My Urban Jungle

We've been in our new apartment for about 6 months now. One of my goals has been to utilize the little backyard area to its fullest potential and I feel like I've gotten a pretty good start. Lately its been hard to focus on the important things in life, work often creeps in to my brain when I'm at home and I find myself worrying about the most stupid and mundane things. Getting out into my backyard has been the best way to zone out and remind myself of the bigger picture.

My little patch of dirt (balcony view)

I started the compost when we first moved in. Its been raided nearly every night by rats and squirrels so I'll shortly be switching over to an under-the-sink vermicompost. My most recent project has been constructing the little raised bed in the corner of the photo.

5ftx18inches

A quick trip to my hardware store for two planks of pine, a sojourn out to my Dad's house to use his skillsaw and a few borrowed galvanized nails later, I've got a bed ready for my plants come springtime. The little patch of dirt in my backyard was infested with beauty bark and no amount of shoveling seems to get rid of it all. The raised bed is the perfect solution. I can also turn it into a defensible fortress (with some wire mesh) during harvest time to keep the critters out.

I started quite a few plants indoors a while back and they're nearly ready for the move outdoors in April. Most were started in toilet paper rolls (check out the project here), but have since graduated to makeshift pots. Theres no sense in buying plastic pots when you can re-use nearly any container in your garbage.

Sunny window space: a hot commodity in the Pacific Northwest

I've got plants growing in old pretzel containers, sawed off milk cartons and pop bottles and I just transplanted a parsley start into an old salsa container. Starting a garden does not have to be expensive, and its better to re-purpose old things that would have turned into garbage anyway. I've found so far the strongest plants end up being the ones who started in toilet paper rolls and then moved into plastic pop bottles. Just make sure to poke holes in the bottom of whatever you're using for adequate drainage.

After losing most of my spinach starts, I'm happy to report this little guy is thriving.

My little sister dropped by the other day and joked that it looked like we were growing pot in our windowsill. Hopefully the neighbors don't think similarly! 

Stay tuned for a vermicompost DIY in the near future!