Urban / small-space gardening - links

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General information

BBC Dig in: advice about growing food on windowsill, balcony and small back yard
Martha Stewart small-space edible garden ideas
Modern Living gardening in small spaces
Mother Earth News grow a small-space vegetable garden
Organic Gardening About Lasagna gardening – no till, no dig
The Urban Farming Guys inspirational site featuring small-space food-producing projects in Africa, Asia & Latin America
These Light Footsteps permaculture for urban homes and small spaces
Urban Organic Gardener how to make seed starter pots from toilet rolls
US National Agriculture Library resource list for urban agriculture

Growing in containers

Alaska Grow Buckets great, free guide to setting up an automatic watering container gardening system
Balcony Container Gardening great site with tons of information about growing crops in containers on your balcony
Better Homes & Gardens growing vegetables in containers
Container Gardening a brief history of gardens in containers
Container-Gardening-for-Food.com blog of a UK gardener with just a patio
Dummies.com basic information on container gardening
North Carolina Co-op Extension Service container vegetable gardening
Ohio State University factsheet on container vegetable gardening – good overview
Organic Gardening Magazine article on container gardening
Organic Gardening Magazine article on growing fruit in pots
Royal Horticultural Society growing veg in containers
The Small Garden growing food in guttering, pallets, wine crates and more
University of Illinois the world of container gardening
Urban Organic Gardener how to build a self-watering container garden
Wikipedia entry for container garden
YouTube videos by MyContainerGardening – including automatic watering systems

Raised beds

Small beds with edges, so that the soil is higher than the paths around it; they warm up and drain more quickly, provide easy access and the soil doesn’t get compacted because they’re not walked on.
Organic Gardening Magazine article on raised bed gardening
Organic Gardening Magazine 5 different ways to raise the sides of the beds
QuickCrop raised bed vegetable gardening
Wikipedia entry for raised bed gardening

Keyhole beds

Raised beds, but with a ‘notch’ for access, and often with a central container for compost and greywater, which leaches into the bed to fertilise it.
Appropedia two videos explaining keyhole beds
Inspiration Green lots of pics of different types of keyhole beds
Permaculture Research institute how to build a raised bed keyhole garden
Send a Cow promoting keyhole gardening in Africa

Square-foot gardening

Method of gardening where crops are grown in grid squares, together with different species rather than in rows of one species. Less wasted space, fewer weeds & pests.
Garden Organic square foot gardening
Square Foot Gardening Foundation promoting square-foot gardening
Tim’s Square Foot Gardening Page blog of master gardener
Wikipedia entry for square-foot gardening

Straw-bale gardening

If you have a small space and poor soil, or maybe even no soil, you can use a straw-bale as a planter, with a little soil and compost placed on top.
Grow & Make how to grow a straw-bale garden
Modern Farmer how to build a straw-bale garden – pictoral guide
No Dig Vegetable Garden guide to straw-bale gardening
Straw Bale Gardens website of the author of the book of the same name
YouTube video on straw-bale gardening

Vertical gardening

You can maximise yield from a small space by growing vertically – either with plants that climb, or by using a system of containers at different levels.
Instructables DIY vertical planter
Mother Earth News vertical gardening techniques for maximum returns
The Tiny Life some good ideas here
Urban Organic Gardener how to make a hanging herb garden using recycled plastic bottles
Urban Organic Gardener how to start a hanging herb garden using a pallet
Vertical Gardener blog – no yard? no problem

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