By Steve Graham, Networx
City dwellers often rely on botanical gardens and city parks for their outdoor fix, but many may have a perfectly good garden space in the back yard. Of course, the small backyard space may covered with concrete or overrun with weeds and worse. That doesn't mean there is no hope.
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You can never magically expand a small space into a lush suburban garden escape, but there are good ways to use small urban backyard spaces. Here are five of the best options for a small urban garden.
Vegetable patch
The idea of a vegetable farm may conjure huge rural spaces, but plenty of food can be grown in a very small space. Some companies such as Minifarmbox specialize in products for small vegetable gardens, urban and otherwise. The company suggests an ambitious city dweller can grow 80 heads of lettuce, 70 pounds of tomatoes, 50 pounds of beets and more in a four-foot-by-four-foot raised garden bed.
Of course, it takes some planning and strategy to optimize an urban vegetable garden. Ideally, most vegetables want six to eight hours of full sun, so you may need a raised bed on wheels to help chase the sun. Also use a good rich planting mix and fertilize regularly, particularly if using raised beds, where you have not access to the natural nutrients in the soil. Also focus on dwarf varieties. Miniature eggplants, tomatoes and more are packed with plenty of flavor you can't find at the supermarket.
Wildlife habitat
The National Wildlife Federation will register certified wildlife habitats as small as apartment balconies. In the dense concrete jungles of cities, it is particularly important to ensure safe spaces for birds and other wildlife. The NWF has four requirements for its certified wildlife habitats:
• You must provide food for wildlife, which can be as simple as a hanging feeder or a few native plants.
• You must supply water for wildlife, which may include birdbaths or small puddling areas for butterflies.
• You must create cover for wildlife, including birdhouses or even dead trees.
• You must have a space for wildlife to raise their young, which can include a nesting box, mature trees, caterpillar host plants or a planting of dense shrubs.
Dining room
For an episode of HGTV's "Landscape Smart," one couple hosted their wedding in their long-neglected urban back yard. The centerpiece of the project (and the stage for their ceremony) was a circular flagstone patio, created by a contractor in Oakland, Calif.
With all the concrete all over the city, it may seem counter-intuitive to pave over an existing yard space, but a nice flagstone patio, plus plants and furniture equals an outdoor dining room for the warm months.
Of course, city thieves will prey on anything not nailed to the ground (and some things that are nailed to the ground), so scour city garage sales, freebies and thrift stores for cheap outdoor furniture.
A paved space can still have landscaping of sorts. Put all your plants in containers, and you can move them around to chase the sun or accommodate groups of various sizes. If you use large containers, consider putting empty plastic bottles or other filler in the bottom of the containers to keep them from getting prohibitively heavy.
Meditation or relaxation area
Can anybody meditate among the honks, shouts and bustle of the city? With a dense relaxation garden, the answer is yes. The smells and sights of a garden are naturally relaxing and healing. An urban meditation space just needs to be more compact, dense and vertical than most.
Moreover, beekeepers say their hobby is fairly meditative, and (careful) urban backyard hives are generating quite a buzz. Beekeeping also can help bring back an insect that seems to be mysteriously dying off.
Playground
If you can secure the yard, you can let the kids run free in an urban backyard playground. Everything is built up vertically in the city, and urban playgrounds are no exception. Most kids naturally want to climb, so the sandbox can be under the swings, which can be under the monkey bars, which can be under the fort.
A quick daily hose-down of all the toys and playground equipment will pay off in the long run. The alternative is periodic scrubbing of grime and soot, or accepting that the children will "look like the chimney sweeps from Mary Poppins," as one New York blogger noted when she became disillusioned with her Manhattan playground space.
As noted above, there are some unique challenges and additional work involved when establishing and using an urban back yard, but you may be surprised by how much use and joy you can get from a small space.
Source: http://www.networx.com/article/five-ways-to-use-a-small-urban-backyard
