Turn Your Thumb Green

The thing I miss the most when I'm living in a city is my garden back at home, especially at this time of year when everything's blooming again. It's been my dream for awhile to create a beautiful fire escape garden. It's a quick, relatively easy way to bring beauty and homegrown food into your apartment. And, you know, as soon as you make one, your place will magically transform into the Venecian townhouse pictured above.

What You'll Need:
-a fire escape, porch or stoop that gets at least 4-5 hours of direct sunlight a day
-seeds (see below)
-any combination of clay pots, pretty pots, window boxes and holders
-potting soil
-a small trowel
-a watering can (not entirely necessary, but don't you want one?)


What You Can Grow:
-an array of herbs: basil, parsley, cilantro and sage all work well
-flowers! look for ones that are pretty hearty. Impatiens are a no-brainer, also try geraniums, petunias, marigolds and hydrangeas
-veggies: tomatoes and other veggies take a bit more work because they require more attention and something to grow up.

How You Do It:
-fill your pots or boxes with soil
-poke a few small holes across the pot with your finger and distribute the seeds
-arrange on your surface
-water every few days

See? No problem. My ideal garden is to have two window boxes hanging from the railing, one with flowers and one with herbs. Then a tomato plant pot in the corner, and maybe a little bit of lettuce. Trust me, there's nothing like picking your salad from your own garden, and I basically live off various versions of homegrown tomato, basil and mozzarella dishes in the summer.