Let's get started.

Last spring it occurred to me as I was planting tomatoes from seeds on my balcony that I am a gardener. I have considered myself many things so far in life, but a gardener was not one of them. As a child I loved to garden, I couldn't wait to go outside, feel the earth in my hands and grow something. I always considered that in order to really garden you needed a plot of land, or a large raised bed, or a field. You needed something of considerable substance and if you didn't; it simply didn't count. Turns out you can garden anywhere and one can be a true gardener with little space. I know this seems like one of those "duh" moments but it was quite a revelation considering it was staring me in the face all this time and I garden wherever I live.

I have lived in many places over that last ten years and I have made a garden in every place I have lived. It's something I don't do consciously. I just do it. Over the next few days I will go over these gardens so you know where I am now.

My husband and I recently moved from North Hollywood down to Long Beach. Our new porch is 5 by 16 feet. It's a nice space. The iron railing allows in allot more light than our last porch (which had more of a wall than a railing). We now face almost due west. This is great as we get all the afternoon sun before the sun sets over the pacific ocean. Here are some pictures of our porch.

I have a master plan for this new space and will sketch it out for you to see. Many urban gardeners use  allot of recycled and found containers for their gardens. I love this idea. It is not only good for the environment but easy on  the wallet. The only problem is they aren't necessarily pretty.  My goal is to build an urban garden that is not only practical and cheap, but aesthetically pleasing as well.
So here we go.