Garden Tour: Lush, Foodie Abondance in a Small Urban Garden

Garden Tour: Lush, Foodie Abondance in a Small Urban Garden - I spent a lot of money on organic food, said Esiah Levy, explaining how he came to create his super-productive garden in Croydon, south London. "So I began to find other sources of organic food. There are not many 'markets near where I live, so the next logical step was to learn how to grow myself. 'Farmers

While juggling his day job, Levy attended Capel Manor College in Regent Park, London, learn to grow fruits and vegetables without plant food or fertilizer, using the technique without innovative trench. "You do not have to dig the soil to grow crops, says Levy. "Everything that is done to expose more weeds. This method focuses on soil and its ecosystem by layering the soil with organic matter, such as horse manure and coffee grounds. "

The approach of Levy saw his little back garden transformed into a gourmet paradise in just two years. He now feeds him and his son throughout the year, and demands very little time and effort to maintain. Its success encouraged Levy to set up a garden design and consulting edible business to help others grow products in the urban landscape. "The best thing is, says Levy," everyone can do it!

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Garden at a glance
Who lives here Esiah Levy Urban Edible Garden design and two year old son, Mehki
Location Croydon, south of London
This interesting garden measures just 15ft by 9ft, still includes 23 trees

Esiah Levy pushes an amazing variety of fruits and vegetables in her garden, cabbage photo here to turnips, beets, carrots , red fruits including raspberries and currants, and all kinds of apples, pears and more unusual fruit orchard.

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"I have 23 trees in this garden," says Levy. "It is a form orchard with fruit trees along the walls and on the way, red fruits increasingly under and a bed of vegetables raised in the back."

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the Williams pear is just one Levy varieties grows. "My son, Mehki, just walking in the garden and picking fruit on trees to eat, he said. "His favorites are Granny Smith apples, rhubarb, spring onions and blueberries!

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Levy is preparing another section of the floor using the trenchless technique. Rather than digging in the lawn to create a bed, it covers the grass with a layer of horse manure and cardboard, and the coffee grounds, the constitution of organic material layers.

'The whole point no-dig is that there is no extra work and you are not destroying the ecosystem in the soil, "says Levy. "What you grow is just as good as if you use the plant food and you get a lot less weeds, too.

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a handful of earth Levy garden is squirming with worms. "This is what you see when you dig into the ground," he said. Worms are essential to soil health, providing aeration and drainage, and their droppings are packed with beneficial nutrients. "You can buy online at if you plant a planter," he adds, "but if you create a vegetable patch on the ground, just add a lot of horse manure and they will find their way in.

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Levy added his own touch to the trenchless technology and likes to lay bricks on a new patch prepared. "It's good to put something heavy on top, he said. "Worms are happy under the bricks and there is no light to go to the grass and weeds. I do not let the bricks for about three weeks until a bamboo stick can be pushed effortlessly, like a knife through butter, which should normally be difficult because the grassed areas are very compacted.

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Levy gardening method is also cost effective. I have always said that gardens should not cost money, he said. Levy organic materials used to coat the ground and condition are local and often free origin. Call Starbucks and grab some coffee grounds. Go to your local equestrian center and get some manure, "he said. "They want to give this stuff away! Levy also uses cocoa husk, a by-product of the chocolate industry. "I'm going to the Mast Brothers, a chocolatier in Shoreditch [east London] for mine, he said.

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the raised bed at the far end of the garden is full of vegetables, cabbage and carrots, celeriac and rutabaga. "You might have to buy seeds and fruit trees at first, but after that you should not have to spend too much to start your garden, Levy said. You can gradually become more independent, too. "Once you have a culture of carrots, if you grow 50, 10 let go to seed," says Levy. "There's your seeds for next year."

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for Levy, the benefits of trenchless technology extend well beyond the quality of the soil, it creates and plenty of fruits and vegetables that grows. 'It is also easy and fast, he said. h 'I made ardly while working in the garden this year, all I've done is lay some mulch. I did it last September and I'll do it again around now because it takes about a year to break and cut.

This is gardening pressed for time and urban poor mountain. Anyone can do it! "Said Levy. "If you live in an apartment with a balcony only, put a pot on it. Add a few worms, some coffee grounds or cocoa hulls, and some mulch and feed the soil with your own pieces of fruit and vegetables. Simple.

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from the bottom of garden, you can enjoy the abundance of plants growing here. 'As t garden will actually produce food for me, it must take account of the natural ecosystem of the forest, "says Levy," with a combination of large and low-growing plants layers instead of a single fruit tree . "This multilayer approach reduces the need for water, too. "Some plants retain moisture and plants that provide ground cover to keep the soil moist, too, said Levy. "It saves time and effort."

Read other ways to make the most of a small garden

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Levy lavender planted throughout the garden. "It is for bees," he said. 'Lavender attracts and then they help pollinate fruit trees. It keeps going and the means that I always get fruit. "

Learn how to create a garden honeybee

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"what I love gardening is freedom," says Levy. "You can grow anything you want! You will quickly discover that there is no one type of apple, pear or carrot. Growing your own opens the mind to the fact that the food you offer in a supermarket is only part of the story. "

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In addition to apple and pear with familiar varieties like Granny Smith and Williams, Levy has increasingly more unusual fruits, including small, hardy kiwis, serviceberry and these pretty humbug pears. 'This variety is Ukraine, it is robust and can stand the cold, he said. "It blooms twice a year, so you get a double fruit yield."

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There is a wide variety of fruit trees that grow in the garden of Levy, including unusual varieties such as loquats and plums. "You d on't need giant trees, he said. "You can dwarf trees measuring 2ft, even if your garden is small, you can always have apples, peaches and plums.

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three rhubarb plants are thriving on the back of the garden. "I can not even explain how big they grew this year!" Said Levy.

Tour is a green oasis on the roof of a hangar city

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If you just start cultivating your garden, Levy recommends choosing a small patch to convert to the fruit or vegetable crop. Do your research around your patch and how much sun it gets, says Levy, 'then go online and get advice from other urban gardeners on what you can do there.

Levy suggests a good way to start is to growing herbs. "They are easy to grow, he said, and from there, in my opinion, you should try the potatoes. Even if you only have space for a pot, you can get 25-30 potatoes growing in a pot of 10 liters.

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A Russian quince tree is growing in the garden of Levy. 'This is a Aromatnaya and it is heavy bearer, he said. "My tree is only three years old and I have new fruits on it. If left on the tree for a long time, the fruit becomes soft enough to eat raw. "

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to feed the soil, Levy regularly back fruit pits and vegetable leaves his product to feed. "If you dig a turnip, cut its leaves, then put them in the ground, he said. "You go out, then give you in return."

For tips and new urban gardening , see the twitter feed Levy, @CroydonGardener, or email him at UrbanEdibleGrdns @ gmail.com.

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