Urban Gardening

February - April 2019: Getting Started

I dreamed about a garden so when we purchased our new home, I was determined to make the front yard productive. Over a few months we leveled the dirt, trenched for a new smart irrigation system, arranged and built cedar raised beds, and filled with dirt. Our local soil is mostly clay and gets incredibly compacted so when we filled the boxes, we filled with half clay and half store-bought amendment. Then I ordered a free load of wood chips from Chip Drop and mulched the boxes, the bare dirt between the boxes, and our parkway. The following summer, we successfully grew tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, green beans, pumpkins, watermelon, and some herbs. We set up our "compost" in a hole where a tree stump had been removed.

April 2020: Compost

As part of our many quarantine projects, we built a big two bin compost set up. I was finding it annoying to dig through rotting food to get to the compost underneath in my stump hole, and had noticed an unpleasant amount of roaches. This bin had a ton of capacity and gave me several five gallon buckets of rich dark compost every time I harvested.

Spring 2021: Rain barrel and City Compost

To reduce rainwater runoff and pressure on the municipal water supply, LA City Sanitation offered free rain barrels to residents. My mother-in-law decided she couldn't use hers, so I scored two. Unfortunately, spring was especially dry, but I was excited to have some free water for my plants very soon. I also discovered that the nearby landfill offered free mulch and compost for residents to pick up, made from the yard waste and horse manure from the green and brown bins. We loaded up a couple truckloads and spread it around the garden and yards.

Spring/Summer of 2021: Compost Battle

The roach problem in my compost seemed to be getting worse, not better. At night, I could hear the bugs moving and when I opened the bin in the morning, dozens would scatter. We even started to see them coming into the house. I tried increasing the number of times I turned the compost, tried drowning them out. I even borrowed the neighbor's chickens a few times and watched them eat hundreds of roaches in the bin in just a couple hours. The population would go down, but inevitably come right back up.

Summer 2021: Water Woes and Heat Waves

This was my worst growing season yet. The heat was high, the sun was intense, and I wasn't paying attention to my garden enough. I realized too late that my smart irrigation had been adjusting all the water to my parkway, where I have three lavender plants. As a result, one of the lavender plants died from root rot and most of my vegetables shriveled up in the heat. My tomatoes went strong, but I only harvested a single zucchini, maybe a couple dozen cucumbers, some dried out corn, and a handful of beans.

Fall of 2021: Tumbling Composter

After I saw evidence that rodents had dug under the bin to get into the compost, I searched craigslist for a tumbling composter. I found one for $25 and later acquired another one for free. These have significantly reduced my compost capacity, but I haven't dealt with pest issues since and I'm much more likely to turn them and harvest them. The old compost bin was moved to the backyard and will be renovated into a nice little chicken coop down the road.

Winter 2021/2022: No Irrigation

We enjoyed a week of heavy rain storms in December 2021 and my rain barrels filled up a treat. I turned off the irrigation for awhile and tested the soil moisture. I noticed that the plants were still going strong, so I decided only to water when I felt like it with the captured rain water. By February 2022, I hadn't turned on the irrigation and the garden was thriving. I managed to empty one rain barrel before another small storm filled it right back up again. At this rate, I'm hoping I can keep the irrigation off until May.

February 2022: Secondhand Fence

Back in October, we picked up over 100 linear feet of old metal railing from a neighbor that was demolishing his deck. In February, we installed the fence around the front yard garden to discourage folks helping themselves to free produce, provide more vertical growing space, and contain the animals when they joined me for a gardening session. While this fence would otherwise have been recycled, I love that it could be repurposed without the additional resources to melt it down and reform it into something new.

Spring 2022: Rise of the Ollas

Ollas are terra cotta pots that are buried in the garden with just a little opening peeping above the soil. Thanks to soil moisture tension, as the soil around the pot dries out, water is drawn from the pot and waters the plants. This technique was developed in arid climates in China and North Africa over 4000 years ago where water is often lost to evaporation and cannot reach down to the roots. Unfortunately, garden ollas tend to run $35 to $65 a piece, which was way out of my garden budget. Instead, I took four inch terra cotta pots and used silicon to adhere them together, creating an olla for around $2. I've buried my first 8 and ran the irrigation lines to fill them automatically (though I still haven't turned on the irrigation yet) and they are doing beautifully so far.

Summer 2022: Water Restrictions

Due to the severe drought, California reservoirs are dangerously low so the state announced strict outdoor watering restrictions effective June 1. As of May 18, one of my two rain barrels are empty and the other will likely be drained by mid June. To keep my garden thriving, I've expanded to over 40 ollas and thickened the mulch around my plants. So far, this reduces my watering needs to just 10 gallons of water twice a week. The shade sail will go up in June, which will hopefully protect the plants from the upcoming heat waves and slow watering needs further.

Fall & Winter 2022: Recovery

The summer growing season was rough. Many plants died or became stunted, especially squashes, cucumbers, melons, and other vining plants. With the warm winter last year, there was an intense pest pressure, particularly from spider mites and figeater grubs (many SoCal gardeners experienced similar issues). For fall season, I removed the dead plants, added a thick layer of mulch to all the beds and planted in a more intensive planting of alliums, berries, root vegetables, peas, and leafy greens. Gloriously, by the end of December, we've had 4 or 5 rain storms and the garden is currently thriving. Over the summer, I planted in a half dozen native plants, nearly all of which have doubled in size with the rain. The soil is teeming with earth worms and other crucial critters. In anticipation of the heat waves starting sooner and sooner, I plan to start planting in my summer plants by March so they can establish strong roots to resist the inevitable pressure.