This is a great new forum - I live in a townhouse in Northern Virginia - and am always challenged by the small space. I'm looking forward to seeing more of these great photos people have posted!

This is the raised bed (4X4) I built on my concrete patio.

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I'm not a very good carpenter but it works. :)

In the background are squash plants, a tomato, and a bucket with baby corn growing in it. In that grassy strip on the side, I'll be attempting to grow sweet corn. Wish me luck.

Here are some photos of my old rooftop vegetable garden:

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I moved a little over a year ago and now have a small (20' X 20') vegetable garden in the backyard, and hopefully will have some good photos later in the season!

How did the onions work out? I tried that last year in my square foot garden and they disappeared!

The onions are still growing. I put them into the bed about 7 weeks ago as sets. I don't know how long it's supposed to take for them to start bulbing. A few years ago, I grew onions and they disappeared, too. But then I dug around months later and found some little bulbs in the soil. Weird.

flip, you can plant a lot of things on that green strip. Up the fence too.
I have a strip along the fence that is barely 2 ft. wide where I crammed so many things in it might burst some day. I'll post a picture later when everything shows up.

cpeters, how did you keep the plants from drying up in your roof garden?

pitimpinai, that's encouraging to hear. I started digging up that strip yesterday and boy, I have an all new appreciation for BenGay. I got a 2'X4' patch dug up, though, and corn will be going in there next week. If I can find the energy, I'll dig up some more, possibly for a melon of some kind.

flip,
I can sympathize with you. When I first moved in, I dug up that strip. The house had been vacant all summer so the ground was very hard. I didn't know anything about sheet composting then or I would have built one and not to do all the digging.

If you plant corn, why not do the "Three Sisters" planting? Grow beans up the corn stalks and melons around the corn's feet. You'll make use of the ground to its fullest potential. Melons will act as groundcover as well. Not much weeding and watering. If you don't want to grow beans, then grow a flowering vine such as Cardinal Climbers??? It will be very pretty.

This baby has been in bloom since February:
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Front yard today:
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Front yard:
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Backyard:
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Some of the early bloomers:
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pitimpinai - what is the flower that bloomed in February? It's been a mild winter, but we've had some serious cold snaps since Feb!

I used to water my rooftop garden twice a day if it didn't rain - once before going to work and once when I got home. I used a large watering can and it took about 4 trips to get everything watered.

The pretty white ones are snowdrops, aren't they? It's one of those magical flowers that signals spring is finally on the way. Galanthus, "milk flower" -- the name's as pretty as the flower.

This isn't in my yard -- but it will be next year! Some kind of Gregii tulip:
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A sea of blue with "Glory of the Snow", Chiondoxa near my house:
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And my own, soon to be puddle of blue, Veronica "Georgia Blue". In another week-10 days this whole quarter circle beneath the rose will be covered with Oxford blue flowers.
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Yes, that's Galanthus elwesii. It's very pretty, isn't it? I planted this group last October. Incredible as it sounds, the very same order that I planted in the backyard began to bloom in November. This one pic was taken in early December:

They did suffer the cold snap in late November & late January, but more kept coming up until March when they just petered out a week ago. I was told in the bulbs forum that I might have received a special strain of elwesii that blooms extra early and cost exhorbitantly high. I will see whether they will bloom in late fall again this year.

I love those blue flowers, alison. I have a couple V. 'Georgia Blue' in my backyard. I hope they'll spread our more this year.

pitimpinai, thank you for reminding me about the 3 sisters method! I have melon growing next to the corn, so the vines should grow all through them eventually, but I'd forgotten about the beans. My corn is about 6" tall right now so I think I'll go pop in a few Trionfo Violetto pole beans next to the stalks.

This is my current vegetable garden as it looked in late February this year...kinda grim, but getting better

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It was a cement pad when we moved in a year and a half ago, and I finally finished breaking it up towards the end of last summer - I grew in the front half of the garden last year. It looks a bit better now, the peas have come up and the lettuce and radishes are sprouting.

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This is my garden.

Looks like there's a lot of love in those pots, rdogg!

Here's my front beds a couple of days ago. You can see about half the front lawn in the picture. I'd expand the beds, but I'm likely moving next year and I just didn't have the heart to put in a bunch of baby perennials that could well get grassed over when I left. It's been hard resisting the urge though...

Janet's Garden

I do envy your garden! It transforms a house into a home instantly -- and not just any home, but YOUR home.

I make due with my private little City deck. Quite a few of these plants have survived our move from Z10 (not to mention a clumsy/borderline-sadist root-baring and root-pruning incident, the guilt from which I may never recover.)

I understand exactly how you feel. But look at the bright side, you get to become an accomplished container gardener. This is an art I'm still working on. Of course, in gardening, you're always still working on something...

Janet's Garden