William Moss - Any Size, Anywhere Edible Gardening: The No Yard, No Time, No Problem Way To Grow Your Own Food

Welcome to you all! Im excitedly writing this book to offer small space gardeners my expertise and encouragement. My first bit of advice? Release any trepidations or worries. Gardening should be fun. It takes skill, but growing plants is intuitive and as old as civilization. If prehistoric people could scratch out subsistence gardens using stone tools in some rocky dust, then you can grow a tomato successfully. And you can do it anywhere, from city to suburb and from farmland to container.

Be careful, this hobby is addictive. Greening can become obsessive. The desire to have living, green, ornamental, and healthy things in your presence is strong.

Gardening is almost instinctual and definitely beneficial. All the attributes of growing plants are too numerous and subjective to list here, but a few stand out. Gardening is mentally therapeutic and physically aerobic. Plants filter pollutants and particles from the air. Growing veggies saves money and provides nutrition. In cities, gardens soften the artificial landscape, buffer sound, and absorb stormwater. Plants provide habitat for birds, bees, and butterflies. Greening decorates and improves the look of any yard, patio, parkway, or balcony. In general, gardening is good for you, your family, and your community. With these benefits, neither the lack of space or time should deter anyone from gardening.

I live in a little apartment in one of the biggest metropolitan areas in the world filled with concrete and asphalt, yet I surround myself with plants and dig in the dirt nearly every day. Id like to say I integrated gardening into my life, but honestly, it was probably the other way around. Ive been blessed with opportunities to garden all across America from town to country in diverse settings, such as patios, rural yards, school grounds, church lots, botanic gardens, town squares, and municipal parks. However, the bulk of my experience was gained in my three small space gardens: a residential backyard, a community garden, and a rooftop.

I dug my first hole in my mas 30 x 30-foot backyard in a Chicago neighborhood. A couple years of success there and I had the itch. When you live in an apartment, theres only so much the landlord will let you do to the grounds. Fortunately, most cities rent plots at community gardens. Our roughly 30 x 16-foot space receives full sun, and we grow mostly veggies. But the necessity of having produce and flowers right outside my door forced me to expand again to the balcony and rooftop container gardens.

For years I did not think of my hobby-turned-profession-turned-passion as small space gardening. I knew it was a little different from landscaping an estate, but I did not think it deserved a separate category. Wrong! In hindsight there are tips, techniques, and suggestions that benefit small space gardeners in particular. Knowledge is half the battle.

If you are reading this, you probably fall into one of three categories. You have a small yard or maybe no yard. You are time-crunched. You are looking for expert tips and advice. In some cases it may be all three. It was for me when I started. Here are some words I wish I had read in those days:

1. Have fun. Gardening should be enjoyable. Fortunately, were not subsistence farmers who depend upon garden crops for their livelihood. With supermarkets on every other corner, we dont have to harvest anything. Dont get me wrong; theres no vegetable you can buy at a store that can match homegrown. But its not a matter of life or death. Enjoy yourself. Revel in the sunshine. Appreciate the butterflies, honeybees, ladybugs, and songbirds. Stay out in the rain to watch the changing sky and smell the fertile earth. If you are not finding enjoyment and relaxation in the gardenstop. Take a break and come back later.

2. Dont stress. I cant emphasize this enough. If you forget to water or have an insect infestation, its okay. If your neighbor loses control of his riding lawn mower and demolishes your entire garden, itll be okay. You can always plant again (on your neighbors dime).

3. Start small. Dont grow more than you can weed weekly, and water often. There are so many delectable, nutritious, easy-to-grow veggies that you are going to want them all in your gardengo slow. Theres nothing wrong with starting with a small plot or containers. You can expand later.

4. Dont let a lack of knowledge intimidate you. Every gardener was a novice once. And even for those who are seasoned gardeners, there are always new lessons to learn. This book was written to help you avoid some mistakes and succeed in the garden. Scores of plants and lots of dollars could have been spared had trial-and-error experimenting not been such a large part of my education.

Chapter 1