What’s that you say? You live in a concrete jungle, your only green space is mold growing on last week’s left-overs..? Be not dissuaded my friends! Of course it’s great if you have an abundance of backyard and open space to grow your goods, but urban gardens are not only fun and creative, they can also contribute to a number of social, economic and environmental benefits. Socially, planting and growing your city garden will not only expand your social network to include local farmers and seed distributers, but once you start growing your edibles you’ll probably be so excited that meals shared with friends and neighbors (who will undoubtably be inspired to grow their own as well) will become the norm. If you have kids, you can count on their increased enthusiasm for eating food that they helped grow, and eating produce that is grown locally and organically, not to mention with great enthusiasm, is much healthier for your body and brain than eating imported or chemically sprayed products.

Urban landscapes offer many possibilities for garden construction, container gardens can be set up on rooftops, balconies, vacant lots and stairwells and there are lots of resources out there to get you started. Even if you live in a tiny apartment with no easy access to the outside, you can still have a window sill garden, get space in a community garden, or team up with a friend who has some outdoor space to share. In some ways restricted space might even be more fun because of the creative solutions that you will have to come up with.

Do you have ideas or resources to add for aspiring city gardeners? Post them in comments or email them to me. I’ll be keeping up with this train of thought and maybe even designing a challenge or two for you!

Wow, I’m slow on the uptake for this one. This site started in 2004 and I just now found it, just now! But wow am I glad that I did! Guerrilla Gardeners are the superheros I’ve been waiting for, and a total superhero kind of club that I can join (for once). The author of this site is in the UK, but the movement is spreading at the speed of light (that’s how quickly plants grow… did ya know?). The site offers all kinds of tips and ideas for inspired urban (or suburban) growing projects. For those who prefer fly-by-plantings you might consider crafting a seed bomb arsenal, and for those who harbor secret (or not so secret) 007 gadget-envy,  check out the GG secret gardener his and hers attaché cases featured now on the blog. They even have their own TV show! Sheesh, get your costume already. Let’s get planting!!!!!!

The Waterpod is a project conceived and founded by artist, photographer Mary Mattingly. The 3,000-square-foot commercial barge turned intentional community has been floating around New York City (currently docked at Staten Island) since June. The Waterpod was envisioned as a self-sustaining living space that might be recreated in the future to address issues of land and resource scarcity. Its systems run on solar power, it has deck-top gardens to grow its own veggies, houses hens for eggs, collects rainwater to recycle and has a dry-composting toilet.

The pod was originally intended as more of an artist’s residence, or a residence for people to stay in while making art… Turns out that self-sufficiency is a lot of work, “There’s a never-ending list of things to do: It’s a ship. It’s a farm. It’s an art residence. It’s an installation,” says Mattingly who along with Alison Ward is one of the only two permanent residents of the Waterpod, (both gave up their apartments in June to move in) but there is a constantly rotating crew of artists, gardeners, handy-people, explorers and activists who come and go for briefer stays.

The Waterpod quotes a passage from Ulysses as its manifesto, an epic has surely begun.