The Urban Ladybug features stories from Kara Kelso, mother of two and gardener in the Midwest. Over the years I have built many blogs and websites, but nothing holds my attention like a sunny day in the backyard. Using environmentally-friendly and sustainable farming practices, I attempt to break free of the GMO-garbage and corporate games destroying our environment and our health.
This blog is all about the organic struggle in a world – and in my own town – where chemicals are more acceptable than nature. Using creative ways to beat our current chemical system, this blog shares the stories of indoor gardening, outdoor gardening, and using homegrown plants in food. Currently we have 4 areas where plants call home.
Garden #1: The Backyard
The rule around here is eat what you want from the backyard, but leave the front yard to bloom. This goes for all plants wild and planted, since we’ve done our best to provide a safe garden for the family. Neighbors on all three sides of us spray their yards with chemicals, some more than others, but we’ve got the backyard blockaded in pretty well.
The space is approximately 50 x 60, with some areas getting a little more sun than others. We’ve tried to plant certain varieties of edibles (tomatoes, peas, amaranth, etc) that work with the landscape and not against it. We’ve also made use of the kid’s old swing set and are still adding new plots every year.
Garden #2 – Kitchen Window
I’ll admit, this north facing window isn’t the best source of sun and most plants wouldn’t survive. However, simple and fast growing herbs such as basil grow beautifully. We’ve also added a small plant light that stays on all day and grow morning glories higher in the window (out of the reach of the cats).
Garden #3 – Bay Window
Last winter, this south-facing space in the living room grew jalapenos and green peppers for Christmas. While the light source was decent, the time of year prompted us to hang a cheap fluorescent light fixture with daylight bulbs (NOT plant bulbs in the purple and blue spectrum, but true daylight spectrum bulbs).
Now that it’s summer, we’ve started fresh with a bigger and better set up. Instead of individual plants and buckets, we now use one large tub and clever companion planting to maximize space.
Garden #4 – Upstairs Florescent
One more small space remains inside the house, tucked away upstairs and behind a closed door. A small shelf with a hanging florescent light is home to a few extra herbs. No natural sunlight is in this space, but the bulbs are again daylight and left on all day.
Seedlings get there starts here and it’s home to the cat nip as well. Cats are not usually in this room unsupervised, and we have had a few accidents with them getting up onto the shelves when we weren’t around. We’ve since learned to not leave them unattended and shut the door when we aren’t there.
No matter what time the year, we are busy gardening inside and out!
The Urban Ladybug 