Growing Food In The City

I've thought that growing food or medicine in deep city environments is just about impossible. No room, no soil, no air, no good. Not true. It's so simple and effective that even I, with a real dirt yard to work in, am doing it. Here's how: take a five gallon container- like a paint can, a wastebasket, a box- and poke holes all around about five inches from the bottom. Fill it up with dry leaves or other dried stuff- I've used straw and miscellaneous garden clippings, too- to around three or four inches from the top. None of this has to be exact. Then put a few inches of soil over that. Water it well. Then.... sow the seeds!

Here's a row of pots with cilantro, peppers, parsley and yarrow growing- we even found a volunteer wild tobacco ( attenuata, favorite of west coast native americans) growing in a wastebasket left over from last year's crop!

This is a closer-up of cilantro growing in a plastic bucket- it's healthy and delicious.

These pots need very little attention or even water. Once they're thoroughly watered, there's a resevoir at the bottom up to the punched in holes; the dry material wicks up the water and delivers it to the roots. We can see the plants get lower & lower in the pots as the material below composts, keeping the roots warm while it rots. The compost then makes good soil for the next growing season. PLUS they weigh maybe two pounds and don't drip water..... perfect for rooftops or indoor gardening.