When fresh produce is at a premium during the winter growing season, take a page from professional chef’s book and grow your own microgreens indoors.

During the winter we all crave fresh produce, but it can be expensive, not to mention eating outside your foodshed to purchase those succulent microgreens for topping avocado toast and soup bowls. Do not despair, you can grow easily grow fresh and healthy microgreens right in the comfort of your own home. All you need is a sunny window and a few simple materials. Depending on which greens you decide to grow, you could end up enjoying microgreens weekly or biweekly.

Step-by-Step Guide for Growing Microgreens Indoors

Materials

• Upcycled Clamshell produce container with lid
• Potting soil
• Seeds (see note below)
• Spray bottle
• Scissors
• Screwdriver or awl
• Hammer

Directions

Step 1. Make some drainage holes in the plastic clamshell container.  Place the container on a safe surface (like an old wooden cutting board). Using an awl or small screwdriver, tap it lightly with the hammer and make 5 or 6 holes in the bottom of the container. These are for water drainage.

Step 2. Add dirt to the container. You can use any potting soil you have on hand— just make sure it is potting soil and not topsoil or something else. Potting soils have the correct nutrient balance for starting seeds and they won’t retain too much water. Fill the container about ¾ of the way full, and tap to level the dirt.

Step 3. Sprinkle the seeds as densely as you can in a single layer across the top of the soil.  You can use seeds for whatever greens you like, such as mustard, mesclun, arugula, kale, herbs, spinach and more. I buy seeds from High Mowing Seeds, which is a great source for organic, non-GMO seeds.

Step 4. Cover the seeds with soil according to the seed package planting depth instructions.

Step 5. Place the container in a sunny window with the lid underneath to catch any water drainage.

Step 6. Water your seeds just until the soil is moist — you don’t want to flood them — and water anytime you see the soil drying out. The best way to water is with a spray bottle.

Step 7. Wait for your seeds to grow! Depending on what you grow, most seeds will germinate in about 3-7 days. Harvest when the seeds get your desired maturity, for most seeds 7 or 10 days is a good rule of thumb.

Step 8. Use scissors to harvest your microgreens and rinse them gently in a small strainer to eat. Enjoy!

Related on EcoSalon
4 Indoor Growing Gadgets For Lazy Gardeners
7 Delicious Fruits and Vegetables You Can Grow Indoors
17 Clever Repurposed Garden Planters to Add More Plants to Your Space

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EcoSalon reviews a new documentary about urban farming.

Do you feel overwhelmed by all the negative stuff happening in the world? Want to create sustainable change but aren’t sure how to tackle massive issues like social inequality, insufficient education, food deserts, consumption, waste, and unemployment? Yeah, me too. But those feelings fell away when I watched “Growing Cities,” a new documentary about urban farming by young filmmakers Dan Susman and Andrew Monbouquette.

The movie opens with short introductions by Susman and Monbouquette. Like many of us, they used college as an excuse to flee their hometown. Natives to Omaha, Nebraska, the pair fled to the coasts to find themselves, and others who wanted to change the world. After discovering their passion for sustainability, food, and film making, they decided to return home, but only long enough to gather supplies for their next adventure: a nationwide a road trip to meet the men and women who are challenging the way America grows and distributes its food.

Urban farming may seem like a cliche term batted about by people who can afford to shop at Whole Foods, but Susman and Monbouquette’s adventure proves that the reemergence of city-based farms is much more than a yuppie past-time. The film follows their journey to San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Detroit Milwaukee, Boston, New York, Atlanta and back again. At each stop, they meet hardworking community members who’ve chosen to dig in (literally) rather than surrender their neighborhoods to blight, violence, or poverty.

Watching “Growing Cities” exposes the viewer to many different styles of urban farming. You’ll see folks growing food in vacant lots, front yards, on rooftops, and in abandoned buildings. Some of these urban farming operations are brand new while others are decades old, remnants of the Victory Garden era–a time when growing food was endorsed by the government and considered the most patriotic act one could perform, aside from enlisting.

