a good size (and later proved to be a perfect size for a bakers rack I later purchased to use as an indoor plant stand).

I also purchased some seeds. I chose:

• multi-colored sweet bell peppers (I had pepper failure last year, so this is a retry)
• English peas (this is the variety that you do not eat the pod
• Spring onions
• herbs: basil, dill, rosemary, dill and lavender.

Here's my original seed starting greenhouse from April 2, 2011: The germination sheet creates a sort of greenhouse effect keeping in warmth and moisture. I watered this mostly by misting with a spray bottle.

Catch-Up: Blueberries and Cranberries

I had no original plans to plant blueberries and cranberries. The idea came to me while looking on the Gurney's website. I noticed a Dwarf Tophat Blueberry bush for $12. The bush grows only to about 1 1/2 inches high and wide and it's supposed to work well in a container. I love blueberries, so it's worth a try.

I bought a 5 gallon container at Loew's (a store that could break me if I don't stay out of it) and waited for my blueberry bush to arrive. It came a couple of weeks ago and I planted it immediately in an acidic soil made by combining potting soil and Canadian sphagnum peat moss with some Holly-tone. Here it is next to the strawberries:

Blueberry bush hanging out next to the strawberries.

It looked a little lonely in the pot.

Catch-Up: Strawberries, Strawberries and More Strawberries

I started the garden in late March, so here's what you missed Strawberry Edition...

In May last year, I found out I was too late to start growing strawberries. So, this year, I started early with one of those Complete Strawberry Growing Kits. The kit included 10 Ozark beauty strawberry plants, a bag of potting soil and a glazed ceramic planter. I followed the directions, but I think I may have smothered the poor dears. The plants were what they call bare roots, one short dead looking stem and no leaves. I wasn't sure how to plant them and there was no picture.

Had I looked this up on the Internet first, I would have learned that I should have soaked the roots first.

So, I tried again with another kit. I got an adorable little stem with a leaf.:

This is my first strawberry sign of life. I've since learned that this is a runner.

A small leaf eventually emerged from the original kit that I thought I killed:

Strawberry leaf emerges to my surprise in the plant I thought I killed.

Now, both plants are growing, but it didn't look like I was going to get flowers this year. This is what they look like now:

My original Ozark Beauties today. What is growing on the right side of the in the pot on the right? I have no idea, but it sure does not look like a strawberry plant.

Happy Earth Day: Why am I trying to turn my tiny condo balcony into a mini-farm?

Welcome to my condo garden blog.

Recently, I've become facinated with the idea of local food and growing my own food. So, I've started a garden in a very unlikely place, my suburban Chicago condominium.

I've lived in the city and suburbs for all of my life and have little experience with gardening. I once killed a rubber tree plant. By the time I was done with it, it was a stick with a leaf. I killed a baby giant sequoia redwood that I got while touring Sequoia National Forest, and I killed a colius that was happily growing in a container on my balcony one summer until I brought it in for winter. I killed a sunflower,a tomoto plant, dill, basil and chives, and two bell pepper plants just last year. Ok, my track record isn't great.