Posts Tagged ‘summer’

Welcome to Grown in the City’s newest Friday Feature – Gardens in the City: Reader Edition.  The first edition takes us to Arlington, Virginia, where Stephen Gyor has turned his concrete balcony into a lush, green oasis using potted plants (both edible and ornamental). If you want your garden to be featured in next weeks post, send pictures and information about your garden! Your Name: Stephen Gyor Your City: Arlington, VA What You’re Growing: Sunflowers, tons of different wildflowers (including my favorite black-eyed susans), tomatoes, love-lies-bleeding (which is edible), lettuce, chives, pumpkin (the vine is growing but I doubt we’ll actually get a pumpkin), various ornamental grasses, climbing rosebush, japanese maples, japanese sky pencil holly, coreopsis, stonecrop, and my all-time favorite plant gaillardia (which blooms and blooms all summer). How you’re Growing it: I water my plants once a day (twice in the summer). The garden started out in quite

Last year, my friend Shannen was raving about the Topsy Turvy, an “As-Seen-On-TV” product that grows tomatoes upside down – the idea being that you don’t need to stake the branches, and the roots grow upwards toward the water.  For those of you who know me, you know I can’t resist a good As-Seen-On-TV product (I have a coffee table book and I spend hours in the store at Pier Point when we’re on vacation in Florida).  So, when I saw this on sale while shopping yesterday, I thought I’d give it a try. Anyone have any experience with these things?  It will be interesting to see which grows the better tomatoes – this or my self-watering planters!

This photo comes from the photopool of GitC flickr pool member slammgrass.  Gorgeous.

A nice idea out of Burlington, Vermont: the Chitten­den Solid Waste District is sponsoring an essay contest about growing flowers or vegetables can win you free garden supplies and volunteer garden help. The purpose is to promote sustainability and reduce pollution.  A well­ maintained vegetable garden can yield about a half-pound of produce per square foot per growing season, accord­ing to the CSWD. Replacing lawn space with garden space reduces the demand for water and lawnmower fuel, the district said. The contest ends on April 12.

Container Garden Herbs-Parsley & Chives, originally uploaded by Fern @ Life on the Balcony. Fern @ Life on the Balcony submitted this great shot of parsley and chives. Perfect combination for a hot baked potato, right off the grill with some fresh sour cream. Barbecue season is almost here!

It may be cool and rainy in DC, but this photo by Grown in the City flickr group member BardickMusic is a reminder that summer is just around the corner. I love the rowhouses in the background!