As hungry as it will make you to see all the fresh fruits, veggies, herbs, and even eggs and fish growing on these urban farms, the food isn’t even the most inspiring part.

What I loved most about “Growing Cities” was the way that it demonstrates how urban farming can be the simple, sustainable answer to many of the problems plaguing our society. Cities that grow their own food are also growing economic security, healthier citizens, a stable job market, an educated and multi-skilled workforce, and perhaps more importantly, a sense of pride and accountability for the environment around us.

The film was released last fall at film festivals, and is beginning community screenings this spring. The creative team invites you to host-a-screening for Earth Day or to kickoff the gardening season. Doing so will share the “Growing Cities” journey with an America that believes in a more sustainable, just, and healthy future for all!

I highly encourage you to watch, but be warned: a side-effect of this movie is that you’ll immediately want to get your hands in the dirt.

Related on EcoSalon

5 Urban Farming Ideas for Your Own Backyard

Revitalizing Food Deserts: 3 Ways To Bring Healthy Food Where It’s Needed Most

Foodie Underground: Truck Farm

Images via Growing Cities

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Thanks to the UrbMat all you need to start growing vegetables is a thumb (and it doesn’t even have to be green!).

I know it’s freezing cold outside, but now is the time to starting thinking about growing vegetables. It’s extremely rewarding to cook a meal made with stuff grown in your own backyard. Unfortunately more than a few of us find home gardening confusing and often unsuccessful. And if you live in an urban area, good luck finding the space.

For us lazy gardeners, high tech tools for growing vegetables are extremely attractive, but few will take you from seed to sprout faster than the UrbMat from grow-it-yourself social food company UrbnEarth. This plug-and-play gardening system makes it possible for anyone to start growing vegetables immediately–so you can get past the “am I doing it right?” phase and on to the “look how awesome gardening is!” phase.

Designed for use by families, educators and kids (aka gardening novices), the 3′ x 2′ UrbMat looks like a miniature Twister mat. Only the colorful dots aren’t for your left arm or right leg–they’re for 12 different types of non-GMO herbs, vegetables, and flowers. Just roll it out on top of the soil or in a raised bed. Press the seedball starters (a mix of chili powder, compost, worm castings, clay, and non-GMO seeds) into the correct circle on the mat, and you’re done. The UrbMat has a weed-control layer and a hose-ready irrigation system for care of your growing vegetables.

Among the veggies and herbs, you’ll notice marigolds and catnip, which are included as natural pest repellents so your UrbMat can remain organic. “Marigolds and catnip not only look pretty, but are also some of nature’s best pest-control agents. Marigolds deter nematodes and worms that will feed on your plants roots. Catnip attracts lacewings, which feed on aphids and mites,” explains the UrbnEarth website.

And for every mat purchased, the company gives two meals to kids suffering from hunger in the U.S. Meals are donated in partnership with 2 Degrees Food and Feeding America.

Related on Ecosalon

10 Ideas for Sexy Urban Gardens

7 Items You Can Reuse To Improve Your Garden

The 10 Easiest Vegetables To Grow At Home

All images via UrbnEarth

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The traditional gardening season is drawing to a close, but don’t fret! These spectacular rooftop gardens will keep your green thumb inspired all year long.

In densely-populated cities, living roofs can be a great way to combat urban heat island effect while producing healthy food and a place to escape the rat-race. If you’re looking for some elevated gardening inspiration, have we got a treat for you.

Far from a few pots of tomatoes on a fire escape, the following rooftop gardens show exactly how much gardening potential exists high above our heads. Check out these amazing rooftop garden designs from designers and property owners around the world, and get inspired for your own living roof!

1. Chicago City Hall Rooftop Garden

Chicago’s most famous rooftop garden sits atop City Hall, an 11-story office building in the Loop. Planted in 2000, the garden was designed to demonstrate the benefits of green roofs and how they affect temperature and air quality. The garden now features more than 100 species of plants, including native prairie and woodland grasses and forbs, hardy ornamental perennials and grasses, several species of native and ornamental shrubs, and two varieties of trees.

