Spring Garden In Full Bloom

Here you can finally see how tiny my plot really is.  Because we live in a rent-controlled apartment in the middle of Silver Lake leaving has never really been an option.  The only times I fantasize about leaving are the times when I'm frustrated by how little square footage I actually have to grow food in.

Above you see my budding zucchini and my row of mesclun salad mix.   These two crops are growing in our front yard where there is a weird triangle shaped bed separating our cottage from our neighbors.  She was nice enough to let me plant on her side of the "triangle" increasing my square footage by a bit.

Above you see a few of my containers. The last of the Spring beets are growing in the wood box and I've started a few tomatoes in the terracotta planter.

Although small, this garden is my pride and joy and for the first time I've got a steady supply of food to feed my boyfriend and myself.  Would I love a bigger garden?  Absolutely.  Would I leave Silver Lake for more garden space?  Not a chance.

Use A Paper Shredder To Make Compost For Your Garden

Composting With Cardboard

Because I'm constantly buying things online I seem to have an endless amount of cardboard boxes and after doing some research I realized that I could recycle the cardboard myself by using it for compost.

When making compost I used to always be on the lookout for "browns".  The magical ratio of 1 part greens to 30 parts brown was the bane of my existence since I had plenty of table scraps and vegetation to supply the greens but no dry leaves for the browns.  As it turns out, cardboard is a perfect source of carbon or "browns" so all I needed to do is chop it up and add it to my compost pile.

At first I tried tearing the cardboard myself but quickly found that it was tough and time consuming. Very quickly I realized that I could use my paper shredder to shred the cardboard making it the perfect size for the compost pile.

 I don't have a heavy duty shredder---just a run of the mill shredder that is capable of shredding cd's and plastic cards so I was certain that it would handle cardboard easily and it definitely did. All I do is tear the cardboard into small squares and feed it into the shredder and then POOF, a bounty of browns are ready for my compost.

But it doesn't stop at compost.  I also use the shredded cardboard as bedding for my worm bin and I've recently started to use it as mulch in my beds.  Why pay for coconut coir or straw when you can recycle cardboard and get it for much cheaper.

If you plan on shredding some cardboard just make sure you stick to the brown stuff.  Most regular brown cardboard is printed with soy based inks so it is relatively safe in the garden.

I would stay away from any cardboard that is glossy, colored, or coated in any wax or special plastic.

Just for fun, here is a link to a farm which is doing this on a large scale!

Organic farm composting with cardboard

Use Redwood Fencing Board To Make Planter Boxes

There is a tiny strip of wall between our apartment and our neighbor's yard that I've been itching to make containers for.  The strip is so thin that purchasing containers is near impossible so the day finally came when I sat down and made my own.

Redwood planks can be quite pricy so I went through a tiny bit of extra work to keep my total costs down.  Instead of purchasing finished redwood planks I instead bought redwood FENCING boards.

For whatever reason redwood fencing boards are super cheap...like $3 a board.  The only problem is the top is curved, so I simply cut the top off and made myself a nice board.

I then measured out the sizes and with some glue and galvanized screws put the two boxes together with very basic joints and voila!  Custom sized redwood planters!