Editor's Note: This is part 1 of our weekly gardening series, in which Ian will share tips and his experiences throughout the growing season. 
Like most Rhode Islanders, I live in a small house with an even smaller backyard. Being single and twenty-something, it was a priority for my first house to be in a lively urban setting within walking distance to restaurants, shops, arts & culture, etc., and in 2008 I found a great fixer upper in the Fox Point section of the East Side. Although the house needed extensive renovations, I loved its urban charm on a quiet historic lane and its private backyard, then a sandlot, shaded by a giant spruce tree that somebody must have planted after Christmas fifty years ago. Also like most Rhode Islanders, I am a weekend or evening gardener because my work schedule is very demanding. It took me a few years of tinkering around the yard part-time to understand what it takes to be an urban gardener. My first flower garden in pots was a success and improved curb appeal, and it led the following year to an attempted vegetable garden in containers. City gardens often have more shade than sun, so I placed my vegetables in a cluster on the southwest side of the house, in my driveway, for unobstructed light. As a novice, I provided enough sun for my plants but too little water, so most of my vegetables shriveled or didn’t produce at all. 
The next spring working outside, I befriended a new neighbor who constructed raised garden beds for himself and taught me how to build my own (you can also buy kits ready to assemble). It was encouraging to have a neighbor with a mutual interest, so my second attempt at vegetables in raised beds worked better than in my feeble containers. Although I’d have benefited from more planning - I purchased a bunch of veggies, threw them in the ground and hoped for the best - I had mostly positive results: beautiful tomatoes, sickly cucumbers and squash, abundant herbs, and sad-looking beans that never made it to the table. Winter is the best time to trim healthy trees, and this year, I started thinking about my garden in February. In addition to my towering spruce, there is a shaggy silver maple tree in my neighbor’s patio-garden at my southern property line that is my primary obstacle to backyard light, and after a few attempts to trim the tree on my own, my neighbors and I recently split the cost for an arborist to respectfully remove broken and sucker branches for increased sunlight. This year’s garden planning involved reading and online research (there are some wonderful user-friendly books on gardening out there), mapping how sunlight moves across the yard, and I ordered seeds that can tolerate partial shade from a reputable online retailer. I moved my six 3x5x3 foot raised beds to the area of best light, and mixed new organic soil with compost for fertile crops. 
On March 17, I direct-seeded my first cold crops of 2012, planting carrots, arugula, turnips, mustard greens, lots of radishes, black & red lettuce, and kale. I chose the plants that I like to eat, and I drew a map of my rows to remember where each sprout was planted. As the garden matured, I filled in the empty areas with pansies and marigolds, both to add color and to deter some pests. I also candied some of the pansy flowers, and on April 21, my first harvest of radishes and arugula was a rewarding side salad to grilled burgers. I am still learning what it takes to be a gardener, but here’s what I’ve learned so far:
Like most Rhode Islanders, I live in a small house with an even smaller backyard. Being single and twenty-something, it was a priority for my first house to be in a lively urban setting within walking distance to restaurants, shops, arts & culture, etc., and in 2008 I found a great fixer upper in the Fox Point section of the East Side. Although the house needed extensive renovations, I loved its urban charm on a quiet historic lane and its private backyard, then a sandlot, shaded by a giant spruce tree that somebody must have planted after Christmas fifty years ago. Also like most Rhode Islanders, I am a weekend or evening gardener because my work schedule is very demanding. It took me a few years of tinkering around the yard part-time to understand what it takes to be an urban gardener. My first flower garden in pots was a success and improved curb appeal, and it led the following year to an attempted vegetable garden in containers. City gardens often have more shade than sun, so I placed my vegetables in a cluster on the southwest side of the house, in my driveway, for unobstructed light. As a novice, I provided enough sun for my plants but too little water, so most of my vegetables shriveled or didn’t produce at all. The next spring working outside, I befriended a new neighbor who constructed raised garden beds for himself and taught me how to build my own (you can also buy kits ready to assemble). It was encouraging to have a neighbor with a mutual interest, so my second attempt at vegetables in raised beds worked better than in my feeble containers. Although I’d have benefited from more planning - I purchased a bunch of veggies, threw them in the ground and hoped for the best - I had mostly positive results: beautiful tomatoes, sickly cucumbers and squash, abundant herbs, and sad-looking beans that never made it to the table. Winter is the best time to trim healthy trees, and this year, I started thinking about my garden in February. In addition to my towering spruce, there is a shaggy silver maple tree in my neighbor’s patio-garden at my southern property line that is my primary obstacle to backyard light, and after a few attempts to trim the tree on my own, my neighbors and I recently split the cost for an arborist to respectfully remove broken and sucker branches for increased sunlight. This year’s garden planning involved reading and online research (there are some wonderful user-friendly books on gardening out there), mapping how sunlight moves across the yard, and I ordered seeds that can tolerate partial shade from a reputable online retailer. I moved my six 3x5x3 foot raised beds to the area of best light, and mixed new organic soil with compost for fertile crops. On March 17, I direct-seeded my first cold crops of 2012, planting carrots, arugula, turnips, mustard greens, lots of radishes, black & red lettuce, and kale. I chose the plants that I like to eat, and I drew a map of my rows to remember where each sprout was planted. As the garden matured, I filled in the empty areas with pansies and marigolds, both to add color and to deter some pests. I also candied some of the pansy flowers, and on April 21, my first harvest of radishes and arugula was a rewarding side salad to grilled burgers. I am still learning what it takes to be a gardener, but here’s what I’ve learned so far: - Community (talk about gardening with others; in Providence, join the Community Growers Network)
- Adequate sun & water, soil health (adding compost to your soil provides essential nutrients including nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus)
- Patience
- Limited time investment.