2. Nine Houses, Dietikon, Switzerland

Ok, so this one is cheating a little bit, but it was too awesome to omit. Designed by architect Peter Vetsch back in 1993, this cluster of nine separate residences are made out of concrete and buried in earth and grass. The overall effect is like something out of “The Hobbit.”

“Residents can use their rooftops however they choose, and as such some are planted as gardens, others used as sitting areas with shrubs. Many rooftops are not used at all, and are simply undulating meadows,” write the designers.

3. Rockefeller Center Green Roof

Did you know the Rockefeller Center is the oldest commercial building with green roof in America? For more than 75 years, the rooftop gardens on top of the Center have boasted impeccably manicured shrubs, flowers, and lawns. “Created by landscape architect Ralph Hancock, the gardens’ elaborate fountain pools, stone planters, and vegetation are most definitely not the types of structures you see on rooftop gardens today,” reports Inhabitat. “To support the thousands of tons of extra weight from the pipes, soil, and pumps, the Rockefeller Center’s roofing was reinforced with extra steel.” Unfortunately, the gardens are almost never open to the public.

4. Place-Royale, Quebec

Considered the birthplace of French America, Place-Royale is a destination for history and culture enthusiasts. “The public square became a marketplace under the French regime. It was also the place where criminal executions and corporal punishment were carried out,” explains MCQ.org. Over time, it became run-down, and the government stepped in to preserve and restore the historically significant buildings. Atop one, this whimsical living roof was planted as a place for enjoying greenery, fountains and public art.

5. VivoCity Sky Park, Singapore

Normally, green space and a nation’s largest shopping mall aren’t things we’d mention in the same sentence, but this architectural marvel from Singapore proves that it can be done. The VivoCity mall features a massive Sky Park that’s open to the sun and fresh air. A favorite destination of locals as well as international tourists, the rooftop features gardens, an ampitheatre, open air playground, and a wading area that the area of four Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Related on Ecosalon:

10 Ideas For Sexy Urban Gardens

4 Indoor Growing Gadgets For Lazy Gardeners

Images: pinboke, joebehr, Green Roofs, digitizedchaos, meddygarnet, Calvin Teo

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ColumnAdventures in urban composting.

“The worm compost bin is getting delivered next week, we can finally get the worms going again!”

“Finally!”

This is what we call a romantic Foodie Underground conversation.

Let me take a few steps back. No wait, let me start from the beginning.

As an only child that lived in the country, I spent a lot of time outside plotting my own adventures. One of my favorite summer activities was to dig through the dirt in the garden and collect earthworms in recycled yogurt containers that my mother used to plant seedlings. I would put a few in the yogurt container, and walk around with them, taking great care to look after my little soil dwellers. I called it worm babysitting. Yeah, country girl, I know.

Fast forward a couple of decades.

Earlier this year I moved into a small, no, wait… tiny apartment in a huge city (it’s Paris in case you were wondering). Funny how in some of the world’s most expansive metropolises the housing is quite the opposite. It has been an adventure in accommodating my favorite activities to fit the space. Cooking and baking is a careful dance between slicing, chopping and mixing and doing dishes in between so as to keep enough counter space open. Dinner parties are capped at six people, because more would be hard to fit around the table. But somehow, with enough effort and desire, it all works.

It was into this space that the worms would work and the resulting compost would be put to good use.

If you get excited about food, it’s easy to get excited about growing it yourself, no matter where you live. This is not backyard homesteading with raised beds and a chicken coop, this is working around obstacles like space and creating an urban sanctuary that includes some greenery and fresh herbs to cook with. I’ll be damned if I let minimal square footage get in the way of gardening and cooking.

The worms had been on hiatus and were waiting for a new home, hence the need for a new bin. When the first round of vermicompost was ready, we pulled terracotta planters into the tiny dining room and sat on the floor, mixing compost and fresh dirt and replanted basil, mint, parsley and chives. I prepped two containers for kale seeds that would be arriving the following week (kale is, after all, quite difficult to find in Paris).

There is something about putting your hands in the dirt. There is something even better about putting your hands in compost. Call me a dirty hippie – you won’t be the first – but to be able to create your own fertilizer to grow plants from your own food waste is in fact an incredible thing. Don’t believe me? Try it.

The compost bins sit under the kitchen sink. When you open up the top one, you can feel the warmth that the breakdown of organic material (or in our case, 97 percent coffee grounds) generates. A reminder that you don’t need to live in the country to take part in the natural cycle of things.

The kale arrived and it was planted immediately; we’ll see which one of the two varieties do best. Some baby basil and cilantro seeds are doing well in the kitchen, and all of the terracotta pots hang off of the window guard rail, creating our own little Hanging Gardens of Babylon, four floors up in the Parisian courtyard.

It’s not just about eating good food, it’s about being part of the process, no matter where you are. It’s not a farm, or a raised bed with seven varieties of heirloom tomatoes, but it’s something; a mini-contribution to being a part of growing what we eat. To top it all off, next week a friend is passing on a kombucha baby. Compost, kale and kombucha… and you thought Paris was only for croissants and fromage.

At least you know that those tiny six-person dinner parties will consist of kale appetizers and kombucha cocktails, and we’ll be composting the leftovers of course. I promise not to show off the worms.

This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’ weekly column at EcoSalon: Foodie Underground, an exploration of what’s new and different in the underground movement, and how we make the topic of good food more accessible to everyone. More musings on the topic can be found at www.foodieunderground.com.

Images: Anna Brones

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Growing your own food, even just herbs, is a powerful and satisfying act. But who has the time? These gardening gadgets ensure that even the laziest black thumbs among us can still enjoy a fresh tomato now and then.

A lack of space, time, cooperative weather and/or gardening know-how doesn’t mean you can’t revel in the taste of a home-grown tomato. You just need a shortcut past all the planning and digging so you can get straight to the growing and eating. Below are four growing technologies that make gardening approachable again, no matter how many house plants you’ve killed or how little yard space you enjoy.

1. Woolly Pocket

I know I already mentioned this device as a way to bring spring indoors, but I think they’re so neat, it’s worth another look. Woolly Pockets (pictured, top) are available as wall hangers, table planters, or raised beds. The newest offering, the Living Wall Planter, features a hard vented shell, a sturdy shape and is equipped with a self-watering tank–all designed to make planting easier. Just hang, fill with starters from your local nursery, and enjoy.

2. Auxano Hydroponic Vegetable and Herb Grower

Urban apartments may not have much space to spare, but one thing most do have is sunlight. The Auxano hydroponic growing system aims to capitalize on this under-appreciated resource with a window mounted design that turns previously unused space into a vertical garden. Its innovative oxygenating pump system further keeps water flowing to plant roots without the need for electricity. Check out designer Philip Houiellebecq’s Facebook page to find out when this device will be available for purchase.

3. Click and Grow

We’ve got smart phones and smart meters, so why not smart gardens? The Click and Grow is an easy-to-use electronic smartpot that grows plants without watering and fertilizing. Forget about constant watering, guesswork and worrying whether your plant is getting exactly what it needs. Just slide in the plant cartridge, and Click & Grow measures all the necessary parameters and doses an exact amount of water, fertilizer and air, according to the plant’s needs. The company is currently funding its second offering, an automatic herb garden complete with LED grow lights, on Kickstarter.

4. AeroGarden

If you’re looking for the crème de la crème of smart gardening gadgets, look no further than the AeroGarden. This counter-top hydroponic growing system is literally fool proof. I’ve been testing one out for the past few months, and it’s mind-blowing just how easy it is to go from nothing to harvest-ready plants without lifting a finger. The picture above was taken after just 2 weeks! AeroGarden comes in several different sizes and offers a wide variety of plant cartridges. You can mix and match, or purchase empty cartridges for starting plants from seed. Just add water and nutrients when the display tells you to, and you can’t go wrong.

Images: Woolly Pocket | Philip Houiellebecq | Click and Grow | Beth Buczynski

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“sweet spring is your time, is my time is our time, for springtime is lovetime and viva sweet love.” -e.e. cummings

The passing of the equinox and changing of the clocks can only mean one thing: Spring is on it’s way. No matter how many inches of snow may linger on the ground, the calendar tells us that sunshine and sweet breezes are just around the corner.

The first order of business on an early spring day is to throw open all the windows and allow the soft breeze to scrub winter’s stuffiness from every room. But then what?

If you’re eager to welcome spring indoors, here are five fresh, colorful ideas that will brighten your home (even if the weather outside isn’t cooperating. Yet.)

1. Floors

Heavy rugs and carpeting are great, low-effort ways to keep your home warm during the winter, but all that weight is cumbersome in warmer seasons. If you’ve got hardwood floors, removing rugs can be an easy way to achieve a lighter, fresher look (and you can sweep instead of vacuuming!). For high traffic areas, think about replacing large carpets with smaller areas rugs that feature bright colors and festive patterns, like the handmade, upcycled Serpent Sea rug (pictured above).

2. Walls

Don’t see spring when you look out the window? Well hang it on the wall instead! Photographs of trees and flowers in bloom, paintings with pastel colors, or a come-hither-spring print like this one from Katie Daisy are perfect ways to infuse your living space with a brighter feel.

3. Kitchen

Absolutely nothing will get you in the springtime mood like growing something. Wooly Pockets (pictured above) are lightweight, flexible, breathable, modular gardening containers designed to hang on the wall. Made in the USA using recycled plastic bottles, these planters create an instantly lush vertical garden and allow your family to experience the magical fun of plants in any environment. Fill one with herbs and hang it in your kitchen for a touch of green and yummier meals. And if you’re feeling really creative, try this DIY mason jar wall garden from model Summer Rayne Oakes.

4. Bedroom

Still sleeping under heavy winter quilts and blankets? Think about switching out your dark winter bed clothes for something a bit lighter and brighter. While you’re at it, think about changing lampshades and curtains as well. Look for more delicate colors and textiles, like organic cotton, that disperse light around the room instead of blocking it. For a quick fix, spread a bright table cloth over a dark colored night stand and top off with a vase of spring flowers.

5. Living Room

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have two sets of furniture, one for fall/winter and one for spring/summer? In real life this would be neither sustainable nor practical, but boy wouldn’t it keep us from being bored with our decor! Here’s the next best thing: find or make bright colored accent pillows for couches and armchairs. Want to go bigger? Consider a light-colored slipcover for an especially dark piece of furniture (easy to change and it will help keep the upholstery looking like new). Recycle an old decorating trick by filling interestingly-shaped glass bottles with water and food coloring, and setting them on a windowsill to catch the light. Scour thrift stores for pastel-colored tea cups and saucers, and use them as accent pieces on mantle or bookshelves.

How do you bring spring indoors? Share your ideas in a comment!

Images: promanex| serpent sea | cassia beck | jingdianjiaju2 | theladyJdesigns

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Objects of Use features beautifully-crafted vintage-style tools and furniture. Like grandma’s but more chic.

In this technicolor age where every conceivable item in your house and garden, from cleaning to tech gadgets to tools, comes in screamingly loud shades and busy patterns – and often (although, thankfully and increasingly less so) made of plastic – a bit of aesthetic simplicity and craftsmanship solidity come as a soothing tonic.

Whether it’s old-fashioned kitchen scales using weights, 20 different types of brushes (including one for cleaning the radiator and another for the computer), a Japanese planting trowel or a mid-century-style chair, Oxford-based website Objects of Use offers high-quality, highly desirable artisan products. Many are gorgeous and some downright unusual, like a vintage-style French soap dispenser and (below) stoneware berry bowls.

