Funky Trellis September 14, 2008

This bamboo-cane trellis with an interesting shape is constructed in a small raised bed on a major street near my house. Not sure what type of tree it’s supporting, but I really liked the simple, elegant form and it seems like it would be really simple to put together.

For more information about the art of espaliering trees and shrubs, click here.

Another creative trellis I saw a while ago but don’t have a photo of at the moment – two sets of old downhill skis, one pair at each end bolted together at the tips, supporting a wire-line raspberry trellis. Genius!

Globe Thistle September 13, 2008

Another one on my must-buy list for the parking strip garden is globe thistle, or echinops. I like how the botanical name sounds like a kind of dinosaur, or maybe a Greek philosopher. And the leaves are so lovely and dark green and pointy, with those cute, totally spherical, purple spiky flowers that look like exploding fireworks. It grows in poor soil and full sun (although it can supposedly take better soil and part shade), and the flower heads are still interesting even after their color fades.

Here’s one I saw in a neighbor’s street garden. It was planted in a raised bed, maybe to help with drainage. I’m going to guess it’s echinops ritro, or small globe thistle, but I could be wrong there.

Supposed to make great cut/dried flowers, and to be a good one for the bees and butterflies too. Also good for xeriscaping as it doesn’t require much water once established.

Hm, if echinops was a dinosaur, would it be a meat-eater or a vegetarian?

Small and Square September 10, 2008

Making a raised bed for your street garden doesn’t have to be a huge project. I saw this option in my neighborhood, two small, square planters with a nicely edited selection of veggies and flowers.

One plant each of squash, alyssum, tomato and marigold per box. They looked so sweet and tidy, and probably take less than 10 min. per week to care for. Each box couldn’t have been more than about 3 ft. across. So cute!

The marigolds were just kind of glowing.

Alyssum and marigolds are both edible flowers, although I find that the marigold taste is a little too intense for me. The flowers attract pollinators for the veggies, so everyone’s happy!

Planter Barrels September 6, 2008

Not ready to commit to ripping out your entire parking strip or building a big raised bed? You can take baby steps towards colonizing this valuable growing space by putting out a few inexpensive half-barrel planters to catch the sunlight for a small selection of veggies and flowers.

Here is an example from my neighborhood:

This garden is also on a fairly decent slope, so perhaps the ground had to be dug out a tiny bit so that they would be level. Other than that, it looks like they were pretty much just plunked down and planted.

Mosaic Planter Bed Top September 2, 2008

Our neighborhood elementary school built this raised concrete brick planter bed in their small garden near the street. The bricks are cemented in place and the top layer is decorated with mosaic tiles, no doubt by the kids. I thought it was a nice way to jazz up the otherwise kind of dull gray bricks.

Raise High the Planter Beds, Carpenters August 28, 2008

(Sorry, gratuitous Salinger reference there…)

In my previous (and very first) garden, the only patch of ground that was free of summer-long shade was on the street, in the parking strip. So, if I wanted a few veggies, herbs and strawberries to nibble, I had no option but to garden out there. Not being too handy, but feeling like a raised bed was the best way to contend with tree roots and crummy soil, I pondered the options. My mom ended up getting some friends to build me one as one of my all-time best ever birthday presents. I got a lot of fun and use out of it, and was really bummed to drive by our old house recently and see that the new owners had dismantled it for some unknown reason. Maybe I should ask if I can have the pieces back, to rebuild it (by myself, this time) in our current place…

Here are some links for building raised beds. I’m not going to reinvent the wheel here, just providing some options.

Sunset Magazine has a fairly simple design, and they claim it can be built with redwood or cedar for under $200. Does require a table saw, though.

Here’s a really spiffy one, from This Old House. Pricier too, though, and probably needing someone pretty handy to put it together.

Prefer a video? This is kind of goofy (bonus for dog-lovers, cute labs co-star, chasing sticks and a frisbee), but shows how to make a planter bed with untreated 2 X 12′s, coated at home with linseed oil. Tells you how to mole-proof, too.

This is a Texas A & M University (Ag school) article, ” In Praise of Raised Beds,” with advice about how big to build yours and how to prepare the ground, what soil to add, etc.

Treated wood is icky. Nobody knows for sure what it leaches into your soil, so try to avoid it if possible!

Here’s an example of some raised planter beds in our neighborhood:

Small crosswise ones allow you to reach in and not have to step on and therefore compact the soil.

This one is a small square bed, great for a vertical crop like beans or peas plus whatever you want to plant around the edges.

You can also forgo wood altogether and make a bed out of paver bricks or broken concrete (scroll down in the latter link to see a nicely formed herb bed using this method). To be legal with the city, at least in Seattle, raised beds in the parking strip require a permit, and bricks or stones must be fixed in place, not removable for easy hurling.

Raised beds make root crops like carrots and beets much easier to grow, and in an urban setting, adding your own soil from a known safe source is a plus too. Before you set up your bed, be sure to double-dig or rototill the existing soil to help with drainage. And don’t forget to add lots of compost! Anyone have a favorite? Mushroom compost? Something containing bat guano, perhaps? Or just home-grown?

Towering Tomatoes August 25, 2008

Man, there are some really tall tomatoes growing in the parking strip gardens of our neighborhood! Not sure if it’s the wonky summer Seattle’s been having (cooler and rainier than usual), or just the variety. Even though the scale is a kneeling 5 year old and they’re in a raised bed, I’d still say these guys were at least 6-footers.

They took up an entire raised planter bed on the street and really looked like some kind of fairy-tale forest. I hope the fruit ripens, it must be a lot of work to stake, cage or otherwise contain such monsters!

The Dark Knight & Tomatoes August 23, 2008

Somebody left their Batman and batcycle (is that what it’s called?) out on a raised planter box in our neighborhood recently. I thought it looked nice with the green tomatoes. Maybe Batman’s about to race home to the Batcave and make some green tomato pie?

Streetberries August 21, 2008

Here is proof that you CAN plant tasty berries in your parking strip, at least in my corner of Seattle, and you will probably have some left for yourself even after any greedy birds or humans have had a taste.

These folks have had a raspberry patch going in their hillside raised bed for a few years running. The canes are pretty tall, almost like a forest, and it seems like the berries are allowed to ripen largely unmolested:

Late-summer blueberries fresh from the bush are one of life’s purest joys. But how to ensure that you have enough to put in a pie or at least on your cereal? Here is one street gardener’s solution: raised bed + stakes + netting = happy harvesting.

Finally, here is the bravest soul of all – a neighbor dug out a small patch of the parking strip grass and planted a strawberry bed. It’s ringed with a sweet basket-weave fence and gets a ton of sun. Do they get any berries? I hope so!

Has anyone else tried raising such tempting treats on the street? How’s it going?