The retailer’s gardening section would impress any green-thumbed friend (yes, Christmas is still months away, but bookmark this site). We heart this exquisite set of five Dutch hand tools, but you might prefer the various shears, sickles, hoes, picks and pruners. Ever heard of a dibber? That’s a pointed stick for making a hole in the ground.

As the name suggests, these are not pointless, purely decorative knick-knacks; each has a specific purpose in mind. All are made using low-impact production methods and locally-sourced, natural materials like wood, bone and jute. You won’t find any plastic here. The useful objects of Objects of Use are built to last, not to throw away.

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The Biome allows you to grow exotic plants in a carefully controlled atmosphere.

Biome is a flora terrarium with a delicate balance moderated by you: its climate, water level and nutrients are managed via smartphone or iPad. The idea promotes “digital downtime” – steering the owners of 21st-century, 24-hour gadgets towards a slower life.

The control and nurturing of a real eco-system takes patience and care. This smart garden has low-energy lighting to replicate sunlight and contains sensors on the dome’s conditions that link back to the device when connected; air and moisture levels are controlled by the hole in the pointy top.

Choose your landscape – tropical, desert, herb garden – and then control it using an app on your device, which displays a readout of conditions. The Biome, by London-based designer Samuel Wilkinson, was designed for an exhibition; hopefully it will be available to buy.

(Take the hint, Wilkinson.)

The post A Dome for The Home: The Biome Terrarium appeared first on EcoSalon.

“Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.”

Pop quiz, first question: to whom is that first quote attributed? The answer, friends, is founding father Thomas Jefferson who would probably spew corn kernels out of his coffin at the backseat American agriculture has taken to special interests and the (industrialized) food lobby. After regaining his composure, he’d probably tip his hat (had he worn one) to the pioneering brethren and sistren of today who are revitalizing agriculture from the comfort of their own backyards.

Urban agriculturalists Colin McCrate and Brad Halm are two such citizens. The founders of Seattle Urban Farm Company have recently come out with a book outlining pretty much everything you need to know about edible gardening (dare we call it homesteading of the urban variety). Using case studies of just about every type of urban and suburban lot, they map out irrigation solutions, design strategies, soil prepping and container gardening how-to’s.

We reached out to Colin with a few nagging, lingering questions of our own. Here’s what he had to say:

Where does one begin? Basically, what do I need to plant to get a decent edible garden going?

It’s easy to grow food at home…but it is even easier if you take a few minutes to plan things out before you get started.  Whether you are thinking about setting up a few containers on your deck or tilling up your entire backyard, there are a few basic things to you will want to address before putting your plants in the ground.

Like what?

Access to sunlight and water: Your garden must receive at least 6-8 hours of sunlight per day for healthy growth and productivity. Think about your options for garden locations and consider sun exposure as the number one priority.

Second priority is to make sure that it will be easy for you to get water to your plants on a regular basis.  It is easy to end up hauling buckets of water across the yard or knocking over pottery with an unwieldy hose, so take the time to figure out a watering system beforehand!

Bear in mind that vegetables are “heavy feeders.” This means that they absorb large amounts of nutrients from the soil as they grow. In order to produce a maximum harvest, each crop needs an adequate supply of plant food. Nutrients are supplied by compost and organic fertilizers, and both should be added to your soil before each season begins.

Make sure to follow the plant’s (or seed’s) recommended spacing requirement. Many beginning gardeners assume that, if they plant their crops closer together, then they will get more food per square foot.  But that’s not quite how it works. When crops are planted too closely together, they compete for sunlight, water and nutrients. When forced to compete, plant growth is stunted, production is limited and crops are more susceptible to pest and disease pressures.

Finally, choose crops that you are excited to grow. Certain crops give a higher yield per square foot of planting space, but it is also important to choose plants that you are really psyched about growing. It will make them easier to take care of.

What plants get you psyched?

A few of our favorite crops for small gardens are Head Lettuce, especially Deer Tongue, Flashy Trout Back; Arugula, Rocket and Surrey; Bush Beans; Summer Squash; Radishes, of the Cherriette variety; Cilantro; Basil; Tomatoes, like Sungold and Black Prince.

All of the above is basically pornography for our food writers. When should we start planting?

Planting dates vary widely depending on your climate and the crop you want to grow. In temperate parts of the country (much of the east coast, west coast and the Midwest), most crops are planted in the spring and early summer. For many gardeners, the majority of planting happens between early March and late May.

Most people don’t realize that it is possible to continue planting throughout much of the summer and even into the fall.  Planting a crop several times throughout the season is called “succession planting” and it allows the gardener to spread out their harvest over a longer period (its better to have 2 heads of lettuce per week all season than to have 20 heads all at the same time!) and to really make the most of the limited space they have available.

What’s the best coast for edible gardening?

Every region of the country has its benefits and drawbacks…The east coast has very hot summers which allows for rapid plant growth and huge yields, but that area also has some of the most prevalent pest and disease issues which have been known to frustrate many a beginning farmer. Much of the west coast has a temperate climate that allows for a long, slow growing season where certain crops can be harvested almost year round. On the downside, in the more mild parts of the coast, like our Pacific Northwest, cool summers can make some of the most coveted crops difficult to grow.

The incredible soil quality of the Midwest makes that region one of the best places in the world for food production…of course season-long droughts can shift your perspective on things a little bit…

What’s your favorite tomato variety and why?

Now that I have been living in the Pacific Northwest for almost 10 years, my expectations of a tomato plant have shifted dramatically. Given the nature of our climate, large slicing tomatoes (and sometimes even Romas) are difficult to ripen. They perform better in a greenhouse, but are more likely to encounter disease problems in those conditions. In the PNW, Sungold cherry tomatoes are without a doubt the best tasting, best producing plant you can grow. They are incredibly vigorous and healthy; and just about everybody who tries them gets addicted.

Generally speaking…I still think Sungold is the best cherry tomato for any climate, San Marzano are amazing Roma tomatoes, and the Cherokee Purple is my favorite slicer.

What’s the story with your cropping headquarters?

Seattle Urban Farm Company operates out of a house in North Seattle. The HQ is affectionately referred to as “Moonbase,” a title that attests to our location at the city limits and because we figure that our work is pioneering intensive gardening techniques that will be implemented in future moon colonies or something like that.

What crops do you recommend for vertical gardeners?

Vertical gardening can be as simple or complex as you want it to be.

The simplest vertical gardens are built with hanging pieces of string or wooden or bamboo stakes. If you have a spot that will work well for a row of tall crops, consider planting pole beans, cucumbers, tomatoes and winter squash like pumpkins or butternut.  These are all vine crops that produce better, have less disease problems and look great when supported on a trellis.

There are also some pretty cool perennial edibles that make great vertical elements in a garden like hops, grapes, kiwis, and columnar apple trees.

There are all sorts of more complex vertical gardening systems on the market today. Some allow you to plant in soil and others are set up as hydroponic or aeroponic systems. The concept of building narrow, tall planting containers makes a lot of sense for people with limited square footage of sunny real estate. I think we will see a lot of gimmicky and well-functioning vertical garden systems in the next few years, but it is important to do your homework on the products because some of them are very far to the gimmicky end of that spectrum.

What’s your take on the homestead naming controversy?

I think that putting a trademark on the phrase “urban homestead” was, at best, ill-advised. I believe that, if our society values the progress that is being made on sustainability and farming issues, then the people who work on those issues should be compensated (just like any other discipline). I think that, in this case, the move seemed more like a money-grabbing, overly-capitalistic strategy that alienated their community and potential allies instead of helping to foster a healthy homesteading economy. Based on my limited understanding of trademark law, “urban homesteading” is a wholly descriptive term and shouldn’t even be permissible as a trademark anyways.

Food Grown Right, In Your Backyard authored by Colin McCrate and Brad Halm is available for purchase now through Mountaineers Books. 